Although making homemade ice cream is fun, and produce the freshest ice cream possible, it actually costs more to make a pint yourself than to buy it frozen. This presumably is due to higher retail markups on some of the individual ingredients, than on already made ice cream.

What if, in addition to selling frozen ice cream, ice cream makers sold pint or half gallon quantities of liquid ice cream mix, ready to be poured into a home ice cream maker and frozen.

If the same ingredients would be used, it would cost the same for the manufacturer to make as frozen ice cream.

Since refrigerator temperatures are less cold than freezer temperatures, less electricity should be consumed in getting the product from maker to market.

This should result in a lower cost for the customer.
-- goldbb, Oct 27 2009

Are you sure you're talking about *real* ice cream (ie, cream with some sugar and maybe some fruits etc)? Or are you comparing "real" homemade ice cream with the vegetable- fat-froth that is typically sold as ice cream?
-- MaxwellBuchanan, Oct 27 2009


Here, a litre of a fairly good commercial icecream costs about £4-£5, and a litre of double cream costs about £3.50- £4. So, if you figure on 50p-£1 of sugar and vanilla extract (or your chosen flavouring), the costs are about the same.
-- MaxwellBuchanan, Oct 27 2009


Is it any suprise that fresh cream should be more expenisve than frozen cream, since it has a shorter shelf life? Similarly fresh peas are more expensive than frozen ones.
-- pocmloc, Oct 27 2009


I thought this would be semi-melted ice cream whipped to a fluffy consistency and bottled as a drink. Mmm!
-- DrWorm, Oct 27 2009


I take it you haven't googled the phrase "ice cream mix". Nor "Soft ice cream mix" nor "hard ice cream mix"...
-- lurch, Oct 29 2009



random, halfbakery