I love iced coffee but I have a hearty dislike for spending $3 or $4 every day with my local barista.

Like every good Krazy Coupon Lady I needed to find a way to close the gap between my morning pick-me-up and my reluctant pocketbook.

I am also in the process of shedding a few pounds, and everywhere I check the coffee drinks are loaded with sugar and calories.

It took a bit of trial and error, but I figured out how to have an iced coffee every morning and stay on a tight budget (caloric and financial).

Let’s use a price of $1.70 before tax for a 22 oz. (270 calories) McDonald’s iced vanilla coffee. These days I spend $0.22 cents to make my own: an 87 percent savings. Huzzah! My total monthly coffee budget? $7.00.  I also save 6,000 calories each and every month. Hello, skinny jeans!

You Need:

• One pound of your favorite coffee
• Large container (I use a large stock pot.)
• Eight quarts of cold water
• Large pitcher or covered container
• Refrigerator

How it Works:

1. Pour the entire bag of coffee into the LARGE container.
2. Cover the coffee with 8 quarts of cold water and cover your container. Let this sit at least 8 hours or overnight while the coffee cold brews.
3. Place a strainer with a cheesecloth or paper towel over a large gallon pitcher. Pour the brew through the strainer into the container. Keep filing containers until you are left with only grounds. Refrigerate the containers. The very concentrated brew will keep in the fridge for about a month.
4. Discard or compost the coffee grinds.

Recipes

Skinny Iced Coffee

• Fill a tall glass with ice.
• Add one packet of Splenda or Truvia.
• Add 1/2 cup of 2 percent, 1 percent, or nonfat milk.
• Add coffee to rim.
• Stir and enjoy.

Naughty Iced Coffee

• Fill tall glass with ice.
• Add 1/8 tsp. vanilla extract.
• Add 1/8 cup sugar (or to taste).
• Add 1/8 cup half and half (or to taste).
• Add coffee to rim.
• Stir and enjoy.

Personalize your coffee recipes. For example, this past month I used French Vanilla ground coffee instead of my usual regular breakfast blend. During the fall I love to use pumpkin pie flavored coffee .

Keep in mind this technique makes 32 cups of coffee. I drink two a day. My local grocery store has a BOGO coffee deal now and then, which is when I stock up with coupons. I can typically get good coffee for about $2 a pound.

This has been a guest post by Joy from Columbus, GA.
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