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How economical are bread makers? |
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#1 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Feb 2007
Posts: 104
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How economical are bread makers?
This week I've taken my breadmaker out from the cupboard depths, dusted it off and started to make my own loaves once more.
This led me to think about the cost involved. As it takes about 3 hours to produce a loaf I was wondering how much that would be costing me in electricity.Am I going to be saving money by making bread instead of buying it each day? (We usually buy one large loaf every couple of days) |
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#2 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: The Sunny Side Of The Street
Posts: 40,106
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I don't think it would cost very much. It is even cheaper if you use the basic cycle of one hour. That is if your machine has the basic cycle?
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#3 |
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Join Date: Mar 2007
Posts: 192
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It wouldn't be as economical as buying bread but the rubbish they put in shop bought bread is amazing...I bet your bread tastes and feels so much better than that soft, no flavour pap they sell.
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#4 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Feb 2006
Posts: 690
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Just as an estimate let's say it has a 500W heater and it runs for 30 mins (it will not be on all the time even in the cooking cycle) at 12p per kWh.
I make that 0.25kWh which is 3p. The motor probably doesn't use very much so lets say the total is about 5p. As a massive over estimate a 750W bread maker using full power for 3 hours would be: 0.75x3x12=27p. I think it's safe to say under 10p per loaf is a conservative estimate. Not sure on the 12p per kWh cost but I just took what looked like an average from this 2007 table: http://www.britishgas.co.uk/pdf/Hous...ables_elec.pdf I once worked out the ingredients cost me about 30p a few years back. To my mind it comes down to if you like the bread better; in my case I thought the supermarket bread was much better so I went back to using that. It keeps longer too but who knows what additives they are using? Anyhow I wouldn't have thought the cost should be a problem so bake away! |
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#5 |
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Join Date: May 2003
Location: Derby, UK
Posts: 23,456
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how much are the ingredients per loaf... sounds very economical to me considering a loaf is about a quid now.
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#6 |
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Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: Swashbuckling on Melee Island.
Posts: 21,624
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I should think it works out about the same as buying a loaf, possibly even a bit cheaper but in the end the bread you are making will hopefully be a whole lot nicer than shop bought bread as it won't be full of additives.
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#7 |
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Join Date: May 2003
Location: Derby, UK
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Quote:
I should think it works out about the same as buying a loaf, possibly even a bit cheaper but in the end the bread you are making will hopefully be a whole lot nicer than shop bought bread as it won't be full of additives.
... i might get one now... |
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#8 |
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Join Date: Jan 2007
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I want one but I can't really have another gadget right now. I am a student and move back and forth between home and uni all the time, all my posessions have to fit in my sisters tiny car and it's getting tight as it is.
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#9 |
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Join Date: Jul 2005
Location: Scotland
Posts: 7,801
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Quote:
how much are the ingredients per loaf... sounds very economical to me considering a loaf is about a quid now.
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#10 |
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Inactive Member
Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: Proud European!
Posts: 7,120
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Quote:
Well the main and most exe ingredient is the bread flour and you need roughly a third of a 1kg bag for a 2lb loaf - Asda BF costs around 75p (was only 50p ish a few months ago) for a 1kg bag, brands are pricier. Other than the flour you're using sugar, salt, yeast, milk powder and oil - but only in negligible tsp and tbsp quantities. I estimate it still only costs us about 40p a loaf max., for plain white.
I use them in-between using bread making flour, yeast etc. |
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#11 |
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Join Date: Mar 2006
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Of course, as long as you have access to an oven (which could be a problem for students) you don't actually need a breadmaker to make bread.
Mixing the ingredients by hand and then bashing the living daylights out of the dough can be quite therapeutic. |
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#12 |
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Inactive Member
Join Date: Apr 2007
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Quote:
Of course, as long as you have access to an oven (which could be a problem for students) you don't actually need a breadmaker to make bread.
Mixing the ingredients by hand and then bashing the living daylights out of the dough can be quite therapeutic. |
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#13 |
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Join Date: Feb 2006
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Maybe I had a bad one but it cost me £80 and the quality was very variable; it seemed very inconsistent cooking throughout the loaf. I tried changing recipes a bit etc. but in the end it wasn't worth it.
It did make very good madera cake but I couldn't get it out of the tin. |
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#14 |
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Join Date: Jul 2005
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Quote:
I know it's cheating, but Lidl have some 'bread mix' where you just add water. Pretty good too they are.
I use them in-between using bread making flour, yeast etc.
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#15 |
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Quote:
Maybe I had a bad one but it cost me £80 and the quality was very variable; it seemed very inconsistent cooking throughout the loaf. I tried changing recipes a bit etc. but in the end it wasn't worth it.
It did make very good madera cake but I couldn't get it out of the tin.
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#16 |
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Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: Proud European!
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We bought our bread-maker not to save money, but to more easily bake nice tasting and fresh bread. We could have carried on with the old method, but the bread-maker is convenience.
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#17 |
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Join Date: May 2005
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I was given a breadmaker for my birthday a few weeks ago, and I use it to make a small loaf every other day. Ingredients-wise, it works out cheaper than buying ready made bread, and tastes great (especially just after it has just finished baking!!)
I did make a large loaf once, but found it didn't last any longer because I just ate more ( )
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#18 |
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Join Date: Jan 2006
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An alternative to breadmaker/kneading by hand is Odlum's Soda Bread mixes. They are v. economical too(*). Come in a 1Kg flour bag, and you just add water, stir and bake. I can only find Brown at the moment, though. I had some white before, and got excellent loaves by mixing them.
* A 1Kg bag is £1.18 in Asda (World foods section). This makes 4-6 small loaves. P.S. If anyone knows where to get the white mix, please post/PM. |
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#19 |
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Quote:
That is something most people haven't factored in to their equations - the cost of buying the breadmaker in the first place and if they cost as much as £80 you would need to make a hell of a lot of bread before you saw a saving.
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#20 |
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Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: Proud European!
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Quote:
You can get bread makers a lot cheaper than that though. My mum got hers for £25 and it has never once gave her bad bread.
They had one for sale recently, however don't know how good that one is as I don't know anyone who bought one as they already had one or didn't want one, however I knew a few people who bought the one they sold in 2002 or before and had excellent results and not a bad loaf from it. |
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#21 |
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Join Date: May 2005
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Posts: 2,869
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I would love to buy a bread maker but unfortunately I love bread and I would end up eating too much bead and eating every day.
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#22 |
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Join Date: May 2008
Posts: 301
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I make a large loaf by hand once a week.
I personally wouldn't bother with a breadmaker due to cost and it cluttering up the place. What I would like to have is a good food processor with a dough hook so I could skip the whole flouring the worksurface business - that's the only off putting thing with doing it by hand. Does anyone know how much roughly it costs to run an average sized oven? Mine is sometimes on all day cooking various bits. |
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#23 |
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Join Date: May 2008
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My own question sparked my interest:
Have worked out it cost me 11p to bake a loaf of bread just now (well there was two but a single one requires the same time). That's based on the first 4572kwh price which I'm currently some way under. When I get past that, the figure would be about 3.2p - running at gas mark 8 for ten minutes, then 5 for 25 minutes. Having never considered the cost of this sort of thing before I may be a little more economical with my oven use in future, I'll definitely be doing two loaves at a time from now on. |
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#24 |
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Join Date: May 2003
Location: Derby, UK
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Quote:
That is something most people haven't factored in to their equations - the cost of buying the breadmaker in the first place and if they cost as much as £80 you would need to make a hell of a lot of bread before you saw a saving.
![]() you get it back in less than a year if you make 5 loaves a week. still seems like a good value especially when you factor in the stuff money cant buy - fresh bread smell round the house, fresh bread every day to eat, no additives etc |
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#25 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Nov 2006
Posts: 67
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Quote:
I would love to buy a bread maker but unfortunately I love bread and I would end up eating too much bead and eating every day.
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