What is cheaper: buying a pasta machine and making your own w/ ingredients or buying it pre-made dry??

Question

One of my old friends is half-Italian and his mom had a pasta machine. She made home-made pasta all the time. I never knew when I ate over there if the pasta we ate was from the machine or store bought, but it always tasted good. Is it worth it to buy the machine? I know there are electric ones out there, but using a machine woiuld be cheaper in the long run to make pasta, would getting an electric one be better or would a hand-cranked one suffice?

Answer 1

Ok...here's my .02 cents. I have a "time is money & money is time" rule that I use for things like this.

Think about what you make at work ($ per hr.). To make homemade pasta from scratch probably takes about 2 hrs. more or less which is what it was for my pasta project...(we are talking from the point of shopping for the ingredients, measuring out the ingredients, making the pasta dough, turning it through the "pasta maker " a few times to get the right thickness, then selecting the size "wheel" of the pasta type (fettucine, linguine, angel hair) and then cooking it. Boom in that time, you could have bought "fresh pasta" from the fridge section of your local grocery store and had time to make an entire dinner. Now if you intend on making pasta consistently for yourself or gifts for friends, then it still could be worth it.

But I ask you...if the person who makes ____$ /hr at work makes 2 hrs. worth of pasta at home...can you justify the value in dollars worth of your time for what an industry can produce for $.99 cents - $3.99 / lb. of pasta?

Not a judgement...just a question. For me...I love cooking so that would be worth it to me to make it once & a while. But for something like doing my taxes, I always take it to the tax preparer because the amount of my time to do it would take longer and I'd rather pay for the service.

Answer 2

The hand-cranked pasta machines are not really that expensive, and they do work really well. But I almost never use mine--only because I live in a place where I can easily buy really good fresh pasta at the store! I mean, making pasta yourself IS fun--it's just a bit messy and time-consuming. If you can imagine yourself inviting 3 or 4 friends over for a pasta-making party now and again, you're going to have a great time and end up with some great pasta as well. So it might be worth it. If you imagine something closer to you dragging yourself home exhausted at the end of a workday and then getting out your eggs and flour--not so much.

For most recipes, I believe dried pasta works just as well if not better. Dried pasta has a rougher surface when cooked, which helps it trap and hold the sauce. If you can buy really GOOD fresh pasta (I'm not talking that gross gummy Contadina stuff at Safeway, which is not "fresh" in any sense!!--back slowly away from the Contadina--) near you, it's perfect for creamy or more delicately flavored sauces, and I wouldn't even bother with a machine, unless you really think you'll have a lot of fun with it.

You can get dried pastas at the supermarket that are remarkably similar to fresh, they just take a little longer to cook. You might try "nested" fettucine or linguine--I think those stand up very well to creamy and/or more delicate sauces like you would normally choose for a fresh pasta.

Buon appetito!

Answer 3

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RE:
What is cheaper: buying a pasta machine and making your own w/ ingredients or buying it pre-made dry??
One of my old friends is half-Italian and his mom had a pasta machine. She made home-made pasta all the time. I never knew when I ate over there if the pasta we ate was from the machine or store bought, but it always tasted good. Is it worth it to buy the machine? I know there are electric ones out...

Answer 4

Cheaper isn't the question you should be asking. I doubt it would be cheaper to make your own, (especially if you shop at Costco/SamsClub/Walmart) but homemade is great.

Pasta machines open more oportunities as well. Pastries and other pastas can be made using some machines. (Like raviolis for example...)

It really depends on how much you like to cook and how much effort you want to put into it.

You could always do both.

Answer 5

I heart must have been watching too many commercials...or be employed by Heinz or Gerber :D It is much cheaper than the jars - and it's drop dead simple. Steam, stew, boil or bake your fruit or vegetable (use a small amount of water if stewing or boiling) and then mash or puree, adding cooking water to make it an appropriate consistency for your baby. You can buy special little pots, but I just used ice cube trays and then emptied the cubes into freezer bags. You can use a food processor, or a strong metal sieve and a spoon to push the food through, or I had a thing called a "potato ricer" which looks like a giant garlic press. It's a truly excellent baby food maker and when you're done making baby food it makes great mashed potato too :) It'll last in the freezer for as long as you need baby to be eating special food, to be honest. By age one you should just be mashing up a portion of the family meal for them, not cooking specially.

Answer 6

It'd probably be cheaper in the long run to buy a pasta machine, but make sure you're willing to put the effort into making the pasta each time.

Answer 7

Costco Pasta Maker

Answer 8

Making pasta takes time. The good thing is that you can always freeze it when you are finished.

If you are willing to take the time to make the pasta, then by all means do so...especially if you eat allot of pasta. Making it yourself is cheaper in the long run.

I would invest in an electric pasta maker, but that's just me. :)

Answer 9

How often do you eat pasta? I think it would be cheaper and more practical to have the hand made one to the electric.

Answer 10

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