is home baking cheaper?

sunrise27_2

Penelope_Penguin wrote: »

Do you have a recipe please, they sound delicious

TIA, Penny. x

yep I second that I liked the sound of them as soon as I read it

Herbyme

is it really cheaper to bake at home? I was wondering if the cost of the electricity for the oven might outweight any saving. I know it's nicer home made, but... don't want to fool myself I'm being thrify if I'm not!

PollyFlinders_3

I think it depends very much on what you bake and when, and what shop-bought equivalent you are comparing with.

I think the trick is to make homemade cakes that use simple recipes, containing ingredients you have in the storecupboard, and to only bake them when you have the oven on anyway (e.g for cooking a meal).

Having said that, you can buy some really, really cheap cakes in the supermarkets, but they are usually stuffed full of preservatives and other ingredients I've never heard of, and they don't taste as nice as homemade IMO. I think with homemade you tend to get a bigger cake that lasts better than shop bought...but that's just my view.

msb5262

Hi OP,

This is a good question.
The answer is not that simple!

Are you asking, can I get a cheaper cake/plate of biscuits by buying them?

...the answer is yes. You can get very cheap cakes, biscuits, pies, puddings etc by buying them and especially by looking out for basic brands, whoopsied items etc,

If you're asking, can I get the same quality of cake or biscuits more cheaply by buying them?

The answer to this is no, no, NO! The cheapest cakes, biscuits, pies, puddings are chiefly made from the cheapest and nastiest ingredients. They also tend to contain lots of E numbers like artificial flavourings, preservatives and trans fats - so not the same thing at all.

If you buy the top of the range cakes/biscuits etc, they are closer to homemade in quality and ingredients but of course are far more expensive.

Seriously, have a look at the ingredients of some of these items and decide if they should form any part of your family's food intake...and also do a taste test. You really can taste the difference.

Don't forget that if you're baking, you can save money on the fuel costs by

a. filling the oven to capacity - put a casserole, bread pudding or rice pudding in along with your cake and biscuits
b. batch baking - make a load of cakes/biscuits and either freeze the excess or store in airtight boxes (remember that fruit cakes improve hugely with time)
c. switching off the oven 5 mins before the cooking time is up (but don't open the oven until you're taking your baking out!) once you're secure with the timing of a recipe
and finally
d. don't bother to preheat if you have a fan oven - it really doesn't seem to make any difference to the finished product.

HTH

MsB

msb5262

PollyFlinders wrote: »

I think with homemade you tend to get a bigger cake that lasts better than shop bought

We cross-posted!
I totally agree - bought cakes are usually tiny. Of course ironically home-made cakes often don't keep that well, as they're not full of preservatives, but on the other hand you can slice them and freeze as individual slices...quick and convenient to unfreeze as you require.

MsB

scaredy_cat

i think a homemade cake is more appreciated as you have taken the time to make it. i've made cakes with butter cream frosting using value range ingredients and it will still be ok in a week.

katholicos

You know what goes into your home baked cakes and biscuits and bread, that can not be said for all those products when they are shop bought. I only use my oven for baking if it is filled to it's full capacity, I wouldn't dream of putting the oven of to bake 1 loaf of bread or 1 cake. I bake 4 loaves at a time and then freeze 3...same with cakes etc. alternatively, if i am cooking a casserole and the oven is goin g to be on for a while then i do my baking and use the other two oven shelves.

Herbyme

Thanks all! I was hoping you'd say that

I get the bit about baking when the oven's on anyway... trouble is it tends to mean trying to bake as well as making whatever else is in there, which can feel like cooking overload - and much of my casserole cooking is now done in the slow cooker too - so as you say, maybe a batch bake now and then is the answer. My mum the carbohydrate queen is coming this week, a good excuse!

suzybloo

I agree that you can buy cheaper cakes/biscuits etc from the supermarket, but 9 times out of 10 the quality is lacking. I tend to bake on a sunday morning for all week, so the oven is on for a good while. I know exactly what has gone into the goodies, and can freeze them as soon as they are cool enough. I buy all the ingredients in bulk when they are on special offers, and only use the ingredients I know work well for me - for example Stork Margarine - cheaper stuff I dont like, and have to confess if I cant get the washing out I put the airer in front of the oven, and once I have finished baking - especially in the winter - I leave the oven door open so the heat warms the rest of the house. I also have a sequence that I bake things in so that it takes least time and hassle, smaller cakes/biscuits first, then loaves then scones as the oven is at its hottest at the end.

enjoy your baking!!!
Suzy

Viper_7

I was about to touched on what suzybloo just mentioned.

Only in winter do you really reap the cost savings, as the heat going into the baking is also going into warming your home. In summer that heat is lost through open windows or whatever etc.

To make the most of the oven really need to bake in larger batches - but then there is the question of eating it all whilst it is still fresh and scrummy!

More importantly here though is quality, and knowing exactly what went into your baking, along with the immense satisfaction of doing it yourself, that to me easily offsets the possible small increase in price if totting everything up.

So in summary - definite savings to be had in winter.