does bread maker save u $$?

[SalandJeff]

If you buy the flour in bulk, how do you store it? I don't have enough freezer space.

 

[quasar4legs]

I used a bread maker for quite a few years but now follow the system in the book 'Artisan bread in 5 minutes a day'.
My family all like the bread I make now much better than the results I was getting in the machine.
I didn't start making bread to save money but did it to avoid additives, preservatives etc.

Good luck, making bread is such fun.

 

[Kycha]

I've been looking into a bread machine for this exact reason. I really wish stores would sell smaller loaves of bread, but they don't. We only use bread when we have sandwiches, which is not that often. I'll occasionally have toast if I have eggs for breakfast, but that's not that often, either. I would hate to see how much money we have wasted on bread alone.

I was at Kohl's today, and saw that they had 2 models on sale. One was a Food Network brand for $50 and the other was a Breadman for about $130. I'm hinting to DH that I would like one for my birthday in July!!

You know you can freeze bread, right? DH and I are not big bread eaters either. We probably eat a loaf every 2-3 weeks. When I bring bread home from the store, either I put half in the freezer and keep the other half out to use. Or I put the whole loaf in the freezer. Then I just pull out slices as I need them(I do this mainly in the summer when bread seems to go bad quicker).

 

[Purseval]

We can buy day old breads at Kroger for 50 cents a loaf so a bread maker isn't cost effective for us. We do make the occasional loaf because it tastes so much better warm and fresh than store bought does.

Bread makers are a pretty popular yard sale item. We paid $5 for ours and we have also bought some for friends who were looking for one. Make sure it has the pan and makes large (1.5 lb or better) loaves.

 

[dis-happy]

If you buy the flour in bulk, how do you store it? I don't have enough freezer space.

I buy the 50# bag and scoop out enough flour to fit in a large rubbermaid container and measure from out of that when baking. For the rest of the flour I just fold up the top of the bag, secure it with a clip, and store it at room temp. No problem with the flour going bad or anything. I store the 25# bags of rice the same way and have never had an issue. I have a rack/bookshelf/storage thing in my dining room and the flour and rice sit on the bottom shelf.

 

[DisneyBeagle]

My breadmaker might be easy on my wallet, but it's hard on my waistline. Everytime we make a loaf of bread, we have to slice of a large piece and smear it with butter and jam. There's nothing like hot bread!

 

[MrsPete]

Just curious of those of you that have bread machines...do they save you money on purchasing loaf sandwich bread? We pay about $2/week on a loaf of white wheat bread each week and just curious if it would be cheaper to purchase a used machine and make it myself??? any thoughts???

You can never save more than your current budget . . . so at most you stand to "save" $2/week. So suppose you buy a used machine for $20 -- ten weeks of using it 'til you break even on your initial purchase. Then you still need materials; maybe the ingredients would run .50/loaf. I don't know how much electricity you'd use to bake one loaf -- let's assume you bake while you're baking something else, so it's no electricity. And your time is worth something.

I suspect you can save $2 in other ways more easily.

 

[bettymae1121]

I find using a stand mixer to be more flexable. I can use the mixer to kneed my bread dough and then bake it in my oven. And the I still have it on hand for all my other baking needs (from mixing cookie dough to making home made whiped cream!).

A good stand mixer will cost more, but I think pays off better in the long run if you really do a lot of baking.

 

[stacielee]

Just curious of those of you that have bread machines...do they save you money on purchasing loaf sandwich bread? We pay about $2/week on a loaf of white wheat bread each week and just curious if it would be cheaper to purchase a used machine and make it myself??? any thoughts???

We don't use ours often, I don't like the big hole in the bottom, so I usually just make it by hand - well, with a stand mixer. Anyway, I was thinking about using it this summer. Just mix up my bread like normal, then bake it in the breadmaker sans the little mixer paddle. I could put it out on the back porch and then it wouldn't be heating the house up, like the oven does.

I love fresh-baked bread! I bought the mixes on Amazon, 6 to a box, for under $10; now they're around $15. I mix it in the breadmaker then put the dough in a loaf pan, let it rise for an hour and bake it. Smells dee-licious!! I also did not like the shape of the breadmaker loaf, especially that hole in the bottom. Now it's more like regular bread. I tried my kitchenaid with the dough hook but the breadmaker just seems to do it so much better.

My breadmaker might be easy on my wallet, but it's hard on my waistline. Everytime we make a loaf of bread, we have to slice of a large piece and smear it with butter and jam. There's nothing like hot bread!

Completely agree! I just made a loaf today, and that end piece with butter... YUM!!

 

[Leader of the Club]

Ohh that sounds interesting, does it still taste the same as white bread??

Tastes just like white bread. My bunch won't go near cottage cheese either, but they eat this bread like crazy.

 

[Colleen27]

Ours does, but it is mostly because I won't buy the cheaper brands of bread because I avoid products containing HFCS as much as possible. So the <$1 bread from Sav-a-lot isn't what I'm buying; I'm buying varieties that cost $2.50 if I can catch a sale, $3+ regular price. Depending on what kind of bread I'm making, using the bread machine generally costs between $1-1.50 per loaf, so it is cheaper than the good stuff but not cheaper than the cheapest brands. And it is great for pizza dough.

 

[williamson_ja]

I haven't read the whole thread, so I don't know if this has been covered. Anyhow, you can make bread easily without a breadmaker. I make all the bread my family eats. It costs me $0.57 to make a loaf of bread. To get bread of equal quality at the grocery store, it would cost around $3.50. I make completely whole wheat bread with honey, olive oil and only highly nutritious ingredients.... no preservatives, coloring, white flour, etc. I love that I am only eating the healthy things that I put in AND it saves me money. I recommend making your own bread just for health reasons alone. Good luck.

 

[pampam]

I too buy the large bags of flour. I just keep them on my basement floor. It's cool and I never have a problem. One thing to note, however. The "hole" at the top of a large bag of flour isn't a hole, it's a vent. Quite necessary for large amount of flour. I just put a cloth bag over the top of the bag of flour, so it can still vent yet protect the contents. Smaller amounts of flour are not as combustable.

 

[Soarin_04]

Someone had asked how warm the water needed to be. The short answer: between 110 - 115 degrees. Any hotter or colder and your yeast won't react properly.

Buy a meat thermometer or candy thermometer, use it to determine the temp of your water and you're set.

 

[720L]

I've made the artisan bread and it was so easy and very good. But I want to make a regular loaf of white bread for sandwiches. All I can find are hard recipes...I want an easy one like the artisan bread. Does anyone have a easy white bread recipe?

 

[Kellydelly]

It's saving me a fortune! We're a larger family and I make a loaf every other day. A little over a year ago I noticed that bread was going for $3. a loaf and decided to dust off my breadmaker.

I buy the 50 lb. bag of bread flour at Costco for around $12. It lasts about 9 months. The recipe I use calls for 3 cups of flour per loaf. I prefer a whole wheat blend, so I usually use 2 cups of the bread flour and 1 cup of whole wheat King Arthur flour (purchased at Wal-Mart for best price). My family loves the bread machine bread better than any store bought---it comes out so good! I also buy bulk yeast at BJ's and measure out 2.5 tsp per loaf. I think the bulk yeast was about $4. and a bag lasts the whole year as well. I keep it in the fridge in a tuppereware container.

Anyway, your biggest cost will be the machine itself. Try to get one as cheaply as possible. They were all the rage 10+ years ago and a lot of people have them stashed. See if a family member has one you could try or maybe find one at a yardsale or CL. Mine is a Breadman and it does everything for me---so easy and so good. I also use the dough setting to make pizza dough and the dough for pita bread.

recipe I found online:
1 warm cup water
3 Tbls sugar
2.5 tsp. yeast
(let sit for 5 mins to proof--tastes better)

add:
3 cups bread flour (or a combination w/ whole wheat)
1/4 cup vegetable oil (I use canola)
1 tsp salt

set machine to 1.5 pound loaf, white bread or wheat bread setting


If not making the bread right away, (ie. setting machine timer the night before to have hot bread ready in the morning), you have to add the ingredients differently:

water, oil, salt, sugar goes in first
then flour pile up in the middle
then yeast added to an indentation in the flour

also, on my machine, I find it works best if the 1 cup of water is a little bit above the 1 cup line on the measure cup, ends up being an extra 1-2 Tbls.

GL!!! Hope you get one, they are so easy peasy and the bread is so yummy!

I just started this recipe in my breadmaker, hope it works !

 

[dis-happy]

I just started this recipe in my breadmaker, hope it works !

Mine is baking RIGHT NOW and smells great! Tell me how yours turns out.....

 

[Gillian]

I got a nice breadman machine for $5 at a yard sale. we don't use it much for lunches because I haven't found a recipe the kids really like for sandwiches.

we use it a few times a month to make pizza dough. I get two thin crust rectangular pizzas out of a 1.5 pound recipe. it's fun to experiment!

The main reason I'd like to use it more so that I know what's in our food. I'm still trying to find a good sandwich loaf.

 

[Kellydelly]

Mine is baking RIGHT NOW and smells great! Tell me how yours turns out.....

YUM!!! It actually rose properly, wasn't dense, and tasted great ! Thanks for sharing !

 

[tinkarooni]

I make almost all our bread, I have done bread makers, used my kitchen aid with the dough hook, the bread in 5 minutes a day cookbook and right now I have a sourdough starter in my fridge I have kept alive for about six months. All of these are really good options, I switch around, I also make dough by hand when I find the time. If you already have a mixer with a dough hook try that first to see if making bread is for you before you invest anything in a machine.

Also FYI if you are buying large quantities of flour, you should try to store in the freezer, if you can't store it there at least fit it in for a few days, this will kill anything living in it that may hatch into your pantry, this is what the exterminator told me to do when a bag of flour hatched in my pantry many years ago.