Chocolate Mufffins:Home-made versus shop-bought

One of the treats that we like to pick up when we do our weekly shop is Double Chocolate Chip Cookies or muffins.  Even with special offers they set us back at least £1 for 4, (although if you buy them singly at Tescos they are 80p each!).  Normally though I pay on average £1.50 for 4 big sized muffins (38p each) for the kids lunchboxes once (or maybe twice!) a week.

After a quick search I found this recipe which should make 20 muffins (albeit smaller than the ones I usually buy) and they should freeze so they don't get snaffled by a the family gannets!

The recipe uses the following ingredients:

• 140g plain chocolate
• 375g self-raising flour
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 55g unsweetened cocoa powder
• 85g caster sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 6 tablespoons sunflower oil
• 375ml milk
• 140g white chocolate chips

Although I followed the recipe I substituted a the same weight of basic chocolate bars chopped up for the white chocolate chips- naturally the plain chocolate was basic too so about 30p a bar

Here's the costings courtesy of the Tescos website for convenience.

2 x 100 g basics dark chocolate bars (half of one of these to make chocolate chips) @30p each= 60p

1 x 100 g basic white chocolate bar (chopped to make chips)= 30p

basics self raising flour @52p for 1.5 kg = 13p

own brand baking powder @99p for 170 g (1 tbsp is about 15g) = 9p

basics cocoa powder @£1.29 for 250g = 29p

sliver spoon caster sugar @ £1.08 for 1 kg = 10p

everyday value eggs @ £1.50 for 10 = 20p

vanilla extract @ £1.04 for 38ml (1 tsp is about 5ml) = 28p

sunflower oil @£1.39 for a litre (tablespoon is about 15ml) = 13p

milk @£1.18 for 2.2 litres = 21p
cake cases @55p for100 = 11p

total for 20 muffins - £2.44 or 13p per muffin (before fuel costs...)

So assuming that I use the oven when something else is in there so that the fuel cost can be disregarded that would save me 38-13=25p per muffin.  If my 3 children have chocolate muffins twice a week (regardless of school weeks or home weeks for once) that could save me 25p *3*52 = £39 across the year.  

Of course the one item that really sticks out as making the whole thing very expensive is the vanilla essence - I for one would not have thought that vanilla essence would add 28p to a recipe; in fact if pushed I would have guessed at about 5p.  Maybe future experiments can see if this can be halved or even omitted without spoiling the recipe.  If I can get away with no vanilla then the cost would be £2.16 or 11p per muffin saving another £3 across the year. Maybe worth thinking about.....

More updates :
Music Magpie - £24.46
Saved from housekeeping budget over last month - £317.15

total savings - £859.90+24.26+317.15= 1201.31

1.7% of total.

More decluttering with music magpie!

Another £12.18 for the pot from Music Magpie.

Savings to date -£762.52 + £12.18=£774.70
Still 1.1 %

School holidays updates

The school holidays have thrown my budgetting into chaos thanks to the extra diesel, food and expenses generally.  A reporter this week was throwing round the figure of £500 per week to keep little people amused during the school holidays - not in this house! (Although my in-laws wouldn't agree as they disapprove of all our belongs generally and what we choose to spend our money on ) We did our usual thing of raiding the pound shops for cheap craft materials and activities, using the library for free, going to £1 showings or midweek showings at the cinema (I also registered with Cineworld which gets us 10% off when I book online - and they have scrapped the booking fee too), painting pots from the garden centre for our garden and this summer we upcycled some redundant p.e. tops from school with tie dye.

 Other updates since my last post include:
More savings from my second purse style of budgetting - my stockpile value now stands at £117.88 and the "money" in my second purse itself is £38.24 ; I've yet to put anything into my third purse!
Tescos giving away vouchers since the last week in July (spend £20 and get £5 off your next £40 shop) as well as double vouchers at the moment meant I was able to get £48 of Skylanders figures (for A's birthday) for free.
£4.20 on money off per litre of fuel voucher (Morrisons)
Another box for music magpie £12.33 when the money comes in.
Left over housekeeping from last month from scrimping and saving generally £56.37

savings to date : £643.52 - 0.92% of total

More Music Magpie...

Another £7.47 for the pot from http://www.musicmagpie.co.uk/

Savings to date=£504.85+£7.47=£512.32
0.73% of total.

Decluttering and making money with Music Magpie

If you need some extra room on your shelves then you can sell your old CD's DVD's and games at http://www.musicmagpie.co.uk.  Easier than listing on E-bay or Amazon (although you may get less money in the end) you enter the barcode on the packaging and a price they will pay you comes up on screen. They even give you a FREEPOST label to send the stuff to them. I listed some items that didn't shift at the car boot - the minimum was 30p each.
One box down and £7.12 back (reviews say they do pay up but it takes a while).
Right, off to find more boxes to fill...

Savings to date = £497.73 + 7.12 = £504.85