Egg Noodles ($0.64 per lb.)

 $0.64 per lb.          67% savings          save $13.00 yearly

I am a noodle-lovin' girl.

When I was young, my mother would occasionally roast a whole turkey or chicken for dinner. It was amazingly delicious, but if I'm being honest, I was always way more excited about what would happen with the leftovers. 

What happened?

I'll tell you what happened:

Homemade soup is what happened. And with that soup, came homemade noodles.

These noodles were infinitely better than the flavorless, plastic-looking, bagged, store-bought ones, and that's NOT an exaggeration. I think the primary reason everyone in my family looked forward to that soup was because of those long, perfectly thick, delicious noodles. I imagine that when my mom prepared a huge pot of soup, she probably crossed her fingers and hoped it would last longer than she knew it would... Sorry, Mom. 

Those noodles didn't stand a chance. 

I'm the noodle-maker now, and I totally sympathize with my wonderful mother and all her finger-crossing hopefulness... and am unsurprised when my wishful thinking proves to have been in vain. I make these noodles whenever I've got "chicken noodle soup" on my mind. The great thing about this recipe is that I only need a third of the batch for a fully noodle-loaded soup, and I can freeze the rest for another day.

If you've never made homemade egg noodles, please, please try these at least once! They will rock your world! (Or maybe just your soup bowl, but still...)

Egg Noodles

~ adapted from Better Homes and Gardens

Printable Version

*Makes about 1 pound of dry noodles

INGREDIENTS

2 cups all-purpose flour (plus more for rolling out the noodle dough)

1 tsp salt

2 egg yolks, beaten

1 egg, beaten

1/3 cup water

1 tsp. vegetable oil

DIRECTIONS

In a large bowl stir together the flour and the salt. Make a well in the center of the flour mixture. In a small bowl stir together egg yolks, whole egg, water, and oil. Add egg mixture to flour mixture; mix well.

Sprinkle a kneading surface with flour. Turn dough out onto floured surface. Knead until dough is smooth and elastic (8 to 10 minutes total). Cover and let the dough rest for 10 minutes.

On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough to about 1/16 inch. Let stand, uncovered, for at least 20 minutes.

Lightly dust the dough with flour. Using a pizza cutter, cut the dough into strips. The original recipe recommends 1/4 inch wide and 2-3 inches long. I cut mine larger, because that's how we like them. How you cut them depends on how you like your noodles. They will expand when cooked.

To serve immediately, cook until tender but still firm, with no doughiness in the middle. Drain.

To store cut noodles, let them dry about 1 hour or until completely dry. I turn them over so that both sides get exposed to the air. Place dry noodles in an airtight container or ziplock bag and refrigerate for up to 3 days. Or place in a freezer bag or freezer container and freeze for up to 8 months.

~Savings ~

Cost Breakdown:

25 lb. all-purpose flour - $6.78 = 94.5 C = $0.071/C = $0.178

26 oz. salt - $0.42 = 122.75 tsp. = $0.003/tsp = $0.003

1 dozen eggs - $1.78 = $0.15/egg = $0.45

1 gallon vegetable oil = $6.78 = 256 T = $0.026/T = $0.009

Total Recipe Cost: $0.64

The Contender:

Mueller's Medium Egg Noodles (16 oz.) = $1.94

Savings:

67%

"Over a Year" Scenario:

Make Egg Noodles 10 times: $6.40

Buy 10 bags of Mueller's Medium Egg Noodles = $19.40

*Money Saved: $13.00