(Psst: The FTC wants me to remind you that this website contains affiliate links. That means if you make a purchase from a link you click on, I might receive a small commission. This does not increase the price you’ll pay for that item nor does it decrease the awesomeness of the item. ~ Daisy)
By the author of The Ultimate Guide to Frugal Living and What to Eat When You’re Broke
Even if the weather hasn’t cooled off where you live, the coffee shops have declared that autumn has arrived by rolling out their Pumpkin Spice everything.
But…there are a couple of kickers.
First of all, who can afford a daily diet of $5 coffees? If you count Sept. 1 through Nov. 30 as “fall” and you consume a pumpkin spice latte every day, that’s 91 days. At $5 a pop, if you only have one per day, that is a whopping $455 in pumpkin spice beverages.
Y’all, There Isn’t Even Pumpkin in it!
If you read about the ingredients in the be-all, end-all pumpkin spice latte, the one from Starbucks, you’ll find a lot of chemicals. Here is the ingredients list, right from Starbucks.
Milk, Pumpkin Spice Sauce [Sugar, Condensed Skim Milk, Pumpkin Puree, Contains 2% Or Less Of Fruit And Vegetable Juice For Color, Natural Flavors, Annatto, Salt, Potassium Sorbate], Brewed Espresso, Whipped Cream [Cream (Cream, Milk, Mono And Diglycerides, Carrageenan), Vanilla Syrup (Sugar, Water, Natural Flavors, Potassium Sorbate, Citric Acid)], Pumpkin Spice Topping [Cinnamon, Ginger, Nutmeg, Clove, Sulfiting Agents].
For a breakdown on why these ingredients aren’t things you want in your day-to-day diet, check out Food Babe’s breakdown of the PSL here.
But you can do better. Much, much better.
Make Your Own Pumpkin Spice Creamer
With a DIY Pumpkin Spice Creamer, you can have your own fancy coffee beverage at a fraction of the price, any time you want. And it’s WAY better for you, too. Here’s what you need.
Ingredients:
- 2 cups of your favorite kind of unsweetened milk (cow’s milk, half-and-half, goat’s milk, almond milk, cashew milk, coconut milk, or reconstituted dry milk if you are making this from stockpile ingredients…whatever you prefer)
- 1/4 cup of brown sugar (you can also use honey or a new low-carb, organic sweetener we discovered that we really like, Agave 5)
- 3 tbsp. of pumpkin puree
- 2 tsp of pumpkin pie spice
- 1 tsp of cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Directions:
- In a small saucepan, use a low heat to bring your milk and sugar (or other sweetener) to a simmer.
- Stir in all of the other ingredients, whisking constantly.
- Simmer for a couple of minutes until the ingredients are incorporated. Your spices will not dissolve, so unlike the coffee shop variety, your real, delicious, actual spices will speckle your creamer with goodness.
- Allow the mixture to cool, then pour it into a Mason jar.
- Store it in the refrigerator and use liberally in your coffee.
Note: the mixture WILL separate. You’ll have to shake it well before using it.
If you want to be fancy, put some whipped cream on top and sprinkle a teeny bit of pumpkin spice on it.
That’s it. Simple. Frugal. Delicious.
(And way better for you than the stuff those other guys want to charge you $5 for!)
Are You Ready to Spice Things Up?
Give this recipe a try and let us know how it turns out! Do you have any recipes for fancy creamers you use to get into the spirit of fall? Share your tips and recipes with us and other readers in the comments section.
About Daisy
Daisy Luther is a coffee-swigging, adventure-seeking, globe-trotting blogger. She is the founder and publisher of three websites. 1) The Organic Prepper, which is about current events, preparedness, self-reliance, and the pursuit of liberty; 2) The Frugalite, a website with thrifty tips and solutions to help people get a handle on their personal finances without feeling deprived; and 3) PreppersDailyNews.com, an aggregate site where you can find links to all the most important news for those who wish to be prepared. Her work is widely republished across alternative media and she has appeared in many interviews.
Daisy is the best-selling author of 5 traditionally published books, 12 self-published books, and runs a small digital publishing company with PDF guides, printables, and courses at SelfRelianceand Survival.com You can find her on Facebook, Pinterest, Gab, MeWe, Parler, Instagram, and Twitter.
5 thoughts on “Make Fall More Frugal with DIY Pumpkin Spice Creamer”
I’d venture to guess that the DIY beverage has a heck of a lot less calories too. So besides saving money (a little or a lot), you’ll save on calories.
Hello Daisy!
This DIY creamer s so delicious. I used the Agave 5 , and like you, I really like this low-carb sweetener. Thanks for telling us all about it 🙂
One morning I decided to experiment a bit with the creamer, and used it to dunk thick slices of sourdough bread for French Toast. Oh, My. Goodness. Gracious. So divine. Divine, I say!
You are greatly appreciated and dearly loved for all you do.
Have a blessed and safe week!
I’ve never had a Starbucks pumpkin spice latte but I sure do love pumpkin spice. I looked over their ingredient list and actually was a bit impressed as there weren’t the terrible ingredients I was expecting – still not the kind of thing I want to eat on a regular basis. So this recipe is much better! Personally I don’t bother with blue agave since it’s just an expensive way to have a sweetener that’s still really refined, but hey, I’m not going to gripe, I’m just going to use a different sweetener. It’s a treat so to each their own.
I will say one thing though. If you love nutmeg, and haven’t tried it freshly grated, it’s so worth doing that. Whole nutmegs have a very long shelf life and it’s very easy to grate them with a fine toothed grater or microplane. The fresh aromatics are next level!
Okay, just looked up Agave 5. I wouldn’t object to it as much as a basically agave flavored monk fruit and stevia based low calorie sweetener, so sorry for thinking I knew what it was before looking.
No worries! It’s really very good!