Is home made bread cheaper?

sunnyface

Apologies if this has been asked a hundred times before.
I picked up a v cheap breadmaker in the charity shop and have been making my own bread every day for the last 2 weeks.

Is it def cheaper to do it this way? I have no idea about electricity costs at all but I'd say the ingredients per loaf come to about 50p


TIA

Professor_Snape

I've been making my own bread for years and believe it is cheaper than shop-bought and could cost even less if I used different flour. I'm using Malty Seedy Flour from Carrs Billington (not widely available, sadly) which is £1.20 for 1kg.

I use 600g per loaf, plus sugar, salt, dried milk powder and a small knob of butter.

Without booting up Excel and getting really detailed, I'd guess my costs (excluding electric) are 85p or so. This produces the sort of loaf that posh bakers charge £2.50/£3.00 for so for me it's a no-brainer.

I could probably halve the per-loaf cost if I bought 3kg bags of supermarket-brand Strong White flour and made a regular white sandwich loaf.

sunnyface

Professor_Snape wrote: »

I've been making my own bread for years and believe it is cheaper than shop-bought and could cost even less if I used different flour. I'm using Malty Seedy Flour from Carrs Billington (not widely available, sadly) which is £1.20 for 1kg.

I use 600g per loaf, plus sugar, salt, dried milk powder and a small knob of butter.

Without booting up Excel and getting really detailed, I'd guess my costs (excluding electric) are 85p or so. This produces the sort of loaf that posh bakers charge £2.50/£3.00 for so for me it's a no-brainer.

I could probably halve the per-loaf cost if I bought 3kg bags of supermarket-brand Strong White flour and made a regular white sandwich loaf.

Oh wow - your loaves sound amazing :T
I just do basic white bread - it's so much nicer though and great to know there is no rubbish in it :cool:

20somethinghousewife

I'm interested in people's responses to this question too.
Also, does it work out cheaper to knead it yourself and bake it in the oven or to buy a breadmaker and use it instead of the oven???
How long to people find HM bread stays fresh for without freezing???
At the moment I'm finding it very easy to find whoopsied bread at the end of the day for 2p/5p/10p/20p a loaf/baguette/packet of rolls. But if I'm forced to buy a full price loaf I aim for about a pound and prefer granary/seeded bread. So that's what I'd be wanted to save on.

pinkmami

I bought a breadmaker at the start of the year - big mistake. Another gadget. I've tried countless recipies & it does not taste nice.

i prefer to go to Farm Foods & get 2 loaves of Hovis for £1.50.....I can fill my garage freezer with bread for £9.00! And it tastes nicer.

Enid

I think it also depends on your household situation. For me it would not be cost effective because I would not eat a whole loaf before it goes stale. Instead I buy very fresh bread and freeze in portions. I am not a big bread eater but I know if I made my own I would eat a lot more.

I guess if you live with a family of bread eaters then it would be cost effective. I have a wonderful choice of bought breads available in my local shops and whenever I have ventured into homemade I have been a little disappointed

McKneff

In all honesty, i dont mind paying extra, Im an addict of nice bread.

It wouldnt be cheaper for us becuase I would just eat twice as much:D

DdraigGoch

If you have to turn on an electric oven and only use if for one loaf of bread I have a distinct feeling that it really might not be worth it. I'm fortunate that I have a woodfired range which can be viewed as either free heating, when I'm using it to cook on, or free cooking if I'm using it to heat the room with, but I definitely wouldn't turn an electric oven on for one loaf, I'd fill the oven completely and freeze the bread, sliced, for later use.

Just my twopenn'orth.

eilidh_s

I always make at least two loaves and throw in some baking as well if I have the time. I find that with tweaking the recipe, using honey and a bit of olive oil I can get a good three days out of a loaf and a fourth day for toast! When I am by myself I will cut the loaves in half and freeze them. I'm sure I ate more bread when i first started baking it but I think I have my addiction under control now though!

Lazy_Liz

Just checked with Which? and they say that the average cost per loaf of the electricity for a breadmaker is 5p.

I make a version of the white loaf given in the recipes for my breadmaker with less salt and sugar but 3 tsb of oil (large loaf) this helps the bread keep a bit longer but I would say 3 days is the max. You can either make the smaller loaf or cut a large loaf in half and freeze it if this is too short a time for you.

I find the loaves I make are so much better than supermartket bread (even the more expensive kinds they offer)

sunnyface

http://www.which.co.uk/home-and-garden/kitchen/reviews/breadmakers/page/faqs/

Looks like it costs 5p to bake
Coming back to other comments - baby waking up.....:)