Savings by Making Own Bread?

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2dogs+someCats
Posts: 845
Joined: Mon Jan 02, 2017 7:46 pm

Re: Savings by Making Own Bread?

Post by 2dogs+someCats »

Let me see...

I use about 3 cups of flour to make a loaf of bread - cost is about .18 cents if I'm using the 4 lb. bag of flour purchased at dollar tree.

I buy yeast in bulk - paid about $6 for a pound - so the 2 1/4 teaspoons I use to make a loaf of bread is "practically nothing" - but let's say 5 cents.

1 and a half tablespoons of sugar - I don't even know - but let's round that up to .10 cents.

Usually use about .34 cents worth of almond milk - sometime cheaper (Dollar Tree) soy milk or even cheaper - the juice from canned tomatoes or other vegetables in place of the milk. But let's say the .34 cents worth of almond milk in this case.

About 6 cents worth of oil and shortening for greasing the pan.

1/2 teaspoon of salt - I don't know - 2 cents maybe?

So about .70 cents at the very most for ingredients - but then there is the cost of running the electric oven. When I use my oven I try to use it efficiently and make several things at once or in quick succession. If I'm making bread I will usually make two loaves and also bake some cookies or something (today was cinnamon rolls) and maybe bake a casserole like homemade mac & cheese or roast some vegetables.

So given the price of "good" bread in grocery stores, I'm saving quite a bit. However, factor in the cost of operating the oven if I was just going to bake a loaf of bread
and I don't know.

I can buy a loaf of "acceptable" bread at the Dollar Tree. I just prefer baking my own. I practically live on homemade soup and homemade bread in the winter.
gaylejackson2
Posts: 3172
Joined: Tue Sep 08, 2015 1:13 pm
Location: Utah

Re: Savings by Making Own Bread?

Post by gaylejackson2 »

Back before I figured out that regular wheat/gluteny flour made me deathy ill, I used to bake bread about once a week, making 4-5 loaves at a time. I think I figured out that I could make basic bread (no eggs) for $0.55 each because I buy yeast & flour in larger quantities, and more "fancy" bread for $0.80. Good quality bread is $2 each loaf on sale, and $3 regular.

Now I no longer bake gluteny goods from scratch, though I buy premade cookie dough sometimes, and occasionally frozen bread dough for $4.99/5 loaves and bake those.

I do bake Gluten-Free bread, cookies, etc. from scratch as stuff form the store is either highly priced, really nasty, or BOTH! ugh! GF bread is $7 for 9 slices, yucky spongey flavourless, and not anything I'd ever want a sandwich on unless I was really desperate (and I was desperate last summer hence how I know what it tastes like).

I figured last summer that I can mix 10 pounds of GF flour blend (I make it similar to Bob's Red mill all-purpose flour blend) for $12 -- biggest bag I can buy here is Grandpa's Kitchen 5 pounds for $16 and it's heavily based on rice flours, so I'm saving myself $20 each time I mix up one 10-pound container of GF flour; I tend to mix up 2 containers at the same time though, where one is more all-purpose that is used for gravies, soups, etc, and the other is for cookies & breads.

Last week when I was making GF bread (2 loaves), I figured that to make 1 loaf cost me $5, but these are 9x5 loaf pans and having opened fresh yeast the dough rose well. I got 16-18 slices from each loaf, and I can usually make 1 loaf last me nearly 2 weeks even if I'm making sandwiches.

I had to laugh though, dh saw my bread and wanted some because it looked soo good!! It was a new multi-grain recipe that I've been trying, the first few times I just used my blend, but this time I did a cup each of buckwheat, brown rice & sorghum flours per loaf, and it turned brown like wheaty bread does and smelled like it too!!
AmyBoz
Posts: 4
Joined: Sat Jun 02, 2018 8:35 am

Re: Savings by Making Own Bread?

Post by AmyBoz »

While I love the idea of making my own bread, by the savings in the original post, if I get my bread at Aldi, I'm only saving about a quarter a loaf. Given the amount of time it would make to make and bake it, while I'm still working full-time, I don't think the savings is enough to encourage me to make my own bread.

However, I do make banana bread, once a week, with our leftover bananas, but I see that as more of a way to make sure we aren't throwing away bananas than a way to save money. :) And the two loaves of banana bread I make on Saturdays are usually gone by Sunday evening, with this crew. :)
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