These prices are the lowest in my neighborhood (Boston area) on a weekly basis, mostly from Market Basket. They do not include sale prices or any marked-down goods I might find on the discount rack. Of course, I believe in stocking up when there IS a sale, but not everyone wants to have large amounts of butter, yeast or soy flour taking up space in the freezer. (Butter goes on sale maybe 3 times a year, where I live.)
The Tightwad Gazette chart (created by Amy Dacyczyn) had: price per pound, weight per cup, price per cup, price per tablespoon, and price per teaspoon. To save time, I'm only listing the price per cup or tablespoon (sometimes rounded up or down). If it doesn't say "Tb," then it means the price per cup. The main purpose is to allow you to compare made-from-scratch foods with each other.
If you use soy flour/powder and powdered milk in a pancake mix, you can add water instead of milk. (Soy powder and water can be used instead of eggs - but NOT in cookies or in many cakes!)
Baking powder 12 cents (Tb) Baking soda 2.4 (Tb) Brown sugar 59 Butter $1.99 Cocoa powder 8 (Tb) Coconut 35.5 Cornmeal 47 Cornstarch 37 (Tb) Honey $3 Imitation vanilla 7 (Tb) Liquid milk 16 Margarine 62.5 Molasses $1.75 Oats 38 Powdered milk 9 (Tb) Powdered sugar 34 Raisins 90 Salt 2 (Tb) Soy flour 11 (Tb) Vanilla 94 (Tb) Vegetable oil: 59 Wheat flour 33 White flour 22.5 White sugar 43.5 Yeast 19.5 (Tb)
And here are the weights per cup.
In ounces:
Baking powder 8 Baking soda 8 Brown sugar 7 Butter 8 Cocoa 4 Coconut 2 Cornmeal 6 Cornstarch 5 Cream of tartar 8 Honey 12 Imitation vanilla 8 Liquid skim milk 8 Margarine 8 Molasses 12 Oatmeal 4 Powdered milk 4.5 Powdered sugar 4 Raisins 4 Salt 10 Soy flour 4 Vanilla 6.75 Vegetable oil: 8 Wheat flour 4.5 White flour 6 White sugar 8 Yeast 5
Btw, when I posted this at rec.food.cooking in April, I made a few errors - but I've straightened them out.
And, of course, meals made from scratch - or plain fruit - tend to be cheaper per ounce than cold cereals or most processed foods. Leaving aside anything made with eggs - sometimes.