Granola: beloved companion to yogurt, snack time superstar, and airplane carry-on staple. We do love you so. Do you make your own? Or do you have a favorite brand that you buy?
For today's match-up, let's take a look at Bear Naked's Fruit & Nut Granola alongside our recipe for Peanut Butter and Honey Granola. All costs were taken from Peapod Online Grocery unless otherwise noted.
• Peanut Butter and Honey Granola
• Bear Naked's Fruit & Nut Granola from Peapod Online Grocery
COST BREAKDOWN
• Bear Naked's Fruit & Nut Granola
TOTAL: $4.99
PER 1/4 CUP: $0.45
• Peanut Butter and Honey Granola
Makes 8 cups
3 cups old-fashioned rolled oats: $1.84
2 cups shelled roasted peanuts: $3.50
1 cup hulled raw pumpkin seeds (Sourced from Amazon.com): $3.93
1 cup wheat germ (Sourced from Amazon.com): $0.64
1 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt: $0.01
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon: $0.12
1 teaspoon ground ginger: $1.04
1/2 cup honey: $2.00
1/2 cup packed dark brown sugar: $0.29
1 cup natural peanut butter, smooth or chunky: $1.35
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla: $0.55
2/3 cup vegetable or olive oil: $2.04
3/4 cup chopped dried dates: $1.79
TOTAL: $19.10
PER 1/4 CUP: $0.59
The grocery store spices and nuts add significant cost to this homemade granola. I feel that this could definitely be reduced by buying these ingredients from bulk bins, bringing the cost of homemade granola closer to the cost of store-bought.
CONVENIENCE
I'm always surprised at how easy it is to make granola. Just dump all the dry ingredients in a bowl, mix in the wet ingredients, and bake until toasty. In this recipe, the "wet ingredients" involves melting the honey and brown sugar on the stove top, but that doesn't add more than a few minutes of work.
The two biggest factors when making granola at home are having all the ingredients on-hand and then planning to be around the house while the granola is baking. Like making granola bars, just taking the time to stock your pantry with the basic raw ingredients will make whipping up a batch much easier and more convenient.
TASTINESS AND HEALTHFULNESS
Store-bought and homemade come out pretty even in this category. As long as you stick to products, like Bear Naked, that are on the natural "health food" end of the grocery store spectrum, you can be pretty sure of healthy and wholesome ingredients. In fact, the ingredient list for the Bear Naked granola is very nearly the same as the ingredient list for our homemade granola. Both are pretty tasty too!
MAKE OR BUY?
This is one of those products where if you enjoy making it, go for it. But if you'd rather spend your kitchen time doing other things, there are plenty of great store-bought (and farmer's market-bought!) options out there.
VERDICT: Split vote!
What do you think?
Related: Watch Out! Dangerously Addictive Olive Oil Granola
(Images: Peapod and Faith Durand)
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Homemade granola is all about the fun of combining interesting ingredients for flavor combos you can't buy. Homemade granola also makes a great gift, where as giving someone a bag of granola from the store, not so much.
I make my own granola and don't use nearly as many ingredients as those listed above, so my cost is much less than $.59 per 1/4 cup and it is still delicious. Also, one must take into consideration when buying, especially in small amounts, the bag that must be disposed of.
I make granola every few weeks. I have a spicy recipe that I love and there is NO oil.
http://www.waitingforgateau.com/candy.html#granola
Definitely make! It's so customizable, I just use whatever happens to be in my pantry. My favorite: http://www.tamingthetart.com/2011/spiced-olive-oil-granola/
I have the great fortune of having married into a family that makes brilliant granola at its restaurant about 2 blocks from my house :)
I made Orangette's "every day" granola frequently, for much less than a box of store-bought granola! (Plus there's the wonderful smell of granola toasting in the oven, yum).
Make!
After making my own, store bought just doesn't taste quite right anymore.
When you buy it you can pretend it's healthy. The very word conjures images of health! Granola. When you make it, you can't help but notice all the sugar (honey) and fat you need to add.
I wish you would have listed a nutritional comparison too - calories, sugar, fat...
For me, it's "make," no question. It's easy, it's inexpensive, it's endlessly customizable (which means I can control the fat and sugar, too), and --- most importantly --- it's much more fresh and delicious than what I can buy.
I'll be the first vote for buy! As a graduate student, I could never afford all of the individual ingredients at once. Plus, granola goes on sale pretty regularly, so I hardly ever have to pay the $5 for Bear Naked listed above.
However, I would definitely make it if I could afford to. It would be fun to customize it for maximum deliciousness.
I used to make my own because commercial ones never had the combination of flavors/components that I liked, but since I discovered a really good one from the bulk bins at whole foods it doesn't seem quite as worthwhile to make my own. I also used to just eat granola with milk like cereal, but now I usually eat it with greek yogurt so since the yogurt is more of the focus, the granola doesn't matter as much.
Since I discovered I could make granola in the Crockpot (with the lid off peeps), it's MAKE all the way. ANd yes, it's not so much a taste dif as a nutritional dif.
I love Blue Monarch's granola. Not only does it taste good, but it's for a good cause!
http://www.bluemonarch.org/www.bluemonarch.org/The_Blue_Chair.html
Our homemade version tastes far better than any I've bought. It might also be the fact that I make this delicious chocolate granola:
http://www.latartinegourmande.com/2011/01/13/gluten-free-chocolate-granola/
We sprinkle a little granola over fresh fruit and Greek yogurt every morning. A little goes a long way, too.
Make make make! Store bought is wayyyy too sweet. I use Melissa Clark's olive oil version from the NYT as a base.
MAKE! We make a batch every two weeks or so since I found this super easy, flexible and DELISH recipe from David Leibovitz!
http://www.davidlebovitz.com/2009/10/granola-recipe/
Make-ity make make make! Here's my one big tip: bake it at 300F, stirring every 10 minutes until everything is golden brown and toasty. No matter what the recipe says with regards to time or temperature. It's SO MUCH EASIER to make granola without burning it if you go low and slow.
Here's my recipe for double coconut granola. It's gotten raves from absolutely everyone who has tried it. It's got a salty-sweet thing going on that makes it totally irresistible!
http://operagirlcooks.com/2010/07/28/double-coconut-granola/
Definitely make. An important thing to remember is that a lot of these prices can be mitigated by purchasing in bulk. And I don't often come across affordable granola that doesn't have peanuts, but instead more expensive nuts like cashews, and pecans. Also, I can add a more interesting mix of fruit besides plain raisins. Granola is a MAKE all the way for me.
I buy and make my own, depending on how I'm feeling and if it's too hot to turn on the oven. The best granola cereal recipe I've ever made is from Vegan Soul Kitchen by Bryant Terry.
Make! Not only easy and delicious, the method that I use costs less than a comparable version made with organic ingredients. Plus I control the sugar and I don't add ANY oil (but I do include plenty of nuts and unsweetened coconut). I use Mark Bittman's granola recipe as my base.
Granola, for me, is an absolute make-it-yourself item. I've been on a particularly long granola kick this summer, and my recipe uses the crockpot instead of the oven.
Not only does making your own give you complete control over the ingredients - namely sugar - it's easy, even for a beginning cook. You can see my recipe here: http://sightsalad.blogspot.com/2011/06/homemade-granola.html
Best Granola I have ever tasted was in Ireland called Paddy's O' Granola... Simply delicious! Everything was just perfect, no added sugar or salt, probably the best way to start the day!
http://www.granola.ie/
This is the website, hitting up Ireland in a couple of weeks will be sure to bring home a couple of bags back to Beijing with me!
kind of interesting that you didnt choose comparable granolas -- fruit and nut is obviously more expensive than peanut and honey, so i'd think the price difference should be even greater.
Another vote for MAKE! Once you've done it, there's no going back. Easy, tasty, and immediate. Here's my recipe: http://www.cookooree.com/u/joanie/recipes/granola
Make. Especially if you have a nut allergy in the family. It's almost impossible to find nut-free granola that isn't manufactured on the same equipment with nuts.
Since when is 1 tsp of ground ginger $1.04?
Try burdhousebakery.com
They have lots of flavored or you can make your own granola buy choosing what you want in it for no extra charge. I like it because it is chunky and has a homemade feel.