Have you ever ran out of dressing or spices right when you need it the most? That will never happen again if you try these make ahead recipes!
I try to avoid hydrogenated oils, high fructose corn syrup, MSG and other ingredients that hide out in most store bought dressings and spice mixes. There are some decent natural dressings out there, but they cost twice as much. This past year I started creating my own spice mixes and dressing and dip mixes. They taste amazing and so fresh! I love to double the recipes and make a bigger batch and store them in cute mason jars in my cabinet. When I need a certain dressing or want to make a dip I can just whip it up really fast! They also make great gifts. Carrie gets migraines from MSG and she loves Ranch dressing so I made her a pint of Ranch mix for Christmas. My husband is teaching himself how to cook so the girls and I made him some spice mixes as a gift.
These are some of the recipes I have tried and love:
Gwen’s Nest has some of my favorite mixes that I use on a regular basis:
Ranch Dressing Mix
Greek Salad Dressing Recipe
Homemade Chili Mix
Taco Seasoning
Snappy Gourmet has 6 different Ranch Seasoning Recipes
Keeper of the Home has compiled 17 different mix recipes
Hearts, Hands and Home has some great baking mixes with LOTS of recipes to use them in:
Making Mixes 101 (includes a Brownie Mix)
All Purpose Quick Mix
Gingerbread Mix
Maple Brown Sugar Oatmeal Mix
Tortilla Mix
5 Minute Bread Refrigerator Mix
Perfect Pancake Mix
Corn Bread Mix
Budget 101 has THE biggest list of convenient mixes! There are 491 recipes in alphabetical order!
Did you know you can premake meals in Mason Jars?
Confessions of a Barefoot Housewife has 20 Meal in a Jar Recipes
Make Ahead Salads in a Jar
Big Red Kitchen has an entire page devoted to Mason Jar Meals with tutorials, videos and lots of recipes. I am really intrigued by these Breakfast Bowls in a Jar. My husband could eat these on the way out the door at 6 am!
Mountain Rose Herbs is my favorite place to buy bulk herbs and spices for mixes. They have great prices and they have high quality and organic spices. Make sure you sign up for their newsletter to get their monthly specials.
Here are some books on Make Ahead Mixes and my favorite dissolvable labels that are hard to find in stores:
 Ball Dissolvable Labels $4.49 |  Make Ahead Mix Day for the Kindle Was |  Meals in a Jar Was |
Are you inspired now to pre-make lots of mixes and meals to make your busy life easier? I am inspired to drop the school books and do “life school” in the kitchen today!
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