Dry Bread Crumbs ($0.13 per cup)

$0.13 per cup     73% savings     save $5.41 yearly

Before I start, let me apologize profusely for the photos in this post that are a million different kinds of awful. I took them a long time ago, didn't really know how to make 'em pretty. Cringe-worthy, grape-nut-esque pictures are the result. 

Okay. Back to business: Dry bread crumbs.

They are used as a coating for all kinds of tasty dishes. In fact, I'm writing about them because they work perfectly with the Homemade Fish Sticks recipe I'm posting tomorrow. 

First off, I have to say that making your own bread crumbs is not going to make too much of an impact on your wallet, BUT there is something I have to show you before you dismiss the idea of making them.

Allow me to present Exhibit A: 

Ingredients: Enriched Wheat Flour, Malted Barley, Niacin, Ferrous Sulfate, Thiamine Mononitrate, Riboflavin, Folic Acid, Water, High Fructose Corn Syrup, Corn Syrup, Partially Hydrogenated Vegetable Oil (Soybean and/or Cottonseed Oil and/or Canola and Corn Oils). May Contain Salt, Yeast, Sugar, Honey, Sesame and/or Poppy Seeds, Molasses, Wheat Gluten, Whey, Soy Flour, Whole Wheat Flour, Rye Flour, Oat Bran, Corn Flour, Corn Meal, Rice Flour, Potato Flour, Butter, Skim Milk, Buttermilk, Lactic Acid, Distilled Vinegar, Soy Lecithin; Dough Conditioners (Mono and Diglycerides, Sodium and/or Calcium Stearoyl Lactylate), Yeast Nutrients (Contains One or More of the Following: Monocalcium Phosphate, Calcium Sulfate, Ammonium Sulfate), Calcium Propionate (Preservative), Potassium Sorbate (Preservative).

Those are the ingredients for bread crumbs... From the can... 

Am I the only one who's seriously confused about this?!

Shouldn't there just be one ingredient? I get that they had to break down exactly what was in the bread, but GOODNESS! I've NEVER seen a bread recipe with all of THAT going on. 

Which brings us back to making your own 1-ingredient bread crumbs:

I don't believe that there is an easier recipe on this planet than "dry bread crumbs." ... Well, except for regular bread crumbs, and maybe pop-tarts if your name is Brian Regan. 

I don't even know if you can call it a "recipe." It's bread. That's dry. And crushed into crumbs.

BUT the first time I needed to know how to make the dry bread crumbs called for in a yummy recipe I was trying out, I looked for some direction. I did not want to screw up dry bread crumbs for pete's sake... and now I am happily passing along the "recipe" to you. 

Dry Bread Crumbs
Printable Version

*Makes approx. 1 cup

(Note: You can make as much as you want and store it in a sealed container in the fridge for a couple weeks. Do not use stale bread. It will result in stale-tasting bread crumbs.)

INGREDIENTS
3 slices of homemade bread (I usually end up using the large heels of my Best Wheat Bread)
or
4 slices store bought bread (You can use any kind of bread you want. Most recipes you'll encounter use white bread crumbs, but you can substitute with wheat, rye, etc.)

DIRECTIONS
Pre-heat your oven to 300 degrees. Cut bread into strips and place on a baking pan.  Bake for 20 minutes or until bread is dried out. Cool the bread strips on a cooling rack to prevent any remaining moisture from the bread to condense between the bottom of the bread and the hot pan.

If you have a food processor, process the bread until bread crumbs are achieved. If you don't have a food processor (that would include me), place the bread in a ziplock bag, and crush the bread with a rolling pin till your bread reaches the desired coarseness.

Store in a sealed container in the fridge.

~ Savings ~

Cost Breakdown:

1 loaf Best Wheat Bread - $0.71 = 16 slices = $0.044/slice = $0.133

Total Recipe Cost: $0.13

Cost per cup: $0.13

The Contender:

Meijer brand Plain Bread Crumbs 15 oz. (3.5 cups) = $1.73
Cost per cup: $0.49

Savings: 73%

"Over a year" scenario:

Make 15 cups homemade bread crumbs: $2.00

Use 15 cups Meijer brand Plain Bread Crumbs : $7.41

*Money Saved: $5.41