Saving Money on Yeast

I love to make my own bread in the bread machine. My father in law says I am his favorite daughter in law because most everyday he comes home to find a fresh loaf of warm bread waiting for him. (Never mind that I am his only daughter in law!)

A friend of mine recently moved across the country so she gave me a TON of stuff from her pantry. I am so thankful for this blessing because my husband is still out of work on workman's compensation after his arm injury. We inherited tons of spices, canned goods, frozen foods, and pantry staples. I was most excited about the large package of yeast she gave me and the various types of flour. I get to experiment!!!!!!

Usually I buy yeast in the jar and keep in in the refrigerator. However, money has been tight so $6 on yeast seemed to be excessive so I have been buying the 3 package strips for about 98 cents. More costly in the long run for sure, but easier on the wallet at one time. However, aforementioned father in law made it a challenge to keep up with yeast purchases.

I buy my bread flour in 25 lb. bags at a warehouse club, and keep it in Tupperware containers in my pantry. It last a long time and comes out much cheaper than buying it by the 5 pound bags. I knew I was saving money that way, but the yeast still posed a problem.

My friend that moved gave me a box of yeast. It had 18 strips of 3 packets each, for a total of 54 little packets. At last, costly yeast was not an issue! I could bake, bake, bake and have a happy family!

However, since it was the fast rise kind of yeast, I only needed to use 1 1/2 teaspoons per loaf of bread. I found that each package held more than I needed, so I was measuring out the 1 1/2 teaspoons and then just tossing the rest. Suddenly it dawned on me what a money squandering idiot I was! I started pouring the leftover yeast into a tiny recycled jar (it originally held the blueberry syrup from Cracker barrel and has a tightly fitting screw on lid). Each package actually holds about 2 1/4 teas of yeast, so I measure out my 1 1/2 teaspoons and then pouring the remaining 3/4 teaspoon into my jar. I figure this gives me 3 loaves from 2 envelopes. This may not seem like much, but the math goes something like this:


Original Way:
98 cents divided into 3 loaves meant I was paying almost 33 cents per loaf for yeast.
33 cents for yeast times 54 loaves =$17.82 for the yeast alone.
This adds up to 6 3/4 boxes of yeast for a year which would be $120.45 if you make one loaf a day.

New way:
(Factoring in IF I had purchased 54 envelopes)
4 1/2 loaves per 3 pack strip
22 cents per loaf x 81 loaves =$17.82
This adds up to 4 1/2 boxes of yeast per year which would be $80.19 for one loaf a day.
This means I am getting an additional 27 loaves from the same box of yeast, which adds up to a savings of $8.91!!!!!!

For those of us who make bread daily this could add up to big savings over the course of a year! In fact, super smart math hubby totals this up to be over $40 a year saved on yeast alone! WOW!

Now....can anyone do the comparison based on jar rapid rise yeast????? Let me know your findings! As I said, I believe that jar yeast is much cheaper, however, since this box of yeast was gifted to me I figure I just saved a bunch of money!

How's that for rolling in the DOUGH? ha ha ha ha ha! I crack me up! :0