How Much Does it Cost to Make Bread?
Have you ever wondered how much it costs to make a loaf of bread in your bread machine? Check out my 2024 analysis that includes grocery store prices.
Last Updated January 25, 2024 – Originally Published June 4, 2017
We all know that the bread coming out of your bread machine is better than the bread you buy at the store. However, have you ever wondered how much it costs to make a loaf of bread in your bread machine?
I know I’ve wondered about the cost of bread made with my bread machine versus the cost of bread at the store. So I’ve analyzed the cost of making my bread with my bread machine. In fact, I’ve done this several times over the years. The most recent was in January of 2024.
Admittedly, this isn’t a perfect analysis. We haven’t allowed for the cost of electricity to run the machine or the bread machine itself.
Also, the ingredient prices won’t be the same for everyone. For example, we frequently use Costco and I shop the weekly grocery store sales. However, the analysis should give you some idea about the cost of bread for making at your house.
Thanks to The Man of the House (TMOTH) for his help with this article. He does the number crunching for the analysis.
Recipe Used to Calculate Cost
The recipe I use most frequently is for a two-pound loaf of sour milk bread. So this is the recipe I use in the analysis.
By the way, this is an excellent bread machine recipe. The bread turns out perfectly every time, and it’s quick to put together because it doesn’t have a lot of ingredients.
Shopping for Bread Ingredients
Bread Flour – We buy bread flour in bulk at CHEF’STORE or Costco Business Center.
Wondering how we store all that flour? Check out this article for dealing with buying, and storing, bulk flour.
Storing a lot of flour is SO much easier with Gamma Lids!
Salt – We buy our salt at Costco. But here’s the thing. We bought a Costco-sized amount of salt in 2017 and we’re still using it.
Per the experts at Morton Salt, “While salt itself has no expiration date, salt products that contain iodine or seasonings that contain other ingredients such as spices, colors and flavors can deteriorate over time.”
Our salt is iodized, but isn’t clumping. It smells fine and tastes fine so we’re still using it.
Sugar – We usually buy sugar at Costco. However, our local Super1Foods had a fantastic sale on sugar last year. We still haven’t gone through all the sugar from that sale.
Olive Oil – I use olive oil in this recipe and I get it at Costco.
Yeast – I buy active dry yeast at Costco.
By the way, are you confused about the different types of yeast? You are not alone! I’ve got a great article on different types of yeast that will help a lot.
Milk – Our milk sometimes comes from Costco, but frequently we get it at the grocery store.
2024 Cost of Making Bread in a Bread Machine
My January 2024 analysis confirms what I’m hearing about inflation. Our cost of making a loaf of bread rose to $1.06 per loaf from only $0.77 in 2021. That’s a 30% increase! That’s even using salt from 2017 and sugar from a fantastic sale!
- 1.5 cups of milk is 30.8¢ – up 33% from 2021
- 4 cups of bread flour is 59.1¢ – up 65% from 2021
- 1.25 teaspoons of salt is .4¢ – the same as 2021
- 4 tablespoons of sugar is 2.7¢ – down 58% from 2021
- 1.5 tablespoons of olive oil is 10.0¢ – up 12% from 2021
- 1.75 teaspoons of active dry yeast is 2.5¢ – the same as 2021
2024 Cost of Bread at the Grocery Store
Earlier this month I went to my neighborhood Safeway to check on bread prices.
Sara Lee Artesano Bread was $4.99 a loaf. The 2021 regular price was $3.69. That’s a 35% increase.
Franz Old Fashioned Buttermilk Bread was $2.99 a loaf on sale, with a regular price of $5.99. The sale price was a great deal, but still more than the cost of homemade bread.
The 2021 price for Franz Old Fashioned Buttermilk Bread was $5.19 per loaf. So the normal 2024 price is 15% more than the 2021 price.
Oroweat Country Buttermilk Bread was $3.49 on sale with a regular price of $5.99 per loaf. Again, the sale price was wonderful, but still way more than the cost of homemade bread.
The 2021 regular price of Oroweat Country Buttermilk Bread was $5.09 per loaf. The 2024 regular price is 18% more than the 2021 price.
Again, the 2024 cost of making a loaf of sour milk bread with my bread machine was just $1.06 per loaf!
2021 Cost of Making Bread in a Bread Machine
In February 2021 we got a big surprise. Our cost of making a loaf of bread fell to only 77 cents per loaf! This is down from 83 cents per loaf in 2020.
The difference was mostly because I bought one ingredient at Costco instead of the grocery store.
We usually buy milk at the local grocery store. However, when we ran this analysis, we’d just gone to Costco and bought milk there. Milk is one of the most expensive ingredients in the recipe, so it made an enormous difference.
The lesson here is that it really pays to buy in bulk when you can!
Buying Bread at the Grocery Store – 2021
I went to my local IGA and got these prices at the start of March 2021.
Franz Old Fashioned Buttermilk bread was $5.19 per loaf. That’s the same as it was in February 2020.
In 2017, the price was $2.49 on sale.
Sara Lee Artesano Bread was on sale for $2.59 per loaf. The regular price was $3.69 per loaf.
In February 2020, a 20-ounce loaf of Sara Lee Artesano Bread was on sale for $2.79. The regular price was $3.69.
In 2017, the price was $3.29.
Oroweat Country Buttermilk Bread was $5.09 per loaf. That’s the same as it was in February 2020.
I don’t have a 2017 price from my local grocery. However, in 2017 Amazon Fresh was charging $3.99 for it.
Again, the 2021 cost of making a loaf of sour milk bread with my bread machine was just 77 cents!
2020 Cost of Making Bread in a Bread Machine
Our cost for making bread in the bread machine was only 83 cents per loaf in 2020!
The big story here is how much bread prices at the grocery store jumped from 2017 to 2020.
Buying Bread at the Grocery Store 2020 vs. 2017
Franz Old Fashioned Buttermilk bread – In February 2020 a 24-ounce loaf cost $5.19. (In 2017, the price was $2.49 on sale. )
Sara Lee Artesano Bread – In February 2020, a 20-ounce loaf was on sale for $2.79. The regular price was $3.69. (In 2017, the price was $3.29.)
Oroweat Country Buttermilk Bread – In February 2020 a 24-ounce loaf cost $5.09. (I don’t have a 2017 price from my local grocery. However, in 2017 Amazon Fresh was charging $3.99 for it.)
Again, the 2020 cost of making a loaf of sour milk bread with my bread machine was 83 cents!
2017 Cost of Making Bread in a Bread Machine
Let’s get right to it! Here are the numbers for making a loaf of bread at home from 2017.
Yes, you’re reading it correctly. In 2017, it cost us just 85 cents to make a loaf of bread.
2017 – A Different Spin on the Same Recipe
Kim, a loyal reader of this blog, saw my cost analysis and kindly sent me her costs for the same bread recipe. (You can see her original comment below.) Kim uses soy milk and Himalayan salt in her bread. She doesn’t buy her groceries in bulk. Here’s what it costs her to make a loaf of bread.
2017 How Does this Compare to the Grocery Store?
So how do these costs compare with the cost of bread purchased at the grocery store or Amazon Fresh?
- 6/13/2017 – a 24 ounce loaf of Franz Old Fashioned Buttermilk bread cost $2.49 on sale at IGA. Amazon Fresh sold it for $3.09.
- 6/13/2017 – a 20 ounce loaf of Sara Lee Artesano Bread cost $3.49 at IGA. Amazon Fresh sold it for $3.29.
- 6/14/2017 – a 24 ounce loaf of Oroweat Country Buttermilk Bread on Amazon Fresh cost $3.99.
Both my bread and Kim’s bread were less expensive than bread purchased at the grocery store or at Amazon.
Kim showed an important benefit of having a bread machine. A bread machine gives people the freedom to have bread exactly the way they want it.
Cost of Homemade Bread
Key Points:
- In 2024 it cost me $1.06 to make a two-pound loaf of sour milk bread. This is much less expensive than comparable loaves of bread from the grocery store.
- The cost per loaf of bread from the bread machine is 30% more than the 2021 cost of $0.77.
- It pays to buy bread ingredients in bulk
Our family refuses to pay so much for store bought breads.
I, at times, have 2 Zo’s going at once.
When the loaves are cool, we slice the whole loaf and put it in the freezer. It only takes 2 minutes for the pieces to thaw and they stay nice and soft this way.
I really appreciate this both current and historical information. I took buy in bulk whenever I can.
My family has loved every recipe of yours that I try. Most recently the No-Fail recipe because of the extreme weather we’ve had on the northern plains.
My bread uses bread flour from Costco or Sams in 25lb sacks which is a lot cheaper than grocery store bread flour. don’t use milk, just 320ml water, 1 lb 3 oz flour, no oil and 1 tsp salt and 1 TBSP sugar, then about 1 1/2 tsp yeast. We get a decent tasting loaf of bread for less than 50c, which is great as my husband eats it as fast as I can bake it…which is also why I leave out the milk and oil. Milk and oil help to keep the bread soft for slightly longer, but as a loaf only lasts 2 days in my house, we don’t need it 🙂
Thanks so much for your comment. I miss Sams. There used to be one in my area but it closed.
Marsha, I think your sour milk bread recipe is my new go-to white bread recipe. I also made the orange white bread (basically the same recipe with orange zest) and my hubby loved it. Such a refreshing flavor.
I sent you an email recently asking about buying used Zos on EBay. I have had Zo Envy for years and have held back but finally bit the bullet. I finally did it and bought a used Virtuoso Plus. I am so excited and think I will try an Artisan bread first. Or maybe another Orange bread! Hopefully I got a good one and not someone’s lemon.
Keep those tips and recipes coming!
Jean, I remember our email exchange. I’m so glad that you got a Zo. Do you like it?
Thank you! I buy bulk ingredients and have known that bread from my machine is less expensive than hearty, good bread from a store and tastes so much better. It’s nice to have a confirmation and real cents – no dollars. I make 1-2 loafs per week now as it’s just my husband and I. When my children where growing up it was a loaf a day! Both of my son’s have bread machines and make their own bread.
I love your email and site.
Thanks so much for the kind words!
When I buy flour at the local Fred Meyer, a 25 lb. bag is $6.99, and on first Tuesday, I get an additional 20% off, making the flour 22.368¢ per pound, which is the cheapest that I’ve found so far, and at 12% protein, makes pretty darn good bread. Also, I buy buttermilk (Umpqua dairy) at Grocery Outlet, it’s always $1.49 a quart, which is 37.25¢ a cup. Also, Dollar Tree has Pink Himalayan sea salt for $1, and that translates to 0.0078¢ a tsp. White table sugar is $3.98 a 10 lb bag, which is 39.8¢ a pound, and that works out to about 1.098¢ a Tbsp. EVOO is what I use, and it costs 13.46¢ an ounce or 6.73¢ a Tbsp, when purchasing a 101 oz bottle. Eggs are $5.24 for 5 dozen, which works out to 8.74¢ an egg. So my cost per loaf is about 76.1958¢ per loaf. Safe, and hoppy baking from the Boondocking Baker™!
Thanks so much for this information!!
The cost is a factor but the one thing I love the most about making my own bread, is that I can eliminate the salt. Most of my recipes I have made turn out fantastic without any salt at all, and some recipes where I need a wee bit of salt I use so little and they still come out great. Using little or no salt means using less yeast as well so not only am I saving there but having no salt bread is really important when you are trying to bring down high blood pressure. I got the breadmaker for my birthday and have been enjoying it ever since. I especially love that it only takes 3 minutes to make bread, then I come back when it’s all done and yummy, yummy!!
Thanks for your comment!!
My take on the maths:
I know it’s less expensive than store bought bread, just doing some “mental math” in my head. Also, some of us devoted to bread machines may not have noticed but the prices of store bought bread have gone up a LOT since this analysis was done in 2017. The one that bugged my eyes out was a recent circular here that had a “bakery” carmelized onion bread… at $6.99 a loaf!!! It’s a mainstay favorite here and my brain ciphering says it costs about $1.75 when I make a 2 pound loaf.
One basic number to consider is the cost of flour. There are 16 cups in a 5 pound bag of bread flour – enough for four 2 pound loaves of basic white bread. In these parts a 5 pound bag of quality bread flour typically sells today for $4.99 – or $1.25 per loaf. (I wish we had an option to buy bread flour in bulk, but we don’t.)
The rest of the ingredients are pretty inconsequential: couple tablespoons of butter or oil, couple tablespoons of sugar, yeast of course, some salt… All of those other ingredients except the yeast are household staples for us to begin with. In other words I’m not going out of my way to purchase anything but the bread flour and yeast to put a basic loaf on the table. So… I’ve added, at most, maybe $1.35 per 2 pound loaf to my regular shopping costs to make bread at home.
And it’s a lot less than that when Bob’s Red Mill bread flour goes on sale at 30% off! A fortunate and frequent occurrence for us.
You can’t get a loaf of commercial mass produced store brand bread for less than $2.00 today, at least not around here. Branded stuff like P. Farm “farmhouse” breads are $4.99 when not on sale!
Ive used several kinds of flour, excluding bleached and self rising.
This means I did the unthinkable and actually used the dreaded all-purpose.
I have an “all purpose” loaf going right now, in fact.
The other ingredients I use are simple and common – powdered milk, on-sale sea salt, any old sugar, margarine or butter.
Pretty much whatever we have, and nothing really “selective.”
I just tell people I get a decent loaf of “pedestrian bread” for a buck,
My Oster bread machine uses 650 watts (probably peak power). My local electric rate is 8.14 cents per kilowatt-hour (1,000 watts for one hour). My usual bread cycle runs 3 hours & 25 minutes. (For comparison, Pacific Gas & Electric in California current electric rates range from baseline rates of 12 cents to as high as 33 cents per kWh during summer peak demand hours.)
So, the equation is 3.42 hours X 650 watts = 2.2 kWh electric use per loaf
and 2.2 kWh x $0.814 = ~$0.18 per loaf.
Even at PG&E’s peak summer rates during hot summer afternoons ($0.33/kWh), the cost of a running my machine for one cycle (one loaf) only comes to ~$0.72.
Note: I don’t believe that the machine is using the full 650 watts at all times during the cycle, which reduces the total electric cost.
Great analysis! Thanks!
What would the electricity cost for a loaf to make in bread machine?
I didn’t know how to account for that, so it’s not part of the analysis.
Check with a local rural electric cooperative. I’ve seen some appliance useage reports where I lived before.
I just wanted to say a quick thanks for doing the math!
You’re so welcome! 🙂
I was just going to do a cost analysis and thought….google! So glad I did because I found this website. This helps because I now have neighbors that want to bread from me. I had no idea what to charge.
Thank you for your information. Tracy
You’re so welcome!
I’ve been able to cut cost measuring to the exact count .
Encluding cost of baking products and cost of electricity comes out to $ 1.25 a loaf , make 2 loaves and sell 1 for $ 2.50 = no cost for your loaf of bread !
I totally agree, home made bread is the way to go!
New to the bread machine… so i bought one that bakes a pound and a half loaf….is there a quick way to bring these 2lb recipes in line…. or just pinch a bit of dough off?
Great question! You’ll want to make the adjustments as you add the ingredients to the machine. I have an article on converting bread machine recipes for differently sized machines that should help.
When I priced items at my local market a couple weeks ago:
5 LB bread flour, any make was 4.99
1/2 gallon soy milk was 2.99
I use Himalayan salt so it’s not cheap at 7.99 a jar for 17 oz.
I’ve seen smaller jars but did not catch the price.
Sugar I buy by the 2lb box as I ONLY use it in bread when I don’t have honey. 2lb runs 4.99. Honey runs 5.00 per 1 lb jar depending on the place I buy it.
Oil. I use Olive Oil exclusively and we all know how high that’s getting! I just bought 120 fluid oz for just over $20 – that’s the every day virgin oil. The specialty oil – California Arbequina extra virgin runs $10 plus for 16.9 oz and it my go to for bread.
Yeast KAF’s SAF yeast, is 5.95 a lb. I know it costs shipping but it’s never a single item purchase so works out.
Now I know the price point is way different than what you posted BUT no matter how I slice it (laughs) the price per loaf is WAY lower especially when considering the satisfaction of a home made loaf vs the near emptiness of a store bought (and I might add flavorless to my mind [and tongue]) loaf – even the so-called artisan breads.
I firmly believe home made, whether by hand or machine, is not only more economical, it is more nutricious and tasty than store bought. (Now, don’t get me started on home made soups and broths or we’ll be here all day 🙂 )
Thanks so much for sharing your costs. And I’m with you in believing that homemade bread is the way to go!
Kim, I’ve added your input into the article. Thanks so much for your comments, encouragement and contributions. This blog is better because of you!
I buy my pink Himalayan sea salt at the dollar tree store. Yup, a pound of excellent pink Himalayan sea salt for a buck a pound! Why buy anywhere else? Share, and enjoy!