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How many loaves do you have to make before you pay off the average machine (if you use bulk/sale purchased products)?

I hadn't ever considered owning my own bread machine before, but I bought my own espresso machine a few years ago because I got tired of paying for someone else to make me a latte every day. I bought my espresso machine on Massachusetts tax free weekend, and it paid for itself very quickly. Similarly, if a bread machine is about $100, and a loaf of bread is about $3-5, and your household eats a loaf a week, it would pay for itself in about 6 months. (right?) Thanks for the post, it got me wanting my own too. Now i just need to make the space...

slipperymarshmallow: my math skills are lacking, but i'll try to figure this one out!

let's figure you pay $3 per average loaf ($4-5 for organic) at the store. i bought 4 lbs of untreated organic bread flour at 49 cents a pound...all the other ingredients clock in at a few cents each (yeast in the jar is very cheap), water, dry or regular milk, maybe an egg...everything but the bread flour and the occasional wheat germ-type ingredient is a pantry staple that most people have on-hand anyway. let's generalize and say it costs $1 per loaf to make yourself, but you'd pay $3-5, so you save anywhere between $2-3 dollars a loaf.

the mid-range price for bread machines falls around $130. so that means you'd pay for it with, um, 40 to 60 loaves?

i did bake 4 loaves of bread in the span of 4 days, though, because once you start it's impossible to go without fresh bread. so i'd say 40 to 60 loaves will happen in no time. sound about right? please forgive me if my math seems atrocious! :)

re: funkydelight--same idea as the espresso machine, that's true! the space issue was a different beast--we have a tiny kitchen and finding cabinet space (let alone counterspace) was an issue. but after about 20 minutes of rearranging, and picking out some items to send to goodwill, the puzzle was solved. good luck!

When I first received my bread machine in 2003, I baked a loaf of bread every week. Now, I don't have the same counter space so I store it below the sink. Out of sight, out of mind. Your post has inspired me to keep my machine in plain view and bake lots of bread in '09.

I don't know where y'all are shopping, but I got a bread machine for $30 a couple of years ago at a department store here in South Mississippi. It works great and can do all kinds of doughs and quick breads in addition to your basic sandwich loaf.

i love my bread machine! i now make a loaf a week and love the fact that i can police everything that goes into it. no more ingredients that i can't even pronounce! no more preservatives. in fact, tonight i'll be whipping up an oat bread that uses the quick cycle. bread in under 2 hours. amazing.

I too have a space issue... both in my home and... um... on my chair :-O BUTT... I am intrigued by the process, the rising and kneading… Kinda like enjoying a harvest from the garden… (however diminutive)...
the sowing, the tending…

There are space friendly bread machines that make mini loaves for small kitchens. I got one from Craigslist and it's incredibly easy and clean to use. Making sandwiches for brown bag lunches is easier and I take my "experimental" breads to the office for all to sample.

I completely agree. I just wrote a post about this as well about a month ago. www.associatedcontent.com/article/1314318/bread_machine_is_one_step_toward_a.html The post has some additional tips for getting the maximum benefit (green and otherwise) from your bread machine.

Now I'd kinda like a breadmaker! Off to search Craigslist --

O.K., I'm in. I want one. Can anyone suggest any good breadmakers?

I bought a bread machine at an estate sale for $20 over the summer, so I'm guessing it's already paid for itself several times over! So far, my favorite is oatmeal bread, and I love the fact that I can just throw in the ingredients, and leave it alone for a couple of hours. It's much tastier than store-bought, and I can control the size of the loaf, or freeze the rest. I can't do mini-loaves, but for $20, I'm okay with that.

Homemade bread is delicious. One of my many resolutions for '09 is to make home made bread weekly. I make 2 loaves every Friday - 3 weeks strong! My efforts are sans bread machine, but I am considering adding one to my kitchen.

My husband has actually started making our bread, using a very simple, lushes Amish bread recipe.

The main reason is that we're sick of all the high fructose corn syrup and soybean oil that's in EVERYTHING.

The bread is amazingly good and we don't use a bread maker, even though we bought one at a garage sale for 25¢... yes... cents!

We're already gathering more recipes and will be making our own ice creams, too.

Oh... and don't forget a killer bread box!

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Joseph-Bread-Bin-Red/dp/B000OA8QBQ

Breadmakers are great. I got mine for Christmas 1997 and it is still going strong; I used it today! I bake about 1-2 loaves a week in it, and use it for making pizza dough, pretzels, and pita breads as well. It's also great for potlucks and parties since homemade bread is always appreciated; you can make olive bread, focaccia and many other types easily and the cost is minimal. I'm sure my machine paid for itself long ago. I got a second one in a garage sale last summer for $10, a steal. Both my machines are Black and Decker which I recommend highly. For anyone starting out, I would suggest getting a good recipe book such as Bread Machine Baking by Lora Brody if it's still available. It was my first bread machine book and I've made almost all of the recipes at least once!

I put aside money to buy myself something for Christmas, and in all the frantic road trips, missed flights, rushed visiting, etc., I forgot to spend it. Just decided on a breadmaker, if only to honor one of my few resolutions: eat fewer processed foods. Thanks for the push.

You can often find them at yard sales or Goodwill shops. My father calls me every time he finds one (almost every weekend) to ask if I want my own (instead of borrowing his... almost every weekend.) You might also want to try freecycle.

Even greener if you're keeping it out of a landfill.

What about the toxic non-stick surface? That doesn't seem so green to me. Are there any alternatives?

No bread machine needed!

I just started making bread using this book Artisan Bread in Five Minutes A Day.

I'm obsessed and it is incredibly easy. I'm not a master chef or anything. Slow Food represent!


http://www.artisanbreadinfive.com/

Please, half the thrift shops in America have a decent bread machine for sale for $10 or less. Bought mine two years ago and have had fresh bread every day since! Use mine to make the dough and bake in the oven while I roast garlic in foil, sometime bake mac and cheese, or whatever else I have baking. If you can't find a manual to go with your thriftshop purchase go to http://www.scribd.com/ they have manuals you can download for every small appliance ever produced for about $2. Bake. Enjoy!

I'd be interested in seeing the math for how long it would take before the energy savings of baking bread at home (not transporting it and no packaging) offset the energy used to produce/transport the machine itself. I bake bread in the oven frequently and I can see how a bread machine would use much less energy, but I'm not sure I can justify buying another appliance just yet...

The great thing about buying a bread machine is that there is no reason to pay full price, craigslist and second-hand stores are full of them! (a popular wedding gift no?) My first bread machine was given to me by my neighbor, it was old and died a year later, my second was given by a friend. My machine is awesome! I set it to make bread overnight and we wake up to the smell of fresh bread. I've also made pizza dough and rolls from it. And I know there is more that can be made

Seconding the request for any recommendations for a specific make/model of breadmaker here - I've been thinking about getting one for a while now (bread is one of the few processed foods we still buy, mainly because our local chain-store baker isn't too bad, and bread in Aus isn't sweet like in the US), partly to get away from processed bread, but mostly because I love the smell of it baking.

So, any particular suggestions? Haven't seen any in Goodwill shops here unfortunately...

I have a bread machine, a small one, and it's no so expensive, about 80€. The bread is exellent and cheap, of course. You can do lots of tipes of breads, pizza crust, and jam.