Believe it or not, homemade ice cream not only tastes better than store bought, but the cost analysis is comparable. Imagine all the custom-made concoctions you can enjoy this summer!
Include this yummy ice cream in Sherbet Punch or an Sorbet & Ice Cream Pie with Chocolate Ganache. It’s great for topping one of your favorite Homemade Pies!
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I’ve always loved the flavor and fun of homemade ice cream. It tastes so much better than store bought. And there is such excitement when an ice cream machine starts churning. The air just bursts with anticipation!
When I was a kid, we would go to backyard BBQs where the hosts would handcrank the ice cream for what seemed like hours. Later, electronic machines took over for the cranks, but you still needed to remember to buy the salt and ice. Nowadays a gel-filled canister takes the place of the ice and salt. Soft serve in a matter of minutes.
Recently, I took the plunge of buying an ice cream maker. One of those fancy-store-the-canister-in-the-freezer kind. Yeah, I know, I’m a sucker for small kitchen appliances.
I had priced out ice cream at the store a few days prior and was amazed at how small the packages had become and how high the prices, even on sale. Not to mention the unpronounceable ingredients!
Since we tend to give our appliances a good run for their money, I knew we could make it work for us in that way. A quick search showed me that Costco’s price was pretty fab for the model in question. It’s not the newest model, but it’s $32.99 right now at Costco. More on the machine once I’ve used it enough to report effectively. (Head’s up! If you make a purchase through that Amazon link there, I do receive a small percentage of the sale.)
But aren’t the ingredients expensive?
Currently, I can buy half-gallons of organic cream at Costco for $6.79, or $0.85/cup. Milk is around $2.55/gallon, or $0.15/cup. Evaporated sugar cane juice, the sweetener I’m now using is $0.80/cup.
I used the recipe from the ice cream maker as follows:
$0.15 – 1 cup hormone-free milk
$1.70 – 2 cups organic cream
$0.60 – ¾ cup organic evaporated sugar cane juice
$2.45 – Total cost of 1 ½ quarts of homemade, almost organic ice cream
Healthier and Cheaper?
Clearly, the ingredients I used were almost as good as it gets. And the price comparison?
In my neck of the woods, ice cream no longer comes in half-gallons. It’s so weird. In fact, one of our preferred brands sells them in 1 ½ quart tubs. And honestly, I pay a lot more than $2.45 for those tubs, even on sale. Last week their “sale” price was $3.99.
So, the verdict is that homemade ice cream can be more economical and healthier than store-bought. I never thought I would see the day where it was cheaper to make our own.
You can bet that we’ll be making more homemade ice cream, sorbets, sherbets, and frozen yogurt this summer!
Simple Vanilla Ice Cream
Ingredients
- 1 cup milk
- ¾ cup granulated sugar
- 2 cup whipping cream
- 2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the milk and sugar until the sugar dissolves. Evaporated sugar cane juice takes a little longer to dissolve than regular granulated sugar. Some grains didn’t completely dissolve, but I was okay with that.
- Stir in the cream and vanilla.
- Freeze in the ice cream machine according to the directions provided by the manufacturer of your particular machine.
- Once the ice cream has thickened, eat immediately as soft serve ice cream or transfer it to an airtight container and store in the freezer for an additional 2 hours or more.
Laura
I have this ice cream maker, have had it for almost 8 years now. Can’t recommend it enough. I usually make the vanilla and the chocolate in the manual and a peach. The peach isnt quite as healthy (or inexpensive) since it uses pudding mix and canned milks but its sooo good. Here it is if anyone is interested-
2 c. peeled, diced fresh peaches (about 4 medium ripe peaches)
1/2 c. sugar
1/2 can evaporated milk
1/2 pkg. instant vanilla pudding mix
1/2 can sweetened condensed milk
2 c. half and half
Combine peaches and sugar, and let stand 1 hour. Process peach mixture in food processor until smooth, stopping to scrape down sides. Stir together evaporated milk and pudding mix in a large bowl; stir in peach puree, condensed milk, and half and half. Pour mixture into freezer container of a ice cream freezer; freeze according to manufacturers directions. Spoon into air tight container and freeze until firm.
And for those who asked about the consistency of homemade ice cream, when you first make it is very soft, like soft serve. After you freeze it, it hardens up a lot. I usually put mine in the microwave for about 30 seconds to soften enough to scoop it or leave on the counter to soften.
Jen
I lucked out and found the same Cuisinart ice cream maker at Goodwill a couple years ago. It looked brand new and was only $5!
Leslie
I grew up eating homemade icecream all summer in GA. However, my family’s recipe isn’t as healthy as your’s. Now living in CA, when we make homemade our friends love us more. It’s amazing how many people have never had homemade.
Tiffany @ DontWastetheCrumbs
This makes me wonder if I should look into an ice cream maker as well. It’s been on my mind, especially since my husband makes milkshakes almost every night. He would be over the moon if I was able to make ice cream and it taste better than the store. I know nothing about the makers, so I thought I’d have to hand-crank for hours to make it!
Amy @ Pounds4Pennies
Technically if it is 85% or more it is considered organic. So I say it is Organic Ice Cream. This sounds delicious and simple ingredients. Where do you find the evaporated cane juice?
Jessica Fisher
I have found it at Walmart, Ralphs, and ordered it in bulk from Azure Standard.
Donna
I have found it in large bags (5 lbs) at Costco in WI.
Nora@ The Dollar Hollering Homemaker
We make ours with greek yougurt instead of the cream. A little bit healthier but it’s more expensive that way:) I love to top mine with whatever fresh fruit we have and it makes me feel less guilty:)
kara
Wow, your milk is cheap! A gallon of milk if about $5/gallon for organic and $3-something/gallon for regular. And here I thought everything was more expensive in CA 🙂
Jessica Fisher
Nope, only gas and land. 😉
AllieZirkle
AMEN! That is what I keep telling people. Just gas and land. You know, our auto insurance in AZ is TWICE what it costs in CA… UGH!
sarah
Great timing on this post! I was actually having this exact same conversation with my husband yesterday. After pricing a 1.5 qt. ice cream maker, I found that I would only have to make ice cream about 10 times for it to pay for itself. We prefer a brand that uses only real ingredients (milk, sugar, etc.) and that brand has, in fact, shrunk its packaging and raised its price! Thanks for the recipe!
Bobbi
Just wondering IF this recipe would be possible WITHOUT an icecream maker?? I do not have one, but wonder if there was a way to make it anyway??? Thanks!
Jessica Fisher
I don’t think so. It’s churning and freezing at the same time. Like whipping cream in a blizzard, basically. So, I think you could only do it in the dead of winter. 😉
Bobbi
Yeah, makes sense! Guess I will HAVE to ask for an ice-cream machine for my b-day, recipe looks great, cannot wait to try it! 🙂
Julie
I have seen a recipe where you put the ingredients (probably just a portion of the recipe above) into a quart Ziploc inside of a larger gallon Ziploc filled with ice and you can manually shake it. A friend did it and said it was easy but it’s quite a workout. 🙂
AllieZirkle
My sister and her family make ice cream in the Ziplocs at the beach. They say it’s fast and delish!
Bobbi
So you shake shake shake till it gets thicken nicely and then freeze? Sounds like it is worth a try! I am assuming you then take the ice cubes out? I think I will get my kids help to shake…… 🙂
Jessica Fisher
If you google “ice cream in a baggie” you should find the directions. My sister did it at summer camp when she was a counselor. You can do it in individual servings and then eat out of the sandwich size bags.
Jes
I’ve been making this without an ice cream maker. I take the cream, sugar, and vanilla and mix it in my stand mixer (could also use a hand mixer) till it’s the consistency of whipped cream, then I slowly incorporate the milk. I put the whole bowl in the freezer and take out and mix with the mixer about every half hour till it’s hard enough (soft serv like). Seems to work fine and since it’s made with so much cream, and starts out nice and thick, it doesn’t get really icy from the milk freezing 🙂 It just takes an afternoon to make, instead of being fast with an ice cream maker.
Jessica Fisher
Great idea! Thanks for sharing your experience.
Lee
I love my ice cream maker, but it makes a gallon and it’s the old school salt and ice kind, so I usually just do it a few times a summer when we are having people over :). Maybe I should invest in the smaller one and use it more often.
Barb @ A Life in Balance
My kids keep bugging me to make ice cream. I have 2 sources for larger amounts of cream which does make it cheaper.
We’ve also noticed the downsizing of ice cream cartons. We switched from Breyer’s to Costco ice cream for my dh because the Breyers kept getting smaller and stayed the same price.
I shared a recipe for cake and one for buttercream icing from my new local food cooking blog. Enjoy!
Kristin
We’ve been trying to buy all natural varieties of ice cream, but it’s so expensive. I’ll have to do a cost break down for our area to see if making our own would be cheaper. I think our milk costs more than yours, but our ice cream costs less. Doesn’t that seem wrong when milk is a main ingredient?
Jessica Fisher
It’s really the cream that is the main ingredient. But, you can make ice milk or frozen yogurt that could be more economical depending on the ingredients.
Debbi Does Dinner Healthy
I so need to get an ice cream maker, I’ve been saying it for the longest time. This sounds great, thanks!
SnoWhite @ Finding Joy in My Kitchen
Do it, Debbi! You won’t regret it 🙂
Carrie @ Busy Nothings
I got my little tub ice cream maker a couple of years ago from Target for – I think – $20. Best money we ever spent (on ANOTHER kitchen appliance). We use a simple, South Beach friendly recipe that is SO easy and takes between 20 to 30 minutes from start to finish.
You will need:
1 – 1.4 oz. box Sugar Free Jello Instant Pudding
1 – 12 oz. can Fat Free Evaporated Milk
1 C. Low Fat Milk
1/4 C. Splenda
That’s it. You mix the Jello (any flavor – the chocolate is good and the white chocolate was amazing!) and Splenda, then add the milk and evaporated milk. Stir it well to make sure the lumps are all broken up and then pour into the (pre-frozen) ice cream bucket.
Easy goodness! 🙂
Kathy
Thank you SO much for posting this lower calorie, low cholesterol recipe! I loved the recipe in the original post, but we absolutely cannot eat desserts like that.
Jen Blacker
I’d like to see more recipes for homemade ice cream. I’ve been on the fence about buying one. My husband is worried about the texture, he wants it to be close to store bought icecream. My only concern is how to make dark chocolate icecream. 🙂
Thank you for hosting. This week I shared my chocolate espresso mousse recipe. Darn easy and very tasty.
Jessica Fisher
Believe me, I’ll be experimenting. 😉
Janel
I just linked up my recipe for a mocha-like ice cream that’s made with coconut milk, cocoa powder and espresso. I bet you could make dark chocolate ice cream by just adding some Hershey’s Special Dark Cocoa Powder to your favorite vanilla recipe.
Roxanne
This book by our local, Columbus Ohio favorite jeni Britton Bauer, offers great flavors–very intense and some unusual. We love the strawberry (especially when we can use fresh locally grown berries) and salty Carmel. http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/jenis-splendid-ice-creams-at-home-jeni-britton-bauer/1101121197?ean=9781579654368
AllieZirkle
Thanks Roxanne for this book suggestion!!! I requested it at my local library in AZ, and I might just purchase it here, after my renewals are up! I would never have looked to include cream cheese, but boy what a treat. Thanks again for the suggestion 🙂
AllieZirkle
Elisabeth
I love making ice cream–started last year and haven’t looked back.
The one thing I’ve started doing to my vanilla ice cream is putting a little nutmeg in the mix. I am over the top about nutmeg and it makes the vanilla taste so YUMMY!
Margaret
nutmeg? oh…I bet that is good!!! Thanks
cherie
parallel lives
My cuisinart ice cream maker just arrived
I got the 2 qt and am looking forward to getting started with it!
First I need to dig out a designated area for the tub in the freezer!
My impetus was much the same as yours – haven’t seen a price that propelled me to buy ice cream in ages – and the ingredients are always questionable – as I buy more organic I’d much prefer to make my own choices here as well
Glad to hear that it’s frugal too!
Jessica Fisher
IF you can get good prices on the ingredients, it is. Remember I buy in bulk and Costco prices are not the same from store to store.
cherie
true – just got back from costco myself – no organic cream to be had there – will see what I can grab at TJs – either way I’d rather be purposeful about it – when I have to make it I’ll do it with a plan for it being eaten – in the past I’d wind up with bits and pieces of containers taking up valuable freeer space ;p
Donna
If you shop at costco and can get the organic half and half, use that for all three of the cups of liquid. I can’t always get the cream at Costco, but the half and half is always there!
SnoWhite @ Finding Joy in My Kitchen
We use half and half too — works wonderfully.
Stacy
I’ve always not wanted to spend money on the ice cream maker, and I figured if we had it we’d eat too much ice cream. Still, it’s tempting. My husband loves ice cream, and so do my son and I.
I’ll have to look into the cane juice.
Jessica Fisher
It’s not really juice. It’s evaporated, so it will come in grain form, a little bigger grain than granulated, but smaller than turbinado.
Stacy
Why do you use that type of sweetener? I’ve been trying to use honey and organic brown sugar, thinking they’re healthier. I tried raw sugar, but it bugged me how big the crystals were–hard to dissolve in baking. I’ve not tried sucanat yet.
Jessica Fisher
It looks and acts most like granulated sugar but is less processed than sugar. The color difference is amazing. It’s also in my price range, much cheaper than sucanat.
Paula
I didn’t realize how cheap it was to make ice cream. We used to have an ice cream maker and I just loved it! Homemade ice cream beats all!