This might be a stupid question, but is spending 60 bucks on an ice cream maker (what Alton Brown would call a Unitasker.. tsk tsk!) really worth it and cheaper, after factoring in cost for ingredients? Or is this more about having control over what you put in your food? What is the break even point for a device like this?
And can it make frozen custard?
It's not about cost, it's about control. Both for ingredients and for making whatever kind of ice cream you want. I can shit food for cheap, but it'll be unhealthy and not taste as good as something I can make myself, even though I first need to buy pots and pans and cooking utensils and spices and all that other stuff.
In first attempt at eating healthy, about 8 or 9 years ago, I implemented only two rules: 1) no HFCS, and 2) no partially hydrogenated oils. It was a little before those two things started getting looked at more, so they were in everything, including every single brand of ice cream I could find (some would have one, others would have the other), but I love ice cream, so ice cream maker it is!
Also, about 13 years ago there was a bumper crop of apples or something, prices were almost free, and one of the ice cream makers came out w/ an apple crisp vanilla ice cream. Favorite ice cream EVER, but I've never seen it again. Now I can make it!