Instant Hot Cocoa Mix

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If you’ve known me for some time, you know I’m all about reading ingredient labels on products. Yes, we can opt for just buying the organic versions of whatever we’re looking for. But, one by one I’ve become less dependent on pre-made, store-bought items. In the world we’re living in today, that might be what we need to get back to. Am I right?

Healthier versions of pre-made items can get quite pricey, and for a medium to larger-sized family this adds up quickly. Paying for convenience isn’t always the best choice for us on a daily basis. It costs us over $45 to visit Chick-Fil-A, the same amount it costs just Ernie and I to eat at a nice restaurant with a tip. Therefore, the more I can make from scratch, the more it saves us in the long run.

The time it takes to make things from scratch can be planned out ahead of time. And instead of vegetating on the couch for an extra 30 minutes, we can take a little extra time to make things a little healthier for ourselves and our family.

Real food made from scratch is less processed and more nutritious.

How? Pre-made items must be preserved (usually with chemicals), plus, most of the nutrition is stripped away when it is processed into the form needed to package and sell it. They must do this in order to keep a longer shelf life and therefore yield higher profits

I talk about this a lot. Yes, it may cost a few extra dollars more upfront to make meals from scratch sometimes, but you’re getting way more food, and overall does cost much less. I can make two dinners worth of food to feed my family from one pound of dry beans. Or, I can spend three times as much buying it already made in a can. The canned item also contains preservatives and additives we don’t know about, and it is less nutritious. Yes, it works in a pinch, but it shouldn’t be our everyday go-to.

Convenience has a price in the long run – both in cost and in health.

No, we cannot control everything, but with knowledge we can choose to control what we can control so as not to make a bad situation worse. We watch for the amount of heated plastics, aluminum, and radiation we allow to touch our food.

I use non-gmo cocoa powder, instant powdered milk, non-gmo sugar, and a dash of pink salt. Hershey’s cocoa now has the non-gmo verified label on it.

After searching and finding out what goes into homemade instant cocoa mix, it was a matter of testing and figuring out the right combination. I tried a few of them from online sources that I found, but I really needed to figure out my own. Something just wasn’t right.

This particular recipe I created can be compared to the “Perfectly Chocolate Hot Cocoa” recipe found on the back of the Hershey’s cocoa container. The difference is that this one is an “instant” mix, just like if you were using the packets. It’s simple and easy, nothing fancy to it. So, you can use either boiling hot water or heated milk to mix it up.

**You can also sub out sugar for the equivalent of Stevia (the best sugar-free option), or a lower-glycemic option like coconut sugar. Personally, I love this hot cocoa made with coconut sugar. I’m not a fan of Stevia, but if you are, go for it. That’s another great thing about making things yourself – it can be customized to your diet preferences.