Your kitchen can be your pharmacy, believe it or not.  Instead of running to the local drug store, mass-market store or supermarket for over the counter medication, or even lotion, try looking in those kitchen cabinets first.  There are so many different food ingredients that you can use to fill these needs – all you need is a bit of ingenuity, patience and a few good homemade remedy recipes.

As a mom of three children, I’ve had my share of using those over the counter medications, but as time went on and I studied more about homemade remedies and actually tried some of the, I realized that perhaps these kitchen remedies were actually better than what was being sold in the pharmacy.

Let me be the first to say, however, that these remedies don’t always work as quickly as the over the counter cures.  That being said, I would prefer giving my child repeated doses of buckwheat honey and garlic than children’s cough medication.  Used in small amounts, the honey and garlic mixture is pretty close to harmless, while the effect of those cold medications is not really known.  In fact, some parents have accidently overdosed their children on these medication in their zeal to give their child relief from coughing.   This is not to say that kitchen remedies can’t be harmful.  There is always the danger of overdosing or causing an allergic reaction, so even natural remedies must be used with care.

Give these homemade remedies a try – use your kitchen as your main pharmacy.  If you do not see results, you always have the option of using the over the counter medications, but take it from me, most of these kitchen remedies work just as well, if not better than something that you can purchase from the store.