Bread Baking as an Investment Strategy

The price of a good loaf of bread is about $3.50 – 4.50 in my area. I’m not talking Walmart-brand bread; but the good stuff (Pepperidge Farm, Orowheat, etc.). I have always bought whole wheat bread and occasionally a good sourdough or country white, but recently I have started baking my own for several reasons:

1. It’s easier than you think;
2. It’s way cheaper than buying your own;
3. I like to know what I’m eating and what I’m serving to my family

If you look at the label on a good loaf of bread, it’s full of weird stuff (dough conditioners (?), bromates, preservatives, and other stuff) that I don’t think we should be eating. And of course, there is always the ubiquitous high fructose corn syrup, which is a man-made freak of nature no one should be eating. That stuff is dangerous and I avoid it as much as possible because it is in almost everything because it’s so cheap to produce. But I digress…back to bread. I always loved how great fresh bread smelled and tasted. It’s also a lot cheaper to make your own. To make 4 loaves of homemade whole wheat bread, it costs about $4.00. Not bad, and you know what’s in the bread. I know day-old bakeries can be cheaper, but you lose the great smells of bread baking plus you get the bizarre ingredients again. I like to think that baking your own bread is a healthy middle ground, and if you do it in bulk, the savings are significant.

Today after church I made 4 loaves of wheat bread with only about 15 minutes of hands-on time. The recipe I use below I got off of the back of a King Arthur flour bag. I quadruple the recipe; I have used honey, molasses, maple syrup, and brown sugar for the sweetener and it came out great every time but my favorite is the honey. I have also used an equal amount of butter and it was great too. I usually use oil because it is cheaper.

King Arthur Recipe:

2 ½ tsp. instant yeast OR 1 packet active dry yeast dissolved in 2 Tbs. water
1 1/3 cups lukewarm water
¼ cup vegetable oil
¼ cup honey, molasses, or maple syrup
3 ½ cups whole wheat flour
¼ cup nonfat dry milk
1 ¼ tsp salt

Dissolve yeast in warm water. Mix dry ingredients together in a large bowl. Add the yeast/water mixture, honey and oil to the dry ingredients and mix until combined and the dough starts to leave the sides of the bowl. Turn out on a floured surface and form gently into a ball. Knead for 6-8 minutes, until smooth and elastic. Place in an oiled bowl and cover with a towel. Place in a warm area for 1 hour. Punch down dough. Form into a loaf and place into a greased bread pan. Cover with a towel and let rise for 30 minutes ort until loaf is about 1 inch over the top of the pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes. Turn out bread onto a rack to cool. Makes one loaf.

Here’s how I do it:



Whole Wheat Bread for a Week

10 tsp. instant yeast dissolved in 5 1/3 cups warm water
1 cup vegetable oil
1 cup honey
14 cups whole wheat flour (this is exactly one 5lb. bag of flour)
1 cup nonfat dry milk
5 tsp. salt

I mix all the dry ingredients up in a party tub bowl with a wooden spoon; it’s huge and I don’t have ingredients flying out of the bowl when I’m mixing. I got the tubs at Kroger for $4.59 each (I use the other tub for the rising step):

I then mix all the “wet” ingredients together and then add them to the tub:

Mix the dough until it starts to leave the sides of the bowl and then dump it out on a floured surface:

Form into a ball:

Knead for about 8 minutes:

Place dough ball into a greased bowl:

Cover dough with towels and place in a warm spot for 1 hour: ( I put it by my coffee maker; which always has heated water)

After one hour, punch down dough and turn out on a floured surface. Cut dough in quarters:

Press out each quarter into a rectangle about twice as wide as it is long:

Roll up the dough and shape into a log:

Place dough in greased bread pans and cover with a towel. Let rise in a warm place for about 30-45 minutes: (my coffee maker does dual duty!)

Bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes. Turn out on racks to cool. Makes 4 loaves.


When the loaves are cool, I put them in clean produce bags that I pick up at the store (nothing has been in the bags) and use a twist tie. One loaf gets double-bagged and goes in the freezer. The remaining loaves are used up during the week. The loaves stay fresh for 4-5 days after they are baked. If anything is left after the 5th day, it goes in the refrigerator. I use the bread for toast, sandwiches, grilled cheese, and French toast. Most of it is eaten as toast or sandwiches.
My rationale for bread as an investment strategy is twofold; the bread is cheaper this way than if bought at the store, and it is healthier for my family so it is also a health investment. Another plus was that I found I could actually bake bread and it tasted good, which was a boost to my cooking self-confidence and makes me less afraid to try baking other things. If you want to try making this bread, go for the King Arthur recipe first, but I highly suggest you double it because once your family has homemade bread, it’s hard to go back to store-bought!

A special thank you to my daughter Juli for being my expert photographer.

The USB (Universal Soup Base)

The USB is actually just 3 things: onions, tomatoes, and tomato paste. What is unique about this combination is that if cooked in the right order, this produces a rich, multilayered flavor base for many different soups. This is the base for many of the broth-based soups my family enjoys, such as Chicken Tortilla, Chicken Black Bean, and Tuscan Italian Sausage soups.

Once the USB is cooked, you can add the rest of your soup ingredients, add some bread and maybe a raw veggie tray for side dishes, and you have a very satisfying, and healthy, meal. We usually do a soup/bread night at least once a week or so, and I always make at least a double batch to freeze for later meals.

Soup is probably one of the easiest and cheapest family meals to make, because almost anything can be thrown in to the pot and it will turn out great. Raw veggies than are getting limp, potatoes, that half cup of dried pasta, bits of meat someone didn’t eat, a steak someone gave you from a cookout (really!), the last bit of frozen veggies in the bag, etc. You get the point. Soup is a “use it all up” meal. And, as far as the soups that I have made goes, they all freeze well for another meal. Here is the USB recipe for a soup that will feed about 6-8 adults:

3 small or 2 large tomatoes (any kind), chopped (1.00 or less, or free if from a garden)
1 medium onion, chopped, but not too fine (0.25)
1 6oz can regular tomato paste (0.25)

In the soup pot, add 2 tsp vegetable oil and heat on medium high for a minute or two. Add onions and cook for 4-6 minutes, stirring constantly, until light golden. Add tomatoes and cook for 3-4 minutes until tomatoes being to break down. Create a hole in the center of the vegetables and add the tomato paste. Cook tomato paste, stirring constantly in the middle of the pot, for about a minute until it turns a rich brick color. Mix thoroughly, and your USB is done. You can then add broth or water with bullion cubes, vegetables, meat, and whatever else you need to use up. You can even make a triple or quadruple recipe of USB and freeze it in 1-pot portions for soups later. If you have a garden, your tomato cost will be zilch, and tomato paste is usually on sale for 4/1.00 somewhere. Onions can be grown (I have not been successful) or purchased on sale.

The USB goes really well with one of my family’s favorite soups:

Chicken Black Bean Soup (can also be vegetarian; just omit meat and use vegetable broth)
1 recipe USB (1-1.50)
3 ½ Cups chicken broth, vegetable broth, or water with 4 large bullion cubes (.50)
4 cans black beans (puree 3 cans in a blender before adding (2.40, or much less if you make your own from dried beans)
1 can chopped mild green chilies (.50)
1-2 Tbs cumin, to taste (pennies)
dash cayenne pepper, to taste (basically free)
1-2 Cups of leftover chicken, steak, or ham (.50)
Salt and pepper to taste, and depending on whether you used bullion cubes

Toppings: (we usually have tortilla chips and cheese)
tortilla chips
cheddar cheese
sour cream
green onion or cilantro

This soup freezes amazingly well, and actually tastes better a day or two after making it. I usually make the black beans from dried because it is so cheap (about 1.00 for 10 cups or so of beans). If you want to cook your own beans try this:

1lb dried black or pinto beans
one onion, chopped
one hot pepper, chopped and seeded (use gloves, especially if you wear contact lenses!) (ancho, jalapeno, Serrano, etc.) if handy, but not necessary

Sort beans for debris and rinse. Cover beans with water and let soak for at least 8 hours. Pour off water and add beans and hot pepper, if using, to a large crock pot. Add chopped onion, and add water to cover. Cook on low about 12 hours and check for bean tenderness. If not tender cook for another 2 hours and check again. I soak the beans overnight, get them in the crock pot at about 7am, and cook until 7 pm. I do not cook the beans the same day I need to eat them. When the beans are done, I let them cool off for a while and then refrigerate them overnight. Then I puree most of them. The puree can be made into bean dip, soups, fake “refried” black beans, bean spread for pita sandwiches, enchilada/burrito filling, and ad infinitum. Bean puree is really versatile.

If beans make you, ahem, uncomfortable, just try having a couple of bean meals a week at first. Your body adjusts and the health and financial savings of being a bean-eater will far outweigh the initial getting used-to period. Give homage to the humble bean, for it has nourished the masses and will continue to do so!

Cheap good food, I think, starts with a little planning. First of all, it doesn't have to be fancy with a bunch of garnishes (unless it's a cheap garnish) or have 5 courses. Here is an example of a typical meal day at my house and the approximate costs per meal:

Breakfast:
Apple cinnamon muffins (homemade with apples from Arlan's "bruised fruit basket") ($1.50/dozen)
Strawberry-banana smoothies (strawberries frozen after getting on sale at Kroger for $3.88 for 4 lbs./bananas at .99/5 lbs and frozen) 0.50 more or less for 5 medium glasses
milk (0.65)

Total: $2.65


Lunch:
Grilled ham and cheese sandwiches (homemade bread, store brand ham/cheese slices) (2.50)
Fruit (2 apples, sliced) (0.50)
water

Total: $3.00

Dinner:
Black bean chicken soup (using leftover chicken from the roast chicken the night before) (2.00 per meal/6.00 for whole pot)-This makes enough for 2 more family meals)
soup toppings (cheese, green onion, tortilla chips) (0.50-1.00)
cornbread (1.00)
carrots with ranch dip (0.50)

Total: $4.00-4.50 (this is probably a bit high)

The whole family (2 adults, 11, 8 and 4 year old) is fed for about 10 dollars/day. Some days are less and some are a little more, but this is about our average. This can be done with a little planning and flexibility, which was something I had to develop and learn. I started with reading other frugality books, such as "The Complete Tightwad Gazette" by Amy Daczyzyn and "Miserly Moms" by Joni McCoy. The common theme I found in the many books I read was planning so you never are in a panic about what to do for dinner. The panic is what lays the road for takeout disaster, which is no good for your budget or your body if done to excess.

Some books advocate planning a month or more in advance, some two weeks or a week, and some 24 hours in advance. All have valuable points, and I use all of these methods to some degree depending on what I have in the house, what's on sale, and what the schedule is for the family. The general trend I follow is doing a weekly menu of all meals on a simple meal planning sheet a week in advance, with activities noted on the menu like evening sports practice or Bible study which occur near dinnertime. I go "shopping" first in my pantry, freezer and refrigerator first to see what I have on hand. There is usually something to make a couple of meals with if I get creative.

A huge budget saver is doing a soup and bread night at least one day a week. This tip comes from "Miserly Moms" and has really helped. We have soup and bread about 2 meals a week (dinner and a lunch). Any extra is frozen for a later meal a few weeks down the road. Making soup is really easy and cheap because almost anything can go in the pot (old veggies, leftover pasta/rice/potatoes, bits of meat) and it will usually come out tasting great. I usually serve it with homemade bread. If the soup has enough veggies in it I won't serve another side veggie or fruit.

I learned a lot about soup at the library, which is an awesome place to be if you're into cheap cooking because the library is FREE. ALL FREE ALL THE TIME! Check those cookbooks out and you will see how easy soup is. Which leads me to my next post for next time: The USB (Universal Soup Base).

Well here I go, trying to make a go of blogging about frugality, good cheap cooking, and staying within your budget.

One of the things that I have found can drastically help a strapped budget is cheap cooking. Cheap does not mean UNHEALTHY; it just means cheap. There is so much variety you can feed your family all sorts of different meals and save a ton in the process.

My goal for this blog is to share with you honestly how cooking, shopping wisely, and rethinking about food can help you save money, make more money, and have fun doing it!