Does baking your own bread save you money?

With a loaf of good whole wheat bread going for $4 many people are turning to baking their own bread. But does this save you any money? Let's see. A 5-pound bag of whole wheat flour currently sells for around $4. There are about 16 cups in q 5-pound bag. That comes to around 25 cents per cup. I use a simple recipe of 3 cups whole wheat flour to 1 and 1/2 cups water, 2 tsp salt and 2 tsp yeast. you can see that the flour comes to 75 cents, the water comes out of the tap and the salt is very cheap, maybe a penny at the most. We are now at 76 cents. The yeast is a very big factor in the frugality of bread making. See my earlier post about buying bulk yeast. Click here.
So if you use the expensive little envelopes your loaf might cost you $1.75, or if you use yeast out of a 2 pound bag it might cost you 80 cents. Of course it will cost a little more if you start adding things like honey, nuts, oil or any other good stuff, but that is what makes bread baking fun.
So my tip of the day is - use inexpensive bulk yeast and look for your favorite flour to be on sale and stock up.