How My Bread Machine Saved Me $1000 Dollars Last Year

Quite honestly a few years ago I could have never pictured myself using a bread machine. I mean it sounded like something my grandmother would have used in the 1940s. But I have learned a lot about bread machines in the past 2 years – and have discovered the savings benefit of having one.

When I sat down to start my budget and try to discover ways to save…groceries topped the list. Besides rent, groceries are my largest expense.

I had read rave reviews from some of my favorite bloggers about bread machines. But I was a bit resistant to say the least. Then I got to thinking about how much bread my family actually eats….and it was A LOT!

Here are some averages for my family of five.

• Dinner Rolls $6 bucks a week

• Garlic Bread $6 bucks a week

• Sandwich Bread $4 bucks a week

• Muffins $5 bucks per week

• Cornbread $.99 per week

• CinnaBuns $3 per week

• Pizza Dough $10 per week

• Hamburger Buns $1 per week

• Hotdog Rolls $1 per week

 Now I am a numbers girl when it comes to savings. I need to see real figures. So I calculated how much of each bread item we eat each year (average) – and how much each item costs (average).

Between pizza night ($10 for pizza dough) and spaghetti night with garlic bread ($3 for store brand) and hamburgers and hotdogs ($2 for buns)…Cinnabuns for dessert one night ($3) and morning muffins ($5) and throw in dinner rolls 2-3 nights per week ($6.) Roughly we were spending about $30 dollars per week on bread alone. That’s $1560 dollars per year. So yea… that’s a lot of bread.

So I started searching online. I found bread machines at Amazon that were within my budget. You can also try eBay and craigslist to find second hand bread machines for an even lower out of pocket cost. I snagged the West Bend 2lb Bread Machine for $59.00 dollars at Amazon. A year later, and I still love it.  

Now when it first arrived there were a few mishaps. I am bad with directions – I always try to figure things out for myself. But once I did actually read the directions and got a flow going…I fell in love!

I can make it all with bread machine. It will cook a loaf of bread right there in the machine. Or I can make dough for pizzas, rolls, cinnabuns, hot dog rolls, hamburger buns, biscuits, dinner rolls, garlic bread, breadsticks, muffin mix and the list goes on and on and on…

So I traded in my store bought bread…except for sandwich bread. Our store brand honey wheat is $2.00 a loaf. It’s quick and easy…and the price is comparable to if I made the bread in my machine. Plus I don’t have to worry about slicing and storing.

But everything else I do make at home – and I save money. I buy my ingredients in bulk like flour, sugar and yeast.  I spend a few hundred a year on ingredients versus $1500 a year on bread.

And the bread machine is easy. You pop in your ingredients and then go about your day. It does the work for you.

I think my $60 dollar investment turned out to be a great one. And I surprised myself. I now use a bread machine daily. Who would have thought? You might just surprise yourself too.