I am not going to pretend my coffee habit is cheap. Between the beans and the flavored creamer bottles, I was spending an embarrassing amount every month, and the creamer was the worst part. Seven dollars for a bottle that lasted a week and a half. My wife pointed out that I was paying premium prices for milk, sugar, and flavoring, and that I could make the same thing for pocket change.

The base recipe

Homemade creamer is just three things: sweetened condensed milk, regular milk or cream, and flavoring. The classic ratio is one can of sweetened condensed milk mixed with one and a half cups of milk or half and half. That is your blank canvas, and it keeps in the fridge for about two weeks.

Flavors that beat the store brands

The store bottles have nothing on what you can mix at home:

• Vanilla: two teaspoons of vanilla extract in the base.
• Hazelnut: a teaspoon of hazelnut extract, or a spoonful of hazelnut syrup from the coffee aisle.
• Caramel: stir in a few tablespoons of caramel sauce until smooth.
• Pumpkin spice: pumpkin puree, maple syrup, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Fall in a bottle, for pennies.

What it actually costs

A can of sweetened condensed milk runs about two dollars and milk is a couple more. That makes a batch for around four dollars that lasts as long as two store bottles. I save roughly ten dollars a week, which is forty dollars a month, just on creamer. The extracts cost a few dollars once and last for dozens of batches.

Make it a Sunday ritual

I mix a batch on Sunday while the coffee brews. Five minutes, one jar, done. If you like your creamer thinner, add more milk. Sweeter, another spoon of sugar. That is the part the store cannot do. My wife was right, which she usually is, and I have not bought a bottle of flavored creamer in months.