I know my bag of flour is on its side its the picture I promise the bag was up right when I took it I just didn't look at it when I unloaded:0)The life of a 5lb bag of flour! Someone asked me recently if baking really saved money and I think it does. But I wanted to see exactly if it did! So I followed a bag a flour around for a week to see what became of it and if it really did save money!
I buy my flour in 5 lb bags since the 25 lb bag comes up to be a lot more expensive per lb than the 5 lb. In our area. So I buy about 1 bag a week sometimes if I have a surplus of cash and don’t need to stock up on other items I will buy more. But the week I followed a flour bag I bought one and it cost $1.42 plus tax sometimes I can get it for under a dollar or free when it is on sale somewhere else and I ad match. (as of this writing I was able to ad match it for $.98 for 5 lbs so yes I stocked up)
Items I made and price of item if it would have been store bought
Monday loaf of bread store brand $1.09
Flour tortillas $1.42
Spinach tortillas $2.50
Wednesday Banana muffins mix $.44
Pizza dough mix $.33
Thursday Tortillas $1.42
Friday pancakes Mix $1.18
Total $8.38 plus tax
Now this doesn’t calculate in the cost of the items like baking powder and oil but I am only following around a bag of flour not all the other items. I go thru much more flour than the other items anyway so the addition of those in the cost doesn’t add much more. I do buy large containers of baking soda, criso, baking powder, vanilla, and yeast they last me quite along time and are pennies a use.
I also bought 40lbs of bananas in Sept for $4.00 and dried or froze them in 3 banana portions for using later. These will last me probably a yr or more. My neighbor the other day also brought me another 15 lbs free so I did the same thing with them! And the kiddos and I will make her a loaf of banana nut bread for a thank you also the bug man is trading pecans for eggs right now with us and those things are expensive!
I love to grow spinach but didn’t this yr I plan on it in Jan to freeze a bunch of that as well. But a bag of frozen spinach lasts me about a month depending if I make quiche with it and how often I use it as a add in like in spaghetti sauce, Philly wraps, tacos, etc to add more vitamins. Plus I love spinach alfredo pizzas the alfredo is from scratch as well a mix I found online.
Now my total if I would have bought all store brand items for just that week would have been $8.38 plus tax my one bag of flour cost me $1.42. I feel I save a lot since if you multiply $8.38 by the number of weeks in a yr I would spend $435.76 a yr if I did just those items in a week every week. Flour for a yr at $1.42 is $73.84 and add in the other items I listed above basic items I spend about $100 to $120 a yr maybe less since I can get flour free or less than a dollar sometimes.
So I feel I have successfully proven my point to myself it is cheaper and the hourly cost is nothing since I love using that bag of flour over just grabbing premade items. So you have the joy factor in there to compensate hourly cost. For those who don’t or don’t have the time that extra cost to save time etc would work wonderfully for them. And this did not take all 5 lbs of flour so I had a little carryover.
I buy my flour in 5 lb bags since the 25 lb bag comes up to be a lot more expensive per lb than the 5 lb. In our area. So I buy about 1 bag a week sometimes if I have a surplus of cash and don’t need to stock up on other items I will buy more. But the week I followed a flour bag I bought one and it cost $1.42 plus tax sometimes I can get it for under a dollar or free when it is on sale somewhere else and I ad match. (as of this writing I was able to ad match it for $.98 for 5 lbs so yes I stocked up)
Items I made and price of item if it would have been store bought
Monday loaf of bread store brand $1.09
Flour tortillas $1.42
Spinach tortillas $2.50
Wednesday Banana muffins mix $.44
Pizza dough mix $.33
Thursday Tortillas $1.42
Friday pancakes Mix $1.18
Total $8.38 plus tax
Now this doesn’t calculate in the cost of the items like baking powder and oil but I am only following around a bag of flour not all the other items. I go thru much more flour than the other items anyway so the addition of those in the cost doesn’t add much more. I do buy large containers of baking soda, criso, baking powder, vanilla, and yeast they last me quite along time and are pennies a use.
I also bought 40lbs of bananas in Sept for $4.00 and dried or froze them in 3 banana portions for using later. These will last me probably a yr or more. My neighbor the other day also brought me another 15 lbs free so I did the same thing with them! And the kiddos and I will make her a loaf of banana nut bread for a thank you also the bug man is trading pecans for eggs right now with us and those things are expensive!
I love to grow spinach but didn’t this yr I plan on it in Jan to freeze a bunch of that as well. But a bag of frozen spinach lasts me about a month depending if I make quiche with it and how often I use it as a add in like in spaghetti sauce, Philly wraps, tacos, etc to add more vitamins. Plus I love spinach alfredo pizzas the alfredo is from scratch as well a mix I found online.
Now my total if I would have bought all store brand items for just that week would have been $8.38 plus tax my one bag of flour cost me $1.42. I feel I save a lot since if you multiply $8.38 by the number of weeks in a yr I would spend $435.76 a yr if I did just those items in a week every week. Flour for a yr at $1.42 is $73.84 and add in the other items I listed above basic items I spend about $100 to $120 a yr maybe less since I can get flour free or less than a dollar sometimes.
So I feel I have successfully proven my point to myself it is cheaper and the hourly cost is nothing since I love using that bag of flour over just grabbing premade items. So you have the joy factor in there to compensate hourly cost. For those who don’t or don’t have the time that extra cost to save time etc would work wonderfully for them. And this did not take all 5 lbs of flour so I had a little carryover.
Now I am off to make sub rolls for sub sandwiches to take on our museum field trip tomorrow!
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2 comments:
I think this is so very true, and you have done the math to prove it. I have only recently started truly cooking from scratch, and I must say I am enjoying it. Thanks!
Thanks for the tip. I make a lot of my food from scratch. I know that I am saving money - but your tip helped asure me that I am!
Have a great week.
Jane
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