Save Some Dough- Homemade Bread

Bread is a staple in most households.  We eat it as toast for breakfast, create a sandwich in it for lunch, and put butter on it for dinner.  So just how much does this "basic" cost the average American family?  Is this really an area that we can cut costs and pocket some money at the end of the year?  Absolutely!  The answer: make your own bread.

Many of us simply don't have the time to go through the bread making process that our Grandmother's did (and some still do).  Luckily, there is a modern day marvel and it's called a bread machine.  I love my bread machine.  It takes me a total of 5 minutes to throw in a loaf of bread and maybe another 2 to clean up my mess.  Throw in the ingredients, push the button, and walk away.  It is just that easy and 3 hours later a warm loaf of bread is waiting on my kitchen counter.  Not only is it delicious (and makes your house smell amazing too) but it is the healthier option.  You know what is in it, you can pronounce every ingredient, and there are no preservatives.  It's back to the basics.

Now let's crunch some numbers and figure out what is so frugal about this find.  Based on the formula that the average family consumes 1 loaf of bread a week and assuming that a normal loaf of bread from the store is right around $3.00, the amount spent in a year is $156.00.  If you purchase your own ingredients and use a bread machine, the average family will spend only $53.60 in a year.  (This includes the energy costs of using a bread machine which is roughly $12.00 a year based on your machine and energy costs)  That is a yearly savings of $102.60!!!

I love penny pinching because every $100 here and there that I can save in a year adds up quickly and becomes a significant amount by the end of the year.  So there you have it - bread machine bread is a fantastic frugal find!

Warm Homemade Wheat Bread  (Roughly 80 cents a loaf)

Please note that there is the initial upfront cost of the machine itself.  If you buy new it will  pay for itself within the first year.  I suggest purchasing a slightly used machine for a fraction of the cost which are easy finds at garage sales or thrift stores.