Make delicious flavored coffee at home

Flavored coffee can be expensive. You can make your own at home for a fraction of the cost. The first reader tip shares a flavored creamer recipe. You can add flavor to your coffee grounds before brewing, too. Simply add 1 teaspoon cocoa and 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon to your coffee grounds. When it's done brewing, sweeten it to your taste and top with whipped cream.

Homemade creamer: The sweetened flavored creamers, besides being expensive, are hard to work into a low-fat, low-sugar diet. I purchased a small commercial version, and after using the sweetened, flavored creamer, I took off the label and put the bottle and flip-up top in the dishwasher. I purchased nonfat half-and-half creamer (less expensive store brand) and several flavors of sugar-free syrups (French vanilla, chocolate, almond Roca, blueberry - the same ones that are available at Starbucks) and after experimenting, I know the ratio of creamer to flavoring that I like (50-50). So I mix my own using the bottle I recycled. Since I use the smaller bottle, I can change the flavor every time I remix, but I have plain for guests who don't like flavored coffee.

- Cynthia M.

Use up food: Add a dab of oatmeal or cream of wheat to stews or soups. If you don't add a lot, no one will know the difference. You can use the fat trimmed from steak to fry the steak. You can use the greens from leeks to flavor stocks. Remove the bits and discard after cooking. You can use the skins from onions in the water when boiling eggs to change the color of the eggs, so you know which are the hard-boiled ones. (Use red onion skins on brown eggs.) You can make cheese sticks (baked) with the ends of miscellaneous. types of cheese, mixed. You can keep a quart Mason jar for broken pasta of all types and cook it once a year. You can pay attention to what's getting tossed and buy less of that, if possible.

- Judi, New Hampshire

How to tell if your produce is genetically modified: For fresh produce, there are three types you can choose from. There are organic, conventional and genetically modified. Most organic food is labeled as such, but there really is no way to know if that apple is conventional or genetically modified. Or is there? It's in the code. The numbers on the sticker either begin with a 4, 8, 5 or 9. Nine is organic, 4 is conventional, and 8 or 5 is genetically modified. So always look at the little sticker on the apples, tomatoes, bananas, etc., and make sure it starts with a 9 or a 4. Stay clear of 8 and 5. The code on my Braeburn apple is 4103, so it's a conventional apple.

- Ann K., Florida

Steppingstones: I picked up a few Wilton character molded cake pans at the thrift store. I never ended up using them for cakes, But they work great as molds to make homemade steppingstones. I grease them with petroleum jelly, so the cement pops out. I've read other people use sand sprinkled on the bottom of the mold or a plastic, but I haven't tried that. I bought steppingstone mix at the craft store, but you can use a quickset cement, too. Just make sure to tap down the cement after pouring it to get rid of any air bubbles, and use concrete sealant after it dries. My grandkids loved their personalized garden steppingstones. I added marbles (flat type), shells, small stones, pennies and pieces of tile to the cement.

- Jennifer L., Pennsylvania

• Sara Noel owns Frugal Village (frugalvillage.com), a website that offers practical, money-saving strategies for everyday living. Send tips, comments or questions to Sara Noel, c/o United Media, 200 Madison Ave., 4th Floor, New York, NY 10016, or sara@frugalvillage.com.