Cold-brewed coffee

One of the difficult things about eating economically is the problem of what to do about drinks. Well, obviously, we drink water. We both love drinking cold water. In the winter, I like drinking hot water, a habit I picked up in China. But we can't live on water alone, can we? We've completely cut out alcohol, on the grounds that it's unnecessary and expensive. We don't drink juice, because it's expensive and isn't very good for you--all the sugar from fruit with none of the fiber. Baby B is the only one who likes to drink milk.

We used to have a coffee habit that set us back $30-40 every week. That's all gone now. But who wants to live a totally caffeine-free life? No one who has a toddler, that's for sure.

I heard about cold-brewing coffee about a year ago and it sounded so eccentric--coffee beans into plain water?--that I was sure it wouldn't work. But then my mother-in-law made some for me, and I was hooked. Not only does it make a pitcher of delicious iced coffee that lasts me for a week, it also makes far more iced coffee than the equivalent amount of beans would make hot coffee. Yet another big win for the thrifty B family! We can get a pound of organic coffee beans for $5.68, and it lasts for weeks and weeks. Now, that sure beats the vast sums a lot of people spend at the inevitable Starbucks.

Ingredients:
3/4 cup of ground coffee beans (you don't have grind your own, but I do because I have a coffee grinder and I prefer freshly ground beans)
1/2 gallon water

This really couldn't be simpler. Mix your beans with your water in a pitcher, cover it, and let it steep at room temperature for 24 hours. Drain it through a fine-mesh sieve into another pitcher, discard coffee grounds, and you're ready to go. Refrigerate the coffee once you've drained it.

I like to have this with unsweetened almond milk, a new discovery of mine. Not only is it higher in calcium and lower in carbs and calories than dairy milk, it tastes wonderful and it's $0.70 cheaper per half-gallon at our local supermarket.

P.S. I've heard of people heating this up in the microwave to make hot coffee. I don't think this would taste very good. If you want hot coffee, I recommend the old-fashioned way.