Keurig Coffee Maker and K-Cups

Unfortunately with a family of four, and three Starbucks within a mile of my house our love for coffee started adding up a $20 a day habit. I started to see the college fund swirling in the foamy lattes. Giving up coffee was out of the question. We have kids, a business, work, we needed that caffeine burst. But any old coffee maker would not do. We each had our own particular taste for coffee. We did not want to negotiate, measure, wait, waste and clean. We needed something where I can have my mild coffee, my husband could have his bold and I could still wisk out hot chocolates for the kiddos.

We came across the Keurig coffee maker in the grocery store one day and it seemed to be our answer! A single cup gourmet brewing system. No cleaning, no fighting over today's flavor, no waiting for brewing, no prep! Would it work for us? Would we use it? It was a big initial investment at $90-$150. Now with premium options that number can be in the 'ouch' $200 range. Then again, with our foursome that was only a handful of trips to the corner coffee store so we tried it. Of course this was no impulse buy. We researched, window shopped, pondered and shopped some more. Was there a good selection? Was it hard to find? Would we spend more money? In the end, that gleaming Keurig machine on sale at the end of the grocery isle got us one day and we made the leap.

We have not looked back. It is great! We each have our favorite coffee, the children can make their hot chocolate in a hurry plus we have found numerous uses such as making instant oatmeal and jello. I have featured some of the models and also included a TIP section below.

We saved some money and ordered our coffees on-line at Coffeewhiz or Amazon. With over 100 options to choose from it was heaven. There are decaf, regular, bold flavors my husband likes like Kona and Dark Magic. There were fun flavors I like such as Chocolate Glazed Donut and Butter Toffee. There are hot chocolates that my children love. There are teas for those non-java drinkers. Then we discovered it made just hot water. We competed to see who could come up with the best ways to use the hot water feature for items such as instant oatmeal and jello. Yes, we used it! All the time! It has been 6 months and I find new ways to use it every week. At around $0.50 a cup its great way to have have your favorite coffee and save on your budget!

TIPS

• Buy disposable coffee to go cups or a travel mug for coffee on the run.
  
• Use distilled water. It tastes great and keeps the filtering clean.
  
• Use it for recipes that call for hot water.
  
• Purchase store flavored creamers to sweeten it up. You can almost always find a coupon in the local Sunday paper for extra savings.
  
• Find fun coffee recipes like this one from Carnation for a Three-minute Caramel Latte
  
• Use a 20% coupon from Bed Bath and Beyond to buy the machine or stock up on k-cup coffees.
  
• Order on-line at places like Coffeewhiz to buy in bulk and save on shipping.
  
• Check your local grocery store's coffee isle for flavors on sale.
  
• Enjoy!