Great Granola - a comparison of deliciousness and price

An exercise in procrastination

Home made Granola

Granola is a great favourite in our house. We not quite earthy and hardline enough for muesli. I have tried to like it but it tastes like rabbit food to me. So we munch our way through a 550g packet of Dorset Honey Granola every week. I have been meaning to have a go at making my own for literally an age, and for some bizarre reason (probably procrastination about other less appealing tasks) I decided to have a go this morning.

It was so easy to make I was kicking myself for not having tried before, but as the golden flakes of oats and nuts rustled together in a pleasing manner as I poured them into the jar, I asked myself the question how much did this cost to make and would it be cheaper to buy it?

The question of whether to make your own or buy is not just as simple as price though. There is also the question of taste, and the issue of how healthy the bought stuff is in comparison. If you are making your own you can also vary the ingredients and control exactly what goes into it. So for example, we hate coconut with a passion, so I have to be careful when buying granola that I don't buy one with coconut in. We love pecans and we love dried fruit such as dried apple, cranberries, blueberries and so on. So we can pop those in instead of raisins. You can also reduce the sugar and salt content too if you make your own. I didn't put any salt in at all, as I don't see the need for it.

My granola tastes VERY different to Dorset Cereals Granola. Both are lovely, but I think mine is really quite special. It is a very different taste though, so you may not like it. So mine wins on taste (for us), but does it win on price?

I did a proper price comparison, which took the exact measures of all the ingredients in the granola and compared the total price for making your own with buying Dorset Honey Granola - the granola which is closest in ingredients to mine. I was disappointed to find that it is marginally more expensive to make you own, whether you buy your ingredients from Morrisons or Waitrose. It is also interestingly, only a tiny bit cheaper to shop at Morrisons for this particular recipe. When pricing the goods I used their online shops, and the cheapest matching product available.

Granola Price Comparison

However, price considered, I will still make my own because I like the taste, and I like the flexibility of being able to chop and change the mix of ingredients. Here is my basic recipe if you'd like to try it. You can modify the mix of seeds and nuts, as long as you keep the overall balance between wet and dry ingredients. I haven't included any dried fruit in the recipe because we will mix that in just before eating to ring the changes.

Homemade Granola - Ingredients

3 tbsp sunflower oil
80g soft brown sugar
50g whole almonds
350g porridge oats
6 tbsp maple syrup
50g pecans
50g mixed seeds

Makes approx 625g of granola

Method

Preheat oven to 150 or 130 for fan ovens. Mix together the dried ingredients in a large bowl. Whisk together the sunflower oil and the maple syrup. Pour over the dried ingredients and mix well. Spread out in a thin layer on two large lightly greased baking sheets. Bake in the oven for 30 - 40 mins, checking and turning every ten minutes, until lightly golden but not too coloured. Remove from oven and cool on trays. When cool, decant into jars.

A Jar of Home Made Granola