A lot of times I can find good bread on sale for about $2/loaf. At 16 slices, and 2 slices for .25 total, a sandwich should still be within almost anyone's budget. Try cutting back on meats or finding coupons for them (Carl Budig's precut beef usually has a $1 off coupon for your next purchase), so for 8 ounces its around .30/ounce. Plus cheese and mayo or whatever topping you like, a sandwich should cost no more than $1.25. You can also try grilling your favorite meaty sandwich for some extra kick.

For myself I have found that ditching bread altogether improved my health. I use the money not spent (on bread & stuff to go on it) for other carbs like fruit, dried fruit, veg. It's a bit of a cop-out with my kids though: sometimes I need for them to be able to feed themselves, and a sandwich is easy for them to make, so I still buy it for them. But in an ideal world, I'd prefer to have other snacks around for them to help themselves to, that don't include bread. This would involve more cooking/preparing than I have the time or inclination for!

I am very lucky. I have a bread outlet less then 1 mile from my house. It is very cheap. Perfect example. I bought 4 loaves bread, 3 english muffins, 6 bags bagels and 8 cakes (note-they are for the holidays) for $12 bucks. When I added everything up of what it would have cost-$70 bucks. The dollar store also carries bread for a $1 each. These 2 places don't sell old bread, just the stuff the grocery stores didn't buy. I tried to make bread once-horrible. I am not a very good baker. :)

Am I in the minority that doesn't see a $2.79 cent loaf a bread as high on my priority list?

i know i kind of sound like a crazy, but to me, it's worth it to pay a little more for a quality loaf of bread than to scrounge the dollar bin for wonder whitebread. (of course, all the roll-your-own ideas in the post are great too -- then you know exaclty what you're getting). i'm all up in omnivore's dillema right now, so it's got me thinking in a very specific way about the food i eat, but i think you can justify splurging on things like bread if you balance it out by cutting down on expensive, often unhealthful (not always) meat a bit.

Trent had an excellent article on making your own bread. If I had a decent knife I'd try it myself

Homemade Bread Cheap and Delicious

http://tinyurl.com/2zw6ql

Yes, it is a bread thrift store, I guess. I actually have 2 near me besides the $1 store. I do live in Ft. Lauderdale and everything is very close. It good and it's bad. Good, b/c I don't have to drive far(or take bus) to buy anything and bad, b/c everything is right here-very tempting to go overboard and buy thing you don't need. I have always been a "city girl", so I think if I moved to a small town and had to drive far, I don't think I could handle it. Kuddo's to those who do.

We bought a bread machine two years ago. I was really worried it would become a useless appliance but we use it all the time. It ends up being cheaper than purchased bread and way cheaper than $4 loaves of gourmet breads. I set it off at night and have fresh bread for sandwiches in the morning.

We also keep a bag of french loaves and bulk bags of flour tortillas in the freezer for when we don't have time to make bread.

Look for locally milled flour too. Sometimes bulk sized bags of that are considerably cheaper. We can get a 25# bag for about $9 for bread flour.

One of the greatest things my grandmother ever taught me was the value of extra loaf pans. It's possible to make 6 loaves worth of bread dough one time, bake one, and put the other 5 in the freezer-- pans and all. When the first loaf looks a little low, set one out to thaw and preheat the oven to bake it. It really doesn't take that much time or extra effort, our discount stores have decent loaf pans for just under $3 each.

If you want to be really fancy you can add different herbs, extra butter, cheese, nuts, fruit or grains to each loaf prior to freezing so that you have some selection.

Great article. I found this site through Stumbleupon and have bookmarked it so I can visit again.

I used to use a bread-machine briefly, til the teflon fumes made me feel weird and almost light-headed.

my strategy is, every sunday i try to make 2 loaves of quick bread (pumpkin or banana) which are really simple, and 2 loaves of a more "sandwich" type of bread. for my family of 4, this more than gets us through the week, although i usually buy one loaf for my daughter's school sandwiches. the quick breads take care of snacks after school or desserts. as far as the sandwich bread goes, although i understand everyone who said it's too hard to slice homemade bread for sandwiches, it's not so bad to have a slice of toast that's a little on the thick side. also, being used for toast, it's not really that important if it gets a little stale. (i usually keep one loaf of each out, and freeze the other two until we're ready for them.) alternately, if you don't want to buy any store bread at all, use your thick slice of homemade bread, put whatever you want on it, and just leave off the other "top" slice. that way it's not overly thick and "bready", but it's pretty much the same size/amount as a regular sandwich.

I eat a lot of rice and noodles instead of bread, but one of my staples is the stir-fry because it's so easy to make. Just throw in whatever veggies you have, your protein ingredient of choice (I've been eating a lot of beans lately because they are cheaper than meat and probably healthier too), and some tasty sauce and spices, and you're good to go. Same with pasta, pretty much anything can go on top of it as long as you have a decent sauce for flavor.

I love the idea on freezing bread. As a single, I can never finish a loaf before it goes bad. I just don't eat that much bread, so I don't buy it very often. I really wish they had smaller, cheaper packages of bread for people who don't want to buy a whole loaf.

Re: the price of flour. Yesterday, we went to our local Costco (Atlanta area) and I was startled to see that the price of a 50# bag of bread flour had jumped $2 in the last week. It is now $14.99, still a bargain if you bake often and can use those quantities. Another savings gambit: the holiday season is the time of year when supermarkets put baking supplies on sale. I notice that this year the sales on flour are not as prevalent or as cheap, but if you see 5# bags of flour for 99 cents or so, it's probably the best price we'll see this year. White flour is shelf stable for a long time, but whole grains will go rancid if you keep them too long, so if you stock up, you may want to stash them in the freezer.

Hi Myscha,
I had this ipifany yesterday. I was thinking about
your wise bread posts (as I get them via email) and
I realized that what you are writing is creating a
way for people who live in a world of few options to
begin to have some, and those who want to create
more options with their wealth, rather than spending
it on over priced stuff, to do that in a sane way. I
know there are people who have almost no cash and
for some ten extra dollars is a lot of money and at
least with the posts you offer they can begin to
find a way to save and create a bit of wealth or
savings with lifestyle changes.

I've had to really think about all of this, because
some of the posts I just couldn't relate to, (the
one about affording the three dollar loaf of bread
and the one about the powdered milk. ) But then I
realized when I was watching Extreme Home Makeover
last sunday that there really are many people who
live in real poverty and that for the mass
consciousness of society you are creating a gift of
showing them another way, another option to change
their life and create a new way of thinking and
living that will in the long term allow them real
options.

It also offers a new way of thinking for just the
every day family who might be in too much credit
card debt or living pay check to pay check as many
do and some of the posts give them a hint that life
could be different, if they choose to think and live
life differently.

I had been thinking about this alot over the course
of the last couple weeks and I just wanted to share
with you that I know you are doing a really great
thing and even the posts that don't resonate with
me, will certainly touch other lives out there and
make a difference!

Have a great week!
Lisa

Yes, that was really nice :) and true.

I agree that lessening reliance on sandwich bread can help with both budget and health, but I rely on it because French toast is the only way to get eggs into my first grader, for one thing. I buy expensive bread - Ezekiel no-flour sprouted bread - keep it in the freezer and use it only when it's really called for.

The cheapest way to get healthy grains is to start with whole, unground bulk grains. They last much longer than whole-grain flour and can be prepared a number of ways. The big innovation for me was discovering that I didn't need a grain mill to make bread from whole grains - specifically, sourdoughs and quickbreads that use a batter rather than a dough consistency. Grains can be soaked in the blender carafe with soured milk, yogurt or kefir until reasonably soft, and then other ingredients added, blended, poured and baked (I actually use a stick blender with a pitcher of the right size). Sourdoughs are soaked, blended, then allowed to ferment with starter.

The method can be used for porridges, waffles, pancakes, muffins, etc. in varying proportions. I keep whole brown rice, oats, rye, wheat, millet, etc. on hand and set up the night before.

Cooked grains from dinner, like brown rice, quinoa, barley, etc. can also be added to these batters... cooked grains can also be formed into patties and baked or fried, while leftover rice can be used to make horchata, a sweet Mexican drink.

This bread is fabulous! equal to the artisan "tuscan loaf" you buy for a fortune but uses .50c worth of ingredients: 3 c flour, 1/2 tsp yeast. 1 1/2 tsp salt and 11/2 c water. Miz with spoon - cover with saran wrap and let proof 12 to 24 hrs. Preheat oven to 475 and heat an heat proof casserole with a LID for 1/2 hr. Cover clean towel very heavily with flour, turn out the dough and gently roll into ball shape. When cassarole is blazing hot, plop in dough, bake at 475 dor 1/2 hour w/ lid, remove lid bake additional 10- 15 min- cool 1hr and Enjoy! You will be amazed at how crusty and chewy this round loaf is.

You will love the taste, ease and cost of this bread. To view the video from the original baker google nytimes.com video no knead bread.

It's totally forgiving but the secret is the long rise of the dough and the super hot, enclosed baking so plan accordingly. Once you view the video and make your 1st loaf, you can see how easy it is. I use flour for dusting and bake at 475 and have never had a bad loaf. My family loves it toasted- if any is left. You have to try it!

It is so worth reading through all these comments! You guys are such a creative and thoughtful bunch of people. Wendy, your tip on putting the whole pan with the risen dough ready to bake into the freezer is such a good idea - I can't wait to try that next time I make bread. And I completely agree with Amy, about using the bread machine to whip up some pizza dough and make your own - it has become a Friday night tradition at our place, and tastes so much better than the cheaper take-away pizzas. We actually bought a take-away the other week and the kids complained about the stodgy crust and lack of toppings, so they're converts to home-made pizza too!