Is making bread more cost efficient?

[dingdongmerRADLEYonhigh]

I've just bought a breadmaker as I love home cooked bread, but, was just wondering, after you've bought the yeast, flour etc, is it cheaper to make at home or not?

I'm not sure it is. I think it works out about the same, really, if you usually buy bog-standard wholemeal.

DH insists on Warburtons blue and won't have any other, i think home made bread smells far better

If you use a bread maker it could take a long time to pay for itself, plus the cost of electricity. You would save a lot of money if you used the oven. But you don't do it just to save money, do you? You do it for the delicious aroma of freshly baked bread, slathered with thick butter ... And the kneading is so therapeutic as well.

Not for normal breads, but if you make a lot of speciality breads (with nuts, rye flour, etc etc) which shops often charge nearly £2 a loaf for, it might work out a bit cheaper, though even then it would take a long time to cover the cost of the breadmaker. May also work out a touch cheaper on organic bread (because the mark-up on organic flour isn't that much but on bread tends to be) and on home-made pizza if you are comparing with pizza of equivalent quality rather than basic frozen stuff.

You would save a lot of money if you used the oven.

why ? surely in terms of electricity it is more efficient to just heat up the breadmaker rather than the whole oven.

I think cost is probably comparable with bought bread - but the end result is preferable - you can tweak it to what you like, there is much less salt, no preservatives etc.

it costs us 45p per loaf on average, we make a white/rye/granary mix 4 x a week.
Plus the cost of the breadmaker (which was a gift) and it's power.
I'd normally buy Hovis Granary at £1.20 a loaf.

Presumably because it's the kneading part of the cycle which uses most electricity?
That's what the manual for my machine says, anyway.

I was wondering this yesterday and don't know the answer. We make our owm bread so the kids only get good stuff and none of the crap they put in white bread.

if you use decent flour with seeds etc, you can buy this in bulk & get the cost down to about 30p per loaf. try buying a 'posh' fresh loaf (no preservative) for less than a pound!
find the shelves with all the large bags of rice & 'ethnic' stuff - much cheaper than the 'home cooking' aisles.

Have you managed to find some decent flour that you can buy in bulk then, Kickassangel? I have failed miserably so far - bought a load from our local health food shop which hardly rose at all

just happen to know a shop that sells 3 k bags of organic flour. waitrose do 'proper' size bags at a reasonable price (about 70p, i think), rather than 'silly' 500g bags. the 'bread mix' packs are over priced & don't always work ime. some tescos do organic bread flour (mine doesn't - huge place, sells sofas & washing machines) as it's too 'chavvy' - but other tescos do. their normal bread flour is about 50 p for a kile, i think. it's the 'bits' you put in that you can really save money on - we have huge bags of sunflower seeds stashed away. about 1/3 of the price of bits in the home baking section.

I usually buy a large sliced bloomer in bakers every other day for 1.20, My new SUPER DUPER breadmaker provides a loaf for 32p. I use Lidls breadmaking flour at 49p a bag.

Personally, I think that a breadmaker is probably only going to save you money if you bought bakers bread, rather than supermarket sliced. We did so it does.

I don't think it is unless you buy more expensive bread. There is also some wastage in home-made as it doesn't last as long not being full of preservatives. But the cost isn't the main reason is it?

Wastage how can you waste it . That must be where my extra pounds are coming from, cos I sure don't waste any.