It is considered cheaper to make your own bread at home, than to buy it in the store. In this article, we will break down the costs for both. But first, think about how many times you consume bread in a day. Do you start your day with some bread toast? Do you fix yourself a sandwich during a day? I think it’s safe to say that almost everyone does this. Bread has become an integral part of our lives when it comes to breakfast and snacks.
Have you ever calculated how much you spend on bread on average? Let me ease off that calculation for you with a simple answer that is; you spend a lot! You consume bread almost every day and when summing up the amount you spend on bread; it is a lot. What can you do to reduce this expenditure and adopt a relatively less expensive way to consume bread? You make it yourself!
How Is Self-Made Bread Cheaper Than Store-Bought Bread?
A big question asked by many people is if it’s cheaper to make your own bread. The short answer is yes; it is cheaper to make bread as opposed to buying it. Let’s get into the details of how is it cheaper to make your own bread.
There are various articles online that compare the costs of both. If you want to make a loaf of classic sandwich bread yourself, it will cost $2.06 (or 13 cents per slice). A loaf of Arnold County White costs $4.29 (or 29 cents per slice), which is a big difference.
That said, if you are looking for the cheapest bread, store-bought bread might be the cheapest option. The cost of a store-bought bread can be as little as 5 cents per slice. Of course, the quality of the bread will be a lot worse. Because of this, we are still big fans of making your own bread.
The Cost Of Making Your Own Bread
When looking at this closely, you may feel like you need a lot of ingredients to make your own bread. That’s not entirely true as you barely need a handful of ingredients. These ingredients are easily found at almost any store and have a very low-cost.
You get to choose the quantity you require based on the amount of bread you want to make. This gives you flexibility in purchasing the items you require. Some of the items such as salt, oil, and sugar are already present in your pantry so you don’t have to go out of your way to buy them.
The cost of each of these items is minute when you look at the amount of bread that can be made using them. Making bread doesn’t require you to using the whole pack of ingredient for one loaf. You can use them overtime to produce more bread.
Cost Of Store-Bought Bread
Understandably, it’s more convenient for you to go your nearest bakery and buying that loaf of bread. However, is it really practical to spend so much while you can easily make bread at home?
Store-bought bread cost includes various items apart from the ingredients itself. It’s sold at a higher price as the place you’re purchasing from would keep a profit margin for itself. All of the expense that the bakery incurs trickles down to the selling-price of the bread you purchase. The regular purchase of bread multiplies your costs and in a year, you’ll be spending a significant amount on it.
Other factors besides costs
Even though making your own bread is the best option from a cost perspective, there are other factors to think about. Costs and ingredient prices aren’t the only reasons why people decide to bake their own bread. Here are some of the other factors to consider.
1) Taste
There’s no better taste than freshly baked bread. If you’ve ever tried baking your own bread, you know it’s a world of difference. Once, you’ve mastered a bread recipe, you can even start experimenting with different crusts and textures. Usually, store-bought bread is going to taste a lot less fresh. That’s because it’s designed for shelf stability first, and not freshness.
Better option: Home-Made Bread
2) Nutritional value
The quality and nutrition of the bread is very important. You can control this better in a loaf you bake at home. It’s an advantage that’s very important. Commercial bread sold in a supermarket requires a lot of preservatives to keep it from getting moldy and stale. If you read the ingredients on the bag in the supermarket, you’ll realize quickly how much added preservatives there are actually used.
Making bread at home gives you the power to decide what goes into it and the quality of those ingredients.
Better option: Home-Made Bread
3) Time
Of course it makes more time to make your own bread than to buy it in the store. You need to have all the ingredients to bake at home as well. People with busy work schedules might decide to just buy a loaf of bread. If you do have a busy schedule but you really want to make your own bread, it could be a good idea to buy a bread machine.
Better option: Store-Bought Bread (or buy a bread maker)
Final Verdict
The only drawback of making your own bread is that it’s time-consuming. Making your own bread is very cost-effective if you think about it from a larger perspective. Buying bread from the local store may be convenient and not seem to drain your pocket too much. However, little do you know that it is. Especially, when you’ve got a better alternative to make your own bread according to your preference.
The final answer:
Making your own bread is cheaper, healthier and easier than you think!
