I just remembered that taking a picture on my phone will give me 1000 characters That I can type. It won't be huge updates but it will keep me off the blog.
I will have to pop in to add tags but if you are all patient I can do that next wednesday after 1 PM.
1000 Characters may not look like a lot, but i can update a lot with 1000 characters. I'm at 367.
BTW, that bowl of muffins in the picture is a batch made from the muffin mix. I added a little bit of boysenberry syrup and a sprinkle of sugar on the top. They are very good!That isnt the whole batch. Only a half batch. And i am not done baking either.
I better go get ready for work now.

No Computer Week

So I've decided to have "No Computer Week" and see what I can get accomplished. It won't be completely computer free... I have to make money writing on other websites for my income.

Facebook, Myspace and Twitter and this blog can update by phone.

So here are my self imposed "No Computer Week" rules:

1. I can't go on Facebook, Myspace or Twitter to update, play Fishville or anything else (I must use my phone). 
2. No updates can go to my phone either. I'll be without all the computer fun for the whole week.
3. I can come here to this blog to add tags ONCE A DAY! And then I have to get off!
   
4. I can post ONE update to the Home Education blog, the Review blog OR the wordpress blog a day (but probably won't). Oh crap! I forgot about typepad. That's in the blog list too.
5. I can go on Associated Content, Demand Studios, SEED, Bukisa and other writing websites that I actually use for income. Those are excluded from the "No Computer Week." since I have to be able to pay bills and feed my children.  
6. No computer Week starts  on Wednesday 27th of January at 1PM... that's the start of each of my weeks... and ends one week later on 3 February at 1 PM. (You can bet I will be sitting there waiting for the clock to hit 1:00 LOL)

I'll be updating here through with pictures. You may post comments. I'm leaving them as unmoderated so anyone can post a comment at any time. Please be nice though.  

I will have a friend monitoring comments. If they get ugly, she'll inform me and I'll come on here long enough to delete or edit rude comments.

Sky has an idea!  lol

ABC Muffin Mix: Breaking Down the Cost

     I got curious about how much each muffin would cost if I made the ABC muffin mix and then made every batch of muffins. I made a list of everything I would need and assumed that I had nothing on hand. I also assumed that I made the muffin mix and muffin batches according the the ABC Muffin Mix directions. Here's what I have...

The short answer:  
 Each muffin will cost .19 if you make 24 muffins. If you make 42 muffins like my batch did then the muffins will cost .11 each.



The Long answer: 
Breaking it down by ingredients and using Amazon.com for pricing...



18 cups of flour. 

There are about 4 cups of flour to 1 pound of flour. So you would need a 5 pound bag of flour. The cheapest I found it online is $3.75 for a 5 pound bag of Hodgson Mill flour.

5 cups of sugar.  

The best answer I can find is that there are about 2 cups of sugar to a pound. So a five pound bag of sugar will make 2 batches of muffin mix. Since we're only making one, we'll only need 1/2 the bag. The best price on Amazon is $2.75 for a five pound bag of Domino sugar. 



2 1/4 cup powder buttermilk or powdered milk.

I found this bag of instant Non Fat Milk Powder from Barry Farm for $3.99 and the extra can be used for other cooking projects. While I don't like the taste of powder milk as a drink, it works fine in cooking.



Baking Soda and Salt


  I can find baking soda and salt for about $1 a box. This is about all you will need for the recipe.


Cinnamon and nutmeg are a little pricier but I found them at the Dollar Store for $1 a bottle. You won't need that much of these 2 items.

The cost to make the mix: About $16 to make.

Let's Make MUFFINS!

For actually making your ABC muffins (just plain old muffins, nothing fancy, no toppings) each batch of mix will make 5 batches of 24 muffins each.

Let's pretend I got motivated and made every batch! I would need:

20 eggs (4 eggs per single batch). You can buy 20 eggs for $4 (expensive eggs) at the grocery store. I don't have a good picture for eggs, sorry.


15 tsp vanilla extract. I highly suggest NOT using imitation. It tastes better with the REAL vanilla extract. That being said... Vanilla extract is a bit pricey so we'll go the poor people route and use imitation vanilla extract for $1 a bottle at the dollar store. I think I used 2 bottles. So $2 is the total.


A side note: When out of vanilla extract, I have been known to use whiskey, vodka, other extracts or Disarono Amaretto Alcohol (The Disarono was the best muffin batch I ever had!). 

2 Cups water... If you really want to get picky and break it down for the price of tap water, feel free. Mine is added into my rent so it's free!

1 cup Vegetable Oil... 

 
If I bought this bottle of vegetable oil, there would be 24 cups of oil. If we divide $11.54 by the 24 cups, then our 1 cup of oil is .48


Of course if you are frugal, you probably won't be spending that much money on vegetable oil.




This brings our total (rounding) to $23 for 120 muffins. Or a cost of .19 (nineteen cents) per muffin.



While making the first batch of muffins, I managed to make 42 muffins instead of the 24 they say the batch makes. That means all 5 batches will make 210 muffins total. For a cost of .11 (eleven cents) per muffin!


If your ingredients cost less, then each muffin will cost less. With my last batch of muffins, I managed to get the cost of each muffin down to 7 cents each. Not bad! And very frugal!

Proud Daughter Moment!

My dad, David F Latham, has completed his new book Homeland Security. I can't wait to read it! If you want to check it out, it's for sale at Amazon! Enjoy! And let me know what you think.