Disclaimer disclaimer disclaimer blah blah blah...check with your doctor first before ANYTHING, etc etc.
Ok....now. If you're taking a SAFE herb, know what dosages are SAFE (disclaimer disclaimer blah blah blah)...it might be frugal to make some of your own supplements.
FOOD, fresh and straight from the garden to the plate is the best of everything. There is just no substitute for garden fresh nutrition. That's always the first goal.
As a backup, there are things I want that I do not yet grow or process. For example, we grow moringa for its leaves and enjoy them most of the year, except the colder months. I would like to enjoy the health benefits of some of the dried moringa leaf powder so I've been experimenting with a more affordable form than what I found available to me at first search in the stores (nada) and the internet (bingo!). A single bottle containing 120 capsules of the straight-up pure moringa lead (dried, powdered), with shipping is going to run me about $30. That's for about 3 dried ounces of product total weight. In my world, that is going to add up too quickly.
Finding the Stuff I Need: So I priced the moringa powder all by itself. This was more affordable. I found a source I liked where I could purchase 16 dry ounces (1lb) of the powder for about $25.00 inclusive of shipping and handling. Since moringa is the backbone of a self-designed little health regimen I'm currently trying, for me it was affordable in comparison with some other options. So I bought the pound of powdered leaf. It's as fine as cornstarch. 1/2 a teaspoon can be made into tea and so on. In any concentrated form, it has a very strong flavor, and I was wanting to take not only teas but also higher concentrations of the leaf powder.
How To Make A Pill?: So I ventured to the health food store to see if they carried any empty "veg-caps" (gelcaps not made of gelatin) with which to make my own moringa capsules to take with my other supplements by mouth. Yeesh...a tiny box of 100 "0" size caps was about 8 bucks!!!
So After I Pawned An Arm And A Leg: I ponied up for one box till I could find a better alternative since I wanted to begin taking them sooner than later. I went home, poured out a little of the powder into a bowl, and in about 20 minutes' time I had filled all 100 caplets with moringa leaf powder and stored them in one of the brown glass bottles I save from other supplements as we use them up. Now I have a bottle of 100 caplets for a lot less than what I could get them online. A bottle of 120 (3 oz) costs about $30, remember?
But I can do better than that...and I have a LOT of moringa powder left (it barely looks like I've used any so far)
O Google My Google: So I found an online source for "veg" gelcaps...1,000 for $11.00...now we're talking!
I Failed Math But Let's Try This Anyway:
...if I fill 120 caps with @ 3 oz of powder, let's see if I can guesstimate the math...
$25 = 16 oz powder breaks down to..... @ $ 1.57/oz.....3 oz of powder = $ 4.71
Plus
$ 11.00 = 1,000 gelcaps breaks down to... @ $ .011 per caplet.....120 caplets = $ 1.32
GRAND TOTAL = $ 6.03 homemade 120 caplets of powder
VS
$ 30.00 storebought moringa caplets
A SAVINGS OF $ 23.97 per bottle (which is hypothetical because I'd never have paid that much anyway. It simply means I CAN purchase it now, whereas before, I couldnt)
Conclusion of the DIY Caplet-Filling Caper: This works well for anything as far as a safe natural herb that would normally be taken in caplet form.
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Soon, I'll be making tinctures. It's as easy as 100 proof alchohol plus a certain proportion of medicinal/nutritive (SAFE ONES ONLY) herbs and such, plus time, and then bottling it up. Those savings, too, are astronomical in comparison with retail for those tiny dropper bottles of tinctures/extracts that can run anywhere from 6 bucks a bottle on up to 18 dollars or more...for a tiny bottle.
Anyway, more on that when I assemble my ingredients.
I just had to share about the savings on the caplets. People not needing to use the vegetarian (non-gelatin) caplets can find the gelcaps at an even better bargain. We go for the vegetarian sort because of wanting to avoid pork-derived products.
And of course, if you grow your OWN herb, moringa, whatever....that cuts the cost after growing, drying, and powdering it to next to nothing :)
Anyone out here doing this one? I'd love to hear about what supplements you "fill" yourself!
I should have started doing this a lot sooner. I did it years ago and then slacked off. Why oh why?? (head-smack moment!) :)
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