I am on my fourth bread machine in 16 years. The first three I got for free: the first, as a wedding present, the second and third from asking for one on Freecycle.org. (You never know until you ask!)
The fourth, and hopefully, last one for a very long time, is one I bought on sale in May 2011 with a 30% off coupon from Kohls. (For my purchase, I also received $30 of Kohl’s Cash, which I used to buy a Consumer Reports Best Buy Blender called the Ninja Master Professional Prep Triple Play, which I use for making pico de gallo, but I digress!)
My Zojirushi Home Bakery Supreme Bread Machine has proven to measure up to all of the high marks I had read about it before purchasing. I got it for $186, when it retailed for close to $300 elsewhere.
I use it at least once, if not twice, a week to make an organic loaf of bread for our family of five. I also use it to make dinner rolls and the very occasional pizza dough. (I much prefer to make the pizza dough by hand, mainly because it’s quicker than using the bread machine! See my previous post.)
Putting together the ingredients and setting the timer takes 10 – 15 minutes tops! Having a big loaf of bread baked overnight makes owning a bread machine so worth it!
Consider that at the store, organic whole grain breads sell for at least $3.00/loaf for way less than 2 lbs.
I just measure the flour first in a bowl and set it aside. Then I add all the other ingredients, in order of the following recipes, into the bread pain. I set the timer to whatever time I’d like it to be ready, usually allowing for twenty minutes for it cool before cutting for breakfast.
Basic 2 lb/32 oz loaf 100% Whole Wheat Bread recipe – organic, GMO-ingredient free, preservative-free:
1 7/8 c. warm water
5 c. organic whole wheat bread flour ($.79/lb) = $ .60
3 T. organic brown sugar ($.13/oz.) = $ .20
2 T. organic dry milk ($.50/oz) = $ .40
2 t. sea salt ($.09/oz) $ .02
2 T. butter ($ .09/T. Trader Joes) = $ .18
2 t. active dry yeast ($.20/oz) = $ .04
TOTAL = $1.44
After a few years of tinkering with bread-machine-manual recipes and ones I’ve gotten online, I have come up with my own 2-lb/32 oz whole grain loaf recipe that is cholesterol-free, organic, GMO-ingredient-free, and preservative-free:
1 7/8 c. warm water
2 T. organic coconut milk (refridgerated) ($.05/oz) = $ .05
2 ½ T. organic coconut oil ($.43/oz) = $ .65
3 T. honey (raw honey is so good for you $.38/oz) = $ .57
2 T. organic brown sugar ($.13/oz) = $ .11
3 c. organic whole wheat bread flour ($.79/ lb) = $ .60
2 c. organic (artisan bread flour $1.07/lb or unbleached white flour $.87/lb) = $ .54 or .44
2 t. fine sea salt ($.09/oz) $ .02
2 t. active dry yeast ($.20/oz) = $ .04
TOTAL = $2.58 with artisan bread flour /$2.48 with unbleached white flour
The prices are from my food co-op, with the exception of the Nutiva coconut oil, which I buy through an “Subscribe and Save” account (free) on amazon.com.
Stay tuned for other Frugal Foodie Kitchen Investment write-ups!
~Aimee, TFF
Two Frugal Fairfielders 
Loved the post, especially since I just acquired my first bread machine a few weeks ago! 🙂 And wanted to let you know that I nominated you for the Versatile Blogger Award today. You can check it out over on my blog. Keep up the great posts!
THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!! Good to know a fellow frugaler! ~Marilyn from TFF (the one who doesn’t have a bread machine … yet ;–)
Hello! I appreciate you reading and responding with kind words. Thank you so much for the nomination! I look forward to checking out your blog. There’s so much we can learn from each other. Stay tuned for more bread machine posts. Thanks! ~Aimee, TFF
I also strongly recommend ABM’s in the frugal kitchen. I have had 4 as well: first one thru freecycle is a 1 lb size-perfect for me to experiment with and discover that I needed a larger sized model (it’ll currently being offered back up on freecycle), a 1 1/2 lb size bought for $8 at a thrift shop-now dead with whatever parts that I could, recycled; a third is a 2 lb load size-perfect for my needs, also bought at a thrift shop for about $12. My 4th one is a freecycled 2 lb loaf one that I was acutally eyeballing in a Kohl’s ad when it was posted on FC, having only been used a few times by the original owners. Saved myself $68 plus tax on that deal. : ) I use my ABMs at least 3 times a week for bread, pizza dough, hot cross bun dough, rolls, etc. A real money saver, given the cost of commercially baked goods. I also like that I can control the ingredients. My $20 investment has more than paid for itself in only a few months. I have hand arthritis and have found these to be a real blessing for me.