Cost of Homemade Mince Pies

I made my first batch of mince pies today and was a little worried about the homemade mincemeat as it seemed much drier than the shop bought stuff. However, MrShoestring tried the tester pie and declared that he liked the homemade one better, as it was not as sweet as ones made with other sorts of mincemeat.

Previously I've always bought factory made mincemeat cheaply after Christmas so decided to work out the cost of the 1 dozen pies I had made.

The pastry cost 56p and made 13 pies, a dozen plus the tester one MrShoestring ate ! That seemed quite high to me as flour is cheap but rice milk and sunflower oil are not. Then the mincemeat mixture made enough for 36 pies so I divided the cost in 3 and got 51p for the mincemeat, not bad considering it also included a tablespoon of brandy. Then there was the cost of cooking the pies, at 7p, for a total cost of £1.14 for 13 pies. I didn't cost anything for my time or the wear and tear on the equipment or for the sprinkling of icing sugar.

The cheapest I could find bought mince pies was £1.50 a dozen in Iceland but the more usual cost was £1.80 - £2.00. So it is cheaper to make your own and these are allergen-free which is a big cost saving for us. But if you didn't have to watch what you eat, I would be very tempted to buy good shop bought ones to save time as the cost difference is not that great. 

One thing is for sure, I now know what the target price for cheap mincemeat after Christmas should be, anything lower the 50p and I'll pounce !