You know what I love? Pumpkin lattes. You know what I also love? Figuring out how to save money by making pumpkin lattes at home.
I’m gonna be honest – I love fancy coffee drinks. Well, now I love fancy DECAF coffee drinks since I had to give up my beloved caffeine. But I adore all those Starbucks drinks that come each season.
What I don’t love is the price.
This girl can NOT afford regular Starbucks purchases. I’ll go once in a while with a friend, but that may be once every two months on average.
Yeah, I know what you are thinking. I don’t get out much.
While that may be true, it doesn’t mean I have to resort to only having a pumpkin latte once every two months (or once a year since they are only sold during fall.)
Nope, I can make as many as I want at home for a fraction of the price. Not only that, but I grew my own pie pumpkins this year, so I don’t even have to buy the pumpkin puree at the grocery store which can be a bit pricey.
I counted, I have 23 pie pumpkins sitting in my pumpkin patch right now. That’s a lot of lattes since I only use a couple tablespoons of pumpkin in each latte.
Of course, I’ll use the pumpkins for other things too. I’m an “I love all things pumpkin” kind of girl, so I’ll be making pumpkin bread, pumpkin pie, pumpkin pancakes, pumpkin donuts….
I wait all year for this season. I love so much about it. The fall boots, the cozy sweaters, the crunchy leaves….but I especially love the pumpkins because I love to eat.
No joke, recently it was my birthday and I wanted sushi. On top of that my husband (okay, I totally just accidentally pluralized husband and then started to laugh – definitely only have one husband here) bought me a huge bag of pistachios and a bottle of kombucha. He then looks at me and says “um…we’re foodies, aren’t we?”
I’m not sure why it took him so long to figure that one out. I knew that we were foodies ages ago. But he finally figured out that as long as we get to eat whatever we want on our birthdays, we’re happy. We don’t need any fancy toys or parties – we just want food, and lots of it.
Shopping for my birthday is going to be a lot easier for him here on out.
Anyways, back to the pumpkin latte. Spending a ton of money on fancy coffee shop drinks is a quick way to break your budget. I don’t advise it if you are trying to save money. But making them at home is actually pretty simple.
The best part about this pumpkin latte though is that not only is it frugal, but it doesn’t have the crazy amount of sugar those coffee shop drinks have. Nope, this one is sweetened with maple syrup – because if there is one thing us Canadians love, it’s maple syrup. And maple syrup combined with pumpkin is like a match-made in heaven.
Like I mentioned above, I use pureed pumpkin from our pie pumpkins that I roast and then freeze, but you can use canned pumpkin too. Even though it can be pricey, you can keep your eye out for a sale and buy store brand if available as well to save some money.
And you can actually take that can and freeze the rest of the pureed pumpkin – because you don’t need it all for one latte. Just scoop it out into ice cube trays, then pop out the cubes when frozen and put it in a freezer bag. You’ll have some pumpkin puree you can grab at a moment’s notice!
This recipe is also dairy-free, but you can use cow’s milk if you prefer.
So, let’s make some lattes!
EASY AND FRUGAL PUMPKIN LATTE
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Brew some coffee. You’ll need 1/4 cup for the latte. Make sure it’s strong because it will taste better. 🙂 I use decaf, but you can use whatever you prefer.
While that’s brewing, toss all the other ingredients in your blender. This will be 1 tbsp maple syrup, 2 tbsp pumpkin puree, 1 cup of almond milk, 1/4 tsp vanilla extract, 1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice. Blend these ingredients well.
Pour the blender mix into a pot and add the 1/4 cup of coffee. Heat on medium heat until just below boiling.
Once heated you can froth it up. I use a handheld frother that I got for only 10 dollars and it works amazingly well. However, if you don’t have a frother you can use a high speed blender to get your drink all frothy. I used to do that before I had a frother.
Pour the latte into a mug. While pouring your latte into a mug you will want to hold back the froth with a spoon. Then scoop the froth on top of the latte.
And there you go! You’ve got yourself a cheap pumpkin latte that didn’t even take that long to whip up!
Easy and Frugal Pumpkin Spice Latte
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup Strong coffee
- 1 cup Almond milk
- 1/2 tsp Pumpkin spice
- 1/4 tsp Vanilla
- 1 tbsp Maple syrup
- 2 tbsp Pureed pumpkin (fresh or canned is fine)
Instructions
- Brew your coffee. Make sure it is strong.
- Put all other ingredients in blender (not the coffee) and blend well.
- Pour the blender mix into a pot and add the coffee. Heat on medium heat until just below boiling.
- Remove from heat and froth with either a hand held frother or a high speed blender.
- Pour into your mug while holding back the froth with a spoon. Scoop the froth out on top of your beverage.
- Enjoy!
No Starbucks for us either! We don’t have it in our budget and we just like our home coffee better. Two and a half years ago we found a Jura Impressa at thrift store for only $20 so we have awesome coffee and espresso anytime we want it and we don’t have to drive anywhere. I am not a huge fan of pumpkin spice but I do love my vanilla iced coffee that I make at home and that saves a lot of money right there and it tastes way better. I do agree on the sugar. Iced coffee from out is way too sweet.
That is a lot of pumpkins! You will be well supplied for the year. I rely on ALdi where the cans are just 79 cents.
Iced coffee is perfect for those warmer days, and not too hard to make at home. Sounds like you found an awesome deal at the thrift store. Good job!