Home baking seems expensive

[Rebelwithallthecause]

DH birthday soon and thought I’d make a cheesecake as we aren’t going out at the moment much with a new baby at home

I found a nigella recipe and added the ingredients to my shopping basket and it’s £8 worth

Ok so it’s not crazy money but I certainly can buy a decent cheesecake for less

Are cheesecake as just one of the worse offenders for this or is home baking usually expensive?

Nb - I don’t bake often at all

Yes that’s very true.

Hoping it will be truly delectable (so long as I don’t mess it up)

I agree you can save a lot by buying own brand ingredients not brand name. So Morrison’s digestives for 40p not £1 for Mcvities and in Tesco the Creamfields cream cheese is 45p not £1 for Philly and their own brand 74% dark chocolate is £1 rather than £2 for Green and Blacks. That reduces the cost to about £5 which is competitive with a Finest range cheesecake and will be much nicer.

leave out the stupidly expensive hazlenuts and it's down to six quid.

And now you know why we're in a huge mess because of our crazily low food prices.

But you won’t use all the nuts for this recipe and something like butter I have in anyway.
Plus homemade always tastes much better than supermarket unless it’s a luxury one.

I made a cake for DDs birthday, cost about 20-25 in ingredients (but I had most of it in already - decent cocoa power, flour etc) and all the necessary food colours for the icing. Everyone who’s had it said it’s so much nicer than an dry sickly sweet supermarket cake.
We’ve lost sight of what food is supposed to taste like due to over processed overly cheap mass produced stuff full of preservatives etc to keep its shelf life.

We’ve lost sight of what food is supposed to taste like due to over processed overly cheap mass produced stuff full of preservatives etc to keep its shelf life.

You are not wrong!

Any chance of sharing that recipe @peterpan765?

I agree with others who have said it's expensive to begin with but I've just made an epic birtday cake (I'm really happy with it ) for maybe £20 ish & that was on 'extras' so decoration/icing/mould for the icing etc. The basics I already had in the house as part of our regular shop.

I'd have spent a fair bit more if I was starting from nothing in the cupboards.

Swap to the basics range for what you can - honestly they're fine & will taste lush compared to a mass produced cheesecake with goodness knows what in it!

But the bought cheesecake will be tiny and not worth the calories.

PS Use up the hazelnuts quickly as they go rancid.

Part of the problem is buying just for one recipe, if you bake regularly and buy bigger packets of things the price is cheaper. During lockdown I got a delivery from a local restaurant who was selling catering supplies and I was surprised how cheaply I could buy spices, sugar, baking ingredients (albeit in large quantities).

Agree with PPs about using cheaper ingredients. I never buy real philly - cream cheese is cream cheese, it doesn't matter what brand, always buy cheapest. Same with butter.

Aldi/Lidl good for cheap but delicious nuts!

You can do it for less for sure.

Aldi
Digestives 31p
Butter £1.45 (use baking spread for 69p)
Chocolate 30p a bar
Cream cheese 59p a tub so £1.18
Nuts: £1.69

Total: £4.93

Thanks for all the tips

I think the recipe I have used up all the ingredients. Even the whole pack of hazelnuts get luxuriously strewn over the top

(It is nigella after all)

It’s a no bake cheesecake. Hope it’s ok. I’ve never done a cheesecake before

@00100001

You can do it for less for sure.

Aldi
Digestives 31p
Butter £1.45 (use baking spread for 69p)
Chocolate 30p a bar
Cream cheese 59p a tub so £1.18
Nuts: £1.69

Total: £4.93

That’s excellent! I have an Aldi nearby.

I often ignore Aldi because half the time I’ve been there’s something missing from what I need, but that is a massive saving so worth a try.

Even if you get half the ingredients there, you'll save money :)

It is expensive but I see it as paying to have fun and do a hobby, and most hobbies aren't free.

But IMO wouldn’t use baking spread for a no bake cheese cake, proper butter is much nicer (but would and do use baking spread eg stork or equivalent in a cake etc)

Homebaking is expensive, butter is very dear now, but it’s worth it, a homemade cake is just so much nicer than anything shop brought.

I can see this will be a slippery slope to many baked goods and the following expanding waistline