Homemade Bread........

[tiredmomfor2]

My hubby got me a  bread machine for Christmas. I have always wanted one. But they are expensive, so once he bought it for me we decided to stop buying store bought bread. I now it would probably be cheaper to make it by hand, and kudos to all you mommies who do it by hand but I am just not that dedicated....LOL

i ran to the local super market to get my first ingredients and lets just say that it probably wasn't the cheapest store to go to, but i was dying to try this thing out and figured i would do my figuring on the more expensive prices so i could say that it would cost less than etc.......

I grew up helping my mom bake bread all the time. The mixing and waiting the stiring and waiting, the kneading and the waiting, It was like torcher when i was 12..... So the idea of putting the ingredients into thia little machine and having hot homemade bread appear 1-3 hours later made me positively giddy.....

Well I have used it a few times now and aside from needing to work on my slicing (we'll not speak of my lack of skills:) ) the bread is turning out very nicely. So now that I know we like it and it is easy enough to do all the time, I decided it was time to check and see it is really is a money saver.

Bread flour is more expensive than regular flour, it was $4.97 for a five pound bag. And bread machine yeast wasn't too bad. $2.59 for a 4 oz jar. And the nonfat dry milk was very cheap.... $6.59 for enough to do 160 loaves! And margerine I have in my house all the time but i figured it in anyways.....  $2.00 for a four pack of sticks....

So here is the break down for a loaf of bread:

flour- .95

milk - .04

margerine- .06

yeast- .10

that is  $1.15 per loaf. I know it isn't that much of a savings in money but, I did buy the ingredient at full price and i haven't shopped around to find the items on sale yet. And I didn't have to do anything other than put the ingredients in and turn the machine on. And it is homemade bread........

i can ussually pick up a loaf for $1.00 at Kroger when they are running sales. But considering that I don't have to use up my freezer space to store it and that this way it is fresh right when i need it. We have decided that the 15 extra cents is worth it to us. i can use my freezer for more important things......like homemade ice cream ....MMMMM Yummy :)

If you have any questions feel free to ask....... I am doing my best to find ways to save my family money. I have made my own wipes, and laundry detergent. I make more and more things from scratch and I make some of my kids' clothes. I am also always looking for other ways to save money so please feel free to let me know if you have any advice.

Feel free to check out my other journal posts about my adventures as a SAHM on a mission to save alot of money, and get our family out of debt......

God Bless!!

[teadybear0135]

Jan. 17, 2009 at 1:04 PM

I love my bread maker......I have had mine for about 10 years now, and use it about 3 times a week in the wintertime.   I know that bread flour has gone up in price in the past few months, but if you have a place to store an airtight 5 gallon type bucket, you can go to a place like sam's club (or whateveryou have in your area for bulk food stores) and buy the flour...........that is what I am going to do the next time I need to buy.  I have no place for it except in my kitchen in the corner, but it beats buying the smaller bags!   Where are you getting your recipes for bread?  I am always looking for good ones!  Have fun!

[SparklingHope]

Jan. 17, 2009 at 1:58 PM

http://www.baking911.com/bread/101_terms.htm

There's a nice bread website that I had found yesterday afternoon! I don't have a bread machine, but I have like a bread pan that  you can put in the oven.

[Della529]

Jan. 17, 2009 at 8:31 PM

Sounds wonderful!