which supermarket/store

elly2

is cheapest for baking ingredients(i know the price of flour and butter have rose over the last week) but i'm still trying to save some money and am finding home baking expensive. so am trying to cost things like caster sugar(do i need to use caster sugar or can i bake with granulated), cocoa, flour butter, brown sugar etc etc i tried my local weigh and save and the cost of cocoa was really high(or is cocoa expensive wherever you buy it from)

affordmylife

Hiya elly I do loads of home baking and always buy the cheapest flour (was about 11p or something in tescos) Its seems perfectly fine to me. I never use caster sugar I think its normal sugar ground more finely so I cant see the difference unless making a Victoria Sandwich or something posh!

I always use stork either block or tub although this is a bit pricy you get a good result but just experiment until you find one you like.

I buy tub of cocoa which is bout £1.50 ish I think but you mostly only need either a teaspoon or tablespoon per recipe so its not too bad.

I always stock up whenever one of my regular products is on offer and usually buy a couple of ingredients each week so I dont run out of everything at once.

Oats are good and really cheap for flapjacks and cookies too.

You can also use honey (cheap as you like) instead of golden syrup which can be dear but again if you buy regularly and spot it on offer grab several it'll last months then. Good luck.

LOOYATES

hi ell at the moment im getting my flour from asda smartprice, cocoa also, do you know anyone with a costco card? you can buy a very large bag of caster sugar i mean a large bag! for 3 quid. makro are also good. home and bargain also have some cheap stuff and aldi now and again, i just keep an eye out but for the basic stuff i have found asda to be cheapest , im in the north west, hope it helps, for me the price hike on everything is a challenge!! it just makes me more determined to do things for as little as possible,;) good luck

Hapless_2

http://www.mysupermarket.co.uk/ compares the home delivery supermarkets

freyasmum

As has been said, check out your local cash and carry if you can. I just got 12kg of sugar (I bake to sell, lol) for £6.99 and this is a permanent price - £59p/kg. Can't remember, but I think the cheapest supermarket price is 79p/kg? It does mean you have to buy a lot, but could you split with a friend/family? Sugar does last though, so unless you have no storage it might be an idea...

Cocoa is dear to buy a tub, but as previously said, you only use a tiny bit for a recipe so it actually works out not bad for a 'portion'.

Caster sugar is just finely ground granulated sugar. Icing sugar is just finely ground caster sugar. You can blend granulated sugar to get finer sugar. But, again, as previously said, I don't bother.

Another piece of advice is always, always, always check the price per kilo - don't just see a deal and grab it (of which I am sometimes guilty myself!).

I have a recipe for wee buns that works out at 5.5p each - this makes muffin sized cakes and they are lovely. I added lemon icing and piped lemon curd into them and this did make them jump to 13.5p (very outside cost!) each but they were delish. If you want it let me know

Anyway, if I stay here any longer, this post will just keep getting longer and longer and I think it's more than long enough as it is

Lx

craftynutters

BAD NEWS THE PRICE OF THE CHEAP FLOUR HAS GONE FROM 21P IN MY LOAL MR T'S TO 43P :eek:
BUTTER IS NICER IF YOU ARE MAKING SHORTBREAD BUT LOOK FOR MARG ON BOGOF AS IT USUALLY WORKS OUT CHEPER THAN THE CHEAPY ONE

freyasmum

Re above post, I couldn't agree more with the butter for shortbread. Even though the price has gone up, it's still much better.

226g(8oz) butter - 52p
113g(4oz) sugar - 9p Cream them both until white. Then add
340g(12oz) plain flour -10p
Total 71p

This fills a 12x8 baking tin. I cut this into 10 pieces, but these are huge

Lx

elly2

Thanks for all replies the shortbread sounds fab will give that a go atm the kids and half the street wolf dwn any brownies i make and its starting to get expensive am doing a tray every other day and they use a huge amount of sugar and cocoa so am on the hunt for a cheaper alternative.

freyasmum

Elly,

Could I have the recipe for your brownies, please?

Just a thought. You could add chocolate chips or cocoa powder (just take away some flour) to this mix. It's the one I mentioned above. It makes 6 muffin sized cakes or, I imagine 12 fairy cake sized.

200g Flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
75 marg
Rub in until mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. Stir in
75g sugar.
Break one egg into a jug and make add milk to make up to 150ml. Beat and then add to the flour mixture. Bake at Gas mark 6 for about 20 minutes until golden.
To save on paper cases, add 50ml less milk and place onto a well greased baking tray. I can't say how much chocolate to add as I go by eye They are nice and the plain buns work out (as I said above) at 5.5p each - less if you use less milk (just worked it out, 5.1p each, lol). It would also give you a wee change from making brownies

Lx

elly2

the recipe is actualy from the mega index thank you to lotta littlies for it, it is fab and most of the street love them i use double quantaties so deffo need a cheaper option and save these for a special treat lol
Chocolate Brownies

175 g (6ozs) butter/margarine
350 g (12ozs) caster sugar
1 teaspoon of vanilla essence
3 eggs
100 g (4ozs) plain flour
1 level teaspoon of baking powder
75 g (3ozs) cocoa
choc chips


Melt spread in a large bowl then add sugar and vanilla essence
Break eggs into a small bowl and beat them. Add them to the large bowl a little at a time and beat in well.
Sift flour into the bowl and add baking powder and cocoa. Stir so that it is mixed well.
Add choc chips.
Pour mixture into the cake tin and smooth with the back of a spoon.
Bake for 40 minutes ! 180 c/ 350 f/ gas mark 4

They will be ready when they have risen and have formed a crust on top, but still sticky/soft in the middle.

freyasmum

Hiya,

Thank you (and you, too, lotta littlies!). I'll definately need to try these out.

Lx