I bought an entire loaf of wheat bread for $0.88 before tax and it got me thinking. Calculating how much it would cost to make a homemade loaf of bread (to save some coins), I found out it will cost about 1 quarter minus a nickel just for a dishwashing tablet to wash the dishes involved with making the bread. There is just no way to beat that price even if you DIY.
How can a loaf of wheat bread be this cheap
- Thread starter Herr Kutz
- Start date
shortylickens
No Lifer
- Jul 15, 2003
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When you mass produce something, you generally find a way to make it as efficient as possible.
DVD's cost about a penny each to manufacture, but only if you do a million at a time.
DVD's cost about a penny each to manufacture, but only if you do a million at a time.
Yeah, but for the vast majority of precooked food, the DIY alternative is cheaper.
Edit: Other than this loaf of bread, I can't think of any other examples that do not follow this mold.
The dishwashing tablet is already nearly one quarter of the cost. There is no need to go further, especially when you look at the list of ingredients required.
I don't know about you, but I don't add dishwashing tablets to my bread.
Also tablets are a rip, use non stick cookware or glass for baking loaves, and use small amounts of liquid soap for cleanup if you must.
shortylickens
No Lifer
- Jul 15, 2003
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If you're so fucking worried about cost then give up the damn tablets.
They cost about 10 times as much as loose powder, per wash.
They cost about 10 times as much as loose powder, per wash.
Enriched wheat flour, water, whole wheat flour, high fructose corn syrup, yeast, wheat gluten, soybean oil, salt, sodium stearoyl lactylate, ethoxylated mono- and diglycerides, monoglycerides, calcium sulfate, calcium peroxide, soy lecithin, enzymes, calcium carbonate, ammonium sulfate, calcium propionate
Red Squirrel
No Lifer
The hydro cost to run the dishwasher is probably going to get you well over the price point too.
But that is pretty crazy for a loaf of bread to be under a dollar, don't think I've seen it that cheap myself.
But that is pretty crazy for a loaf of bread to be under a dollar, don't think I've seen it that cheap myself.
I didn't even get into calculating the water and electricity costs of running the dishwasher because I simply do not know how much is consumed. What's the normal cost for something like that? I always run the most powerful cycle because my dishwasher has problems cleaning.
Red Squirrel
No Lifer
Honestly not sure, but it has a pump and heat element, not sure how often those run though. I assume the pump runs during most of the cycle as it's probably recirculating the water, and then changing it once in a while. The element would run during the dry cycle and perhaps during the initial water fill cycle if you select high heat mode. If I had to guess a cycle probably uses about 1kwh. I could be way off though.
shortylickens
No Lifer
- Jul 15, 2003
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Get one of those Kill-a-watt devices and measure your electricity use. Water? I'm not sure how to measure just the dishwasher consumption.
Eug
Lifer
- Mar 11, 2000
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Yeah, given the cost of getting the individual ingredients, when I was a student I had calculated that it was cheaper to go to Chinatown to get a roast chicken meal than to cook it myself. You could get a quarter chicken meal with rice and vegetables and sauces for CAD$3.99, which was about US$2.75 at the time.
As for the bread, yeah it's probably cheaper to buy it at $1, but the stuff I make myself in my bread maker tastes better. Same goes for spaghetti from my pasta maker. It's cheaper just to buy the dried stuff for 99¢ a pound, but the fresh made stuff tastes a lot better. However, the bread maker cost around $100 up front to buy, and the pasta maker was $300.
BTW, we once visited an Italian family member's farm. We arrived and they were making pasta. I asked if that was for lunch. She was horrified, and said no, not that particular pasta. It was dry pasta being boiled to feed the dog. She would never dream of feeding it to humans.
As for the bread, yeah it's probably cheaper to buy it at $1, but the stuff I make myself in my bread maker tastes better. Same goes for spaghetti from my pasta maker. It's cheaper just to buy the dried stuff for 99¢ a pound, but the fresh made stuff tastes a lot better. However, the bread maker cost around $100 up front to buy, and the pasta maker was $300.
BTW, we once visited an Italian family member's farm. We arrived and they were making pasta. I asked if that was for lunch. She was horrified, and said no, not that particular pasta. It was dry pasta being boiled to feed the dog. She would never dream of feeding it to humans.
Flour is extremely cheap. Around 50 cents a pound for restaurants. Not sure what it is for a giant producer but definitely less.
thats so funny op, just yesterday i was in the grocery store and i was looking at these oranges that cost 50 cents each, and i was thinking, man ill bet it would cost me more in materials and time to grow apples at home.
shortylickens
No Lifer
- Jul 15, 2003
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OP, have you even made bread before? There aren't a bunch of dishes involved in making bread. A loaf pan is (either kind in bread machine or for oven) hand washed for next to nothing, as is a mixing bowl. A fraction of a cent in water, and a drop of dishwashing liquid soap.
I can't imagine you'd need an entire separate load even if you did have to use the dishwasher, which presumably you'd run regardless for the plates used for serving the bread whether it's store bought or homemade.
All the actual breadmaking ingredients are inexpensive, especially when bought in quantity (which doesn't mean ridiculously huge quantity, just multi packs/large bags of flour, larger containers of yeast, etc).
I can't imagine you'd need an entire separate load even if you did have to use the dishwasher, which presumably you'd run regardless for the plates used for serving the bread whether it's store bought or homemade.
All the actual breadmaking ingredients are inexpensive, especially when bought in quantity (which doesn't mean ridiculously huge quantity, just multi packs/large bags of flour, larger containers of yeast, etc).
Last edited:
Rumpltzer
Diamond Member
- Jun 7, 2003
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A 5lb bag of flour costs about $2.50 at Target. A 25lb bag of flour costs like $8 at Costco. I imagine that that price comes down significantly when you buy it by the trainload. Economy of scale.
I can imagine how that's dangerous information as the OP tries to figure out the cost of "laundry tablets" after working up a sweat growing, harvesting, and milling wheat in his back yard. But, again, economy of scale.
Here's a cost breakdown from a simple kitchen baker for a simple (French) bread: https://www.thespruce.com/cost-of-bread-baking-vs-buying-bread-1446664
She comes up with ~$2 to bake her own bread. Now, apply economy of scale to reduce that $2 to <$0.50 (I'm guessing that that's what the grocery store paid for the bread). It's not far-fetched.
I can imagine how that's dangerous information as the OP tries to figure out the cost of "laundry tablets" after working up a sweat growing, harvesting, and milling wheat in his back yard. But, again, economy of scale.
Here's a cost breakdown from a simple kitchen baker for a simple (French) bread: https://www.thespruce.com/cost-of-bread-baking-vs-buying-bread-1446664
She comes up with ~$2 to bake her own bread. Now, apply economy of scale to reduce that $2 to <$0.50 (I'm guessing that that's what the grocery store paid for the bread). It's not far-fetched.
Kaido
Elite Member & Kitchen Overlord
- Feb 14, 2004
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I have it archived on my wiki:
http://catch42.pbworks.com/w/page/91703094/Ridefree
At the time (2008), ryan256 calculated it out to be 13 cents a loaf. Still makes the best toast ever!
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