Hummus is delicious but a bit expensive for my taste. I started to wonder. Why don't people make their own at home? Why don't I make it at home? Garbanzo beans are cheap. How hard can it be? Turns out it's not that hard but there are plenty of upfront expenses to make that first batch. If you are only going to make one batch, forget about it.
Online I reviewed some recipes. Each one emphasized the need for a food processor. They stressed it was essential to making it the right consistency. I was planning to mash it into a bowl with a spoon like an animal but apparently that is bad form. I asked my girlfriend if she already had one by chance I could borrow. She did not. I asked if she knew anyone who had one that she could borrow and that I could then borrow from her. Again, she did not. Looks like I would need to buy one.
I searched around until I found this reasonably priced model. It was $30. The cost of my discount hummus was adding up quickly. It also slices and shreds things so hopefully I can get some extra utility to offset the cost.
I already had most of the other ingredients at home. dry Garbanzo Beans, Lemon Juice, Minced Garlic, Salt, Spices, Olive Oil. All I would need was the Tahini. This presented a problem. I went to the store and the shelves were bare. I went to 3 different stores and it was all the same thing, no Tahini. I asked a manager if there was more Tahini in the back or if they would be getting some soon. His response, "What's Tahini?" I thanked him for his time and briskly walked out.
Finally, I called a 4th store and they carried it. It was even in stock. The "Foodie" as they are called at this store even walked back to the aisles to confirm that yes, they had plenty. It was at a more upscale grocery store that is basically a clone of Whole Foods. That meant the Tahini would be of the organic farm to table hand crafted fair trade variety. Which all translates as more expensive. There were two options available. Both were $7 a jar. I decided to buy both since I had spent so much time running around town. One was a Greek style Tahini and the other was made from smoked seeds so they would each have a distinct flavor.
I had everything together and began putting it all into the food processor. I didn't realize how loud the food processor is so next time I'll be using it during the day instead of at 11 pm as a courtesy to my neighbors. It was easy and I had made about three standard hummus containers worth (12 oz) of homemade hummus. If I had decided to buy that much hummus at the store it would have cost around $12. I had spent close to $60 to put all the ingredients and equipment together. Then if you factor in all the time. I spent an hour researching hummus recipes. I spent an hour looking at various food processors. I cooked a bag of dry garbanzo beans in my Instant Pot which took another hour. I spent 4 hours driving around town searching for Tahini. I spent 20 minutes actually making the hummus. Also consider, there was no guarantee that I would get it right the first time. I have some experience cooking but am in no way a chef so I could have screwed something up and had to throw out the entire ruined batch.
From a purely economic perspective this is not an economically efficient activity. This graph shows the cost of each batch, which I worked out to be about $1.51 in materials. Then I amortized the cost of the food processor across all the batches to get a cost per batch estimate. Turns out I'll be breaking even around the 11 batch point. After that each batch I produce will be cheaper to produce at home as long as you don't include my labor costs. If you did it would push out the BEB (Break Even Batch) out further. Clearly making hummus at home isn't in the best interest of the average person.
Of course there are other non-economic reasons to do things. I enjoy cooking and it is a creative outlet that I enjoy. For me this brings in additional entertainment utility that helps offset some of the cost. I was proud to share some of my homemade hummus with my girlfriend. There is also the benefit of tailoring the product to my taste. Maybe the wider consumer market doesn't like as much garlic as I do so I couldn't buy a heavy garlic version of my favorite hummus because it simply isn't made. Not everyone has the time either. Luckily I do.
Turned out pretty good. Ten batches to go.
