is home baking cheaper?

billieboy_2

jordylass wrote:

I made a load of butter when cream was going cheap 6p for a large carton (got about 30 tubs and froze the butter) and just coming to the end of it, gone into all my cakes and bread machine. I'm on the lookout for cheap cream again now, hopefully there'll be a glut after Easter.

And your recipe for butter please!

Mumofthreeboys_2

Like jordylass, I bought cheap double cream. You put the cream in something with a screw lid (fill it about 3/4) then basically you shake until your arms hurt and everyone in the family has had a go, then you shake it some more.

It will fill up and feel like it's not moving at all, but keep going until you think your arms will drop off and about 25 minutes later you'll hear a different sound - open it up and you will have liquid (buttermilk - which is excellent in scones) and the solid (your butter). Squeeze until no more liquid comes out and hey presto, you've made your own butter!!!

jordylass

I googled making butter after seeing something on here about it at Christmas, there are some good sites with pictures on how to do it.

I used an old processor bought at a boot sale for £4, it's not the best processor but one of the fittings is like a fan, and this does the butter great.

Pour in one pot of cream, turn processor on fast, the cream changes through about 3 stages, but finally (3-5 mins) liquid starts to flood out of it, and thats when you know it's done.

Pour off buttermilk and store for baking.

Turn lumpy butter into very clean sink and wash it through, squeezing and kneading it until the liquid coming out is clear, then squeeze till its as dry as you can get it, might want to squash it in some clean cloth to get the last of the liquid out.

Shape and wrap in grease proof paper, then place in fridge or freezer.

I made half salted and a couple of garlic. Add a teaspoon of salt/garlic or anything else after washing and knead it in, otherwise you'll wash the flavour out.

You'll see reference to using paddles, but I found it much easier to do it mostly by hand, I could feel how wet it was then.

An afternoons butter making, ended up without about 15-20lbs of butter.

competitionscafe

Don't care if it's cheaper or not - I enjoy it and it always tastes better than any shop bought cake Also baking someone a cake or some biscuits as a gift is much nicer than just buying them one I think... Anybody have a favourite ginger cake/gingerbread recipe? (Soft and cakey, not crunchy like gingerbread men..had some in the Lake District the other week [yha borrowdale home baked cakes and was so yummy I want to give it a bash.. )

jan2januk

My family love puddings (all boys!) so I'm always on the lookout for cheap and cheerful puds.

I do milk jelly, rice pud, ground rice, trifle, fruit salad, crumbles, home made cakes (very quick using the all in method). I also reduce the sugar in baking by about a half, healthier and no one notices.

culpepper

If you have a sandwich toaster you could do toasted jam sandwiches sometimes.
My kids used to love them.
Nice with mincemeat in after xmas or applesauce and raisins and no pastry to make.
They take about 3 minutes to cook and a couple of minutes to cool enough to eat.

tijuanatime

Looking for a ginger cake recipe? Try this, it's delicious

http://www.danlepard.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=526

vickyb242

Hi Guys,

My DH eats a huge amount of snacks/cakes/biscuits etc for lunch each day. He's lunch box looks like a Cadburys factory.

I was wondering if it really easy cheaper to bake things like fairy cakes or lemon drizzle cake instead of keep buying it?

I have never baked anything in my life, so i have no idea how much it would cost to buy the ingredients etc

Anyone else bake to save money?

Thanks
V

juliapenguin

Yes, definitely. There's so many great recipes here, most of which will be better for your DH's health than all those ready made things. The cost will be similar to the super-cheap full of crap type of snack foods, but a fraction of the price of the good quality stuff. Things like fairy cakes are incredibly cheap to bake, and there's so many recipes that don't even need an egg. Look for Twink's hobnobs recipe on here - everyone raves about those.

Little_Vics

Baking is so much fun - I do it to relax to be honest! There's nothing nicer than the smell of muffins coming from the oven....mmmm!!