In most things, I am the opposite of a procrastinator. Would I be called an advancer? Maybe a before-er? Probably a preparer. I’ll say that I’m a prepper, just not in the “doomsday prepper” sense. I’m a prepper because I like to prepare for EVERYTHING in advance. I plan meals in advance, schedule activities in advance, and occasionally annoy my family with my desire to plan our lives out five years in advance. I keep snacks, first aid, and something to entertain my kids in every bag and vehicle. Basically instead of prepping for the end of the world, I’m prepping for every day of my life.
One way I prep to make my life easier is to have pre-made dry mixes for recipes that I use frequently. I cook and bake from scratch as much as possible, but as the kids get older and involved in more activities, the busyness increases each year. For some reason, my brain thinks it is SO.MUCH.WORK. to measure out the dry ingredients to make a batch of muffins or cookies. Pulling out the measuring cups and spoons, measuring each ingredient, washing everything…ugh. So I started measuring the dry ingredients for my favorite recipes and storing them either in the pantry or in the freezer. It has made a huge difference in me being able to serve my family homemade food even on our busy mornings and evenings.
Let’s Get Started
I start with a tried-and-true family favorite recipe. Then, I break it down into steps to make a dry mix:
- Decide how many batches of the recipe you want to make. If I’m measuring anyway, I’ll usually do at least two batches at a time.
- Print out copies of the recipe. (I copy and paste into a Word doc and fit several copies onto one page.
- Make sure you have all the ingredients on hand (and plenty of them!)
- Scan the recipe instructions. For instance, if a recipe calls for butter and sugar to be mixed together, measure the sugar and butter (still in its wrapping or wrapped in plastic) into one bag. If a recipe calls for sugar to be mixed with oil, measure the sugar into a bag separate from the other dry ingredients.
- Measure all dry ingredients that are mixed together into one plastic zip-top bag.
- Combine all measured ingredients for one batch of the recipe in a gallon size zip-top bag along with the recipe, making sure the recipe is easily seen from the outside of the bag.
You can do this with any recipe that your family enjoys. If you make something on a regular basis, you’ll love having all those measuring steps done ahead of time. I prefer to make several dry mixes at a time to combine all the measuring into one session of prep work. So here’s a list of our family’s favorite recipes that work well for me to prepare using a made-ahead dry mix.
Read: A Busy Mom’s Guide to Meal Planning
Favorite Breakfast Mixes
Pancake+Waffle Mix (my recipe HERE)
See my post HERE for the Best Pancake Mix recipe. This recipe came from my mother-in-law, and I use it weekly. I use the same mix for pancakes and waffles to keep it simple.
Peanut Butter Baked Oatmeal (from Lynn’s Kitchen Adventures)
Baked oatmeal is not on weekly rotation, but we do enjoy it in the fall, especially. This peanut butter version is easy and tastes great. She also has a delicious Cinnamon Roll Baked Oatmeal that would be a great option for a dry mix.
Make-Ahead Muffin Mixes
We do Muffin Mondays at our house. Check out THIS POST if you want to know more about our breakfast on repeat plan. To make Monday mornings even easier, you can make up some dry mixes ahead of time. Then, on Sunday afternoon, pull out your mix, add a few wet ingredients, give it a stir and you’re done!
Zucchini Muffin Mix (from Mommy I’m Hungry)
To prep the mix for these muffins, set up a mini assembly line and get several batches ready for the freezer. Here’s how I do it:
- Shred zucchini and portion into Ziploc quart bags – 2 cups of zucchini in each bag
- Measure sugar into plastic sandwich bags – (I always reduce the amount of sugar called for in muffin recipes, usually by half)
- Measure remaining dry ingredients – flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, & nutmeg) into plastic sandwich bags.
- Place one bag of zucchini, one bag of sugar, and one bag of dry ingredients into a gallon size bag, along with a copy of the recipe. Make sure the recipe title is readable from the outside of the bag.
- Freeze your muffin mix. Since the zucchini will need to thaw slightly to make these muffins, I take this mix out of the freezer on Saturday and keep it in the fridge till I am ready to make the muffins on Sunday afternoon.
Banana Muffin Mix (Awesome Banana Muffins from Cat Can Cook)
This is the best, easiest banana muffin recipe I’ve ever tried. I’ve been making this muffin for years and they always turn out great. I use whatever combination of white and whole wheat flour I have on hand. I’ve added blueberries and chocolate chips (although not together!) and they are fantastic. It’s so simple, no mixer needed. This is a staple that I make a couple times a month at our house. My husband jokes that he buys bananas and saves them just to have mushy bananas for me to use in these muffins!
Blueberry Muffin Mix (Starbucks Copycat Blueberry Muffins from Crazy for Crust)
This recipe is a new favorite for our family. I included this recipe in my Big List of Blueberry Recipes post HERE. I made these with both our fresh blueberries and frozen blueberries and it is ahh-mazing. So of course I made a dry mix to keep in the pantry for Muffin Monday. For this recipe, put together a dry mix for the muffin recipe itself and a separate mix with the flour and sugar for the topping. Then keep the muffin mix and topping mix together in a gallon size Ziploc bag.
Favorite Dinner Mixes
Cornbread Mix (My Favorite Cornbread from Sally’s Baking Addiction)
This one is great to keep in the pantry for the fall and winter. It bakes in 20 minutes and my kids love it as a side for soup, salad, or some pulled pork.
Irish Brown Bread (Traditional Irish Brown Bread from Taste of Home)
Perfect accompaniment to soup in the fall or winter. It takes a bit of baking time, but having the dry ingredients ready-to-go means you can can get dinner on the table or help kids with homework while the delicious smell of homemade bread keeps everyone close to the kitchen!
Favorite Dessert Mixes
Banana Bread (from Simply Recipes)
If you read all the way down here, you know that my family loves, loves, loves the banana muffin recipe from Cat Can Cook. But somehow, we always have more overripe bananas than I can use up in those muffins or smoothies. (Maybe because my husband wasn’t joking and really does bring home extra bananas!) This banana bread recipe is so good and disappears almost before I even get a taste.
Chocolate Chip Cookies (White Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies from Six Sisters’ Stuff)
I’ve been making this chocolate chip cookie recipe for a long time. I use whatever kind of chocolate chips I have on hand, usually a combination of white and semi-sweet. (For this recipe, I package all the dry ingredients that get mixed together in one bag. I put the rolled oats and chips together in a separate bag, since they get added together at the end of the recipe.)
Brownie Mix (The Best Brownie Mix from Crazy for Crust)
You don’t need to buy a boxed mix…make your own! This recipe includes instructions for baking three different pan sizes using different quantities of the mix and added ingredients. Using a canister or container for this mix (like I do with my pancake mix) works great for this one. Attach the recipe to the canister so you don’t have to go searching for it. It’s easy to measure the amount of mix you need based on the pan size and add your oil, eggs, vanilla, and water.
Make Your Own Favorite Mixes
You can do this with your favorite recipes, too. Just read the recipe instructions to determine how the ingredients are mixed together. If the recipe calls for mixing sugar with egg or butter – package the sugar in one small sandwich bag and mix the rest of the dry ingredients in a separate bag. You can have the convenience of a quick and easy mix without feeding your family a bunch of unpronounceable ingredients from a store-bought mix. A cake mix would be another great option to add to this make-ahead mix list.
If you use fresh dry ingredients, most of these mixes will stay good at room temperature for at least six months.
(In case someone is counting up the number of plastic bags I go through for the selfish sake of my convenience, let me put your mind at ease. I reuse my plastic bags. Yup, I’m a crazy lady who washes and reuses my ziploc bags!
BONUS: These would make fabulous “Gift in a Jar” mixes. Perfect for Christmas gifts, birthday gifts, or hostess gifts!
Read: A-Z Healthy Foods for Kids to Try
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This is a great list. Thanks for including my baked oatmeal. Making it into a mix makes it even easier to make!
Thanks! We love your baked oatmeal recipes – sometimes I even put it in my kids’ lunches!