Is it cheaper to buy baked goods than make them?

[BQ91]

I thought I would give baking a go again, had some flour, baking soda, cocoa powder already but needed to get some eggs butter and choc chips. I spent £8 on this. I did buy 10 eggs though.
I had recently bought 18 brownies online (different flavoured ones) and spent £18. I thought baking would end up being cheaper in the long run and maybe it is but i can’t work that out financially as my maths isn’t good. Is baking just more for fun instead of being cost effective?

I need you scone recipe! I love baking but scones are the one thing I can't master! Flat as pancakes always!

Scones atm in Waitrose, a new line, pack of [email protected], plain, bursting with juicy sultanas, or cheese ones which we didn’t buy/fancy. Deep and good, but home made is always better.

I made scones today for first time in ages and they were awful 😢 Not at all like last time I made them. I used gluten free self raising flour instead of usual sr flour. I'm hoping that's the issue as I was thinking what's the point I could just go and buy some ready made 😂

Depends on the quality of life you’re aiming for.

You can of course buy a single cake for less than the cost of the ingredients you’ll need to bake a single cake. But the shop bought will be full of super-processed ingredients which, eaten habitually, are really not good for your body.

And the pleasure of the shop cake is only going to be in the consuming of it. Not the choosing of the perfect flour, butter, eggs, etc. Or the enjoyment of using your baking kit. Or the absorption and concentration of baking. Or the glorious aroma of a cake baking in your kitchen. And the satisfaction of improving your skills. And the admiration and gratitude of anyone you share your home baked cake with.

And you’ll have ingredients left over for the next cake!

Home made isn't full of preservatives etc.

It was actually those Waitrose scones I used in my calculation, 40p x 50 = £20. I’m glad they were nice though.

I bought the Waitrose Jack Russell choc cake for my dc and it was sickly sweet! Bit disappointing.

Yes of course it costs less than £18 to make 18 brownies at home unless you are using gourmet versions of every ingredient (even then I think you'd struggle to spend that).

It seems more because you have to buy a lot more of everything than you need. e.g. you have to buy a whole bag of flour when you'll only use about a 10th of it, a whole box of eggs when you'll only use 1, etc.

@ivegotthisyeah I use a recipe I ripped out of a National Trust mag, it does use a lot of flour compared to other recipes! I just left the fruit out for the plain scones and they were fine. I have to say the scones from the first cut rise the best, the ones from the reformed dough didn’t rise as much. I also used a 6cm cutter to squeeze a few more out of each batch.

Will post recipe pic.

I tried baking and selling cakes as a teenager and I couldn’t make a profit as even then people were used to cheap cakes. That’s why the school fete always sells thing by the slice.
But as pp says the quality difference between home made and shop bought is huge.

I bake most weeks and freeze portions for my kids’ pack lunches as they are going to eat cake / biscuits anyway (two boys at high school) so at least I know it’s not made of rubbish.

I agree - quality and flexibility of ingredients is why I tend to bake my own. Once you’ve invested in the kit and basic ingredients. Not that there isn’t room for a shop-bought pud or cake - for example, a chocolate mousse for a speedy treat.

I think it depends what you're baking. I bought the ingredients for cheesecake and spent a fortune, whereas you can buy a frozen cheesecake, albeit maybe not as nice, for a couple of quid.

If there's a freezer with space available.....It's probably worth batch cooking to share energy costs over all the products.

I've started baking again to wrestle with sourdough.......(more therapeutic than professional) and bake as much as I can around the loaves/bricks as I can now. Is a steamy oven good for a cake and biscuit baking session?
Thanks

Depends on how fussy you are about chocolate cake though.

Everyday! That is impressive.

Can you bake in an air fryer? I haven’t done baking since school. With just me the oven isn’t really worth it (I wouldn’t use it for anything like pizza and don’t want to batch bake.)