Kneading Your Way to a Balanced Budget

How much bread would you buy if it only costs 25 cents a loaf? Unlike in our grandparent’s day, we can make delicious, healthy, homemade bread in minutes, without all that kneading. By applying basic economics to our household budgets and using today’s technology, we can all make ends meet during hard times.

Bread machines are relatively inexpensive and the cost of buying a machine is justified in about 6 months if you bake two loaves a week. Fresh bread not only tastes good and is filling, but is a snap to make. Simply throw in the ingredients in the morning and set the delay timer for when you want it done. There’s nothing like the smell of homemade bread to whet one’s appetite for dinner.

There are a few tricks to the trade, especially in Ramona. Although maps say we’re just shy of 1500 feet, the bread will often collapse during the baking. Using about ¼ of the required amount of salt fixes it. Also, once we open a jar of yeast it only lasts about 6 months in the fridge. Bulk buying is good for many items, but since yeast is finicky buying it in smaller jars creates less waste. The yeast will store for a very long time unopened.

Many people are stuck trying to figure out how to store the food, especially with the high price of storage containers. Instead they’re only about 5 dollars per bucket if we buy them at the local hardware store. Just go in and ask for 5 gallon buckets, and make sure there’s a rubber seal on the lid. If any lids crack over time, the store sells the lids individually, too. Each bucket holds about 25 pounds of flour, or 40 pounds of rice or sugar, with flour only storing about 2 years. The cost of these buckets pays off almost instantly with bulk buying.

One of the best things about having a bread maker in the house is making homemade cinnamon rolls for breakfast or even pizza for dinner. If that’s not fancy enough, calzones are a big hit. Just shape the pizza dough and fill half of it with Italian sausage, bell peppers, onions, and cheese. Fold it over to make it a calzone, seal the edges, and let it rise in a warm, dry place with a towel over it. There are lots of great recipes on the internet to add to your creativity. The important part is done, and that’s balancing your budget without adding to the workload.

Tip: Day old bread can be a struggle to feed your family with, but by chopping it up into small cubes and throwing it in the dry oven overnight, it makes a great stuffing.