The Homemade Way: Saving Money in the Kitchen 1 – Breads

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Feeding a family, large or not, is expensive. It just so happens that food is one of the most controllabe expenses in your household budget. More so if you’re willing to do things the Homemade Way. You just have to know what to buy and how to make it.

Save Money Making Your Own Bread

Yes, homemade bread can save you big bucks, and we’re not just talking sliced bread. Pizza crusts, sandwich bread, croutons, french toast, even pancake mix are all things you can make yourself. Every time you use a store bought product you are paying for far more than just bread. The cost of a decent loaf includes, manufacturing, labor, packaging, marketing, distribution and retail mark up expenses. That adds up to a lot of money for something you can make yourself for less tha a dollar. Sometimes, far less.

Bread making is not difficult. Sure, it takes a little more time and a little muscle if you don’t have a bread machine or stand mixer to do the work for you. The effort will pay off in a lower food bill. Baking bread the Homemade Way doesn’t mean you can’t use modern conveniences to help you. It simply means no box mixes. Keep a good stock of basic ingredients on hand and you enjoy fresh bread, anytime you like, at a considerable savings.

More Ways to Save Money and Time

1. Buy big. Avoid the five pound bags of flour and the little jars of yeast, especially the yeast. You will get a better price shopping the club stores and discount warehouses. Buy white flour in twenty pound bags, and yeast in one pound packages. Invest in some airtight containers to store twenty pound bags of flour. Store the yeast in airtight plastic containers in the refrigerator.
2. Mix once, cook twice. Make double recipes of pizza dough, cook one and store the other one in the freezer until you’re ready to use.
3. Don’t waste stale bread. Make croutons. Homemade bread does not have any preservatives, and won’t last as long as something off the shelves at the local market. Store it in the refrigerator until you’re ready to use it. If it goes stale, cut in cubes, toss with a little olive oil and herbs and toast for croutons.

Make it Healthy

1. Use whole grain flours, such as whole wheat and oat flour.
2. Instead of butter use heart healthy oils, such as olive oil and canola oil.

Equipment

Consider saving towards the purchase of a good bread machine or stand mixer that will save you time in the kitchen. You will be more likely to make your own breads if it doesn’t require a huge amount of time or effort on your part. A bread machine can pay for itself in just a few months if you use it for all of your bread needs.

Get busy, get baking and start saving.