List of foods that are cheaper already made than cooking from scratch

[marla]

I'm going through my shopping list and was wondering what foods are cheaper to buy premade rather than making them from scratch? What foods do you buy premade? Does someone have a list of these foods they could share with me? I am prepared to do this myself, but if someone has already done some of the legwork it would be great for me to know.

[PrincessPerky]

I have no idea, I havn't found anything I am easily able to make cheaper store bought. But I would be very interested in any.

[PennyPincher]

Mylist would include Rotisserie chicken. I buy one for $4.81 at Sam's club...and I know I couldn't make it for that at home. Plus, my time is valuable.

[leewill72]

how about boxed mac and cheese? it might not be made alltogether, but alot less work than scratch, unfortunately alot less nutritious too. we add some cheese too it when we make it, or soup to make it creamier.

[PrincessPerky]

On that time thing, my time is pretty valuable too, but no one else pays me for it . So I do a lot of time consuming things, so does my husband though he does get paid at work to work, he does a lot to help me out at home.

Like today I made bread, and crakers and tortilla chips, very time consuming, judging by the bag of chips I have here it was 2$ an hour (4 hours for 2 bags) But I did get to do other things while they baked, like goof off online. The bread was only about 40 minutes of work, well it isn't in yet it is rising for the second time, but it is healthier and way cheaper than buying it. but a loaf of whole wheat bread is about 2.50, so I got 2. something for that 40 minutes.

I also spent some time teaching my son to read, that would cost around 20$ an hour, but no way a kid needs a whole hour, so I only saved .50 cents on that one .

[terry1156]

Since I'm not the cook in our family, this is not my area of knowledge. But I think we end up buying 100% juice (concentrate) because it is less expensive than squeezing it. I do love fresh squeezed orange juice though!

[amomof4]

Concentrate if cheaper.

I prefer California OJ because it is sweet, whereas Florida taste sour to me. I don't like sour things.

[mom-from-missouri]

Our local Aldi store has fully cooked fried chicken in a box-frozen for $2. I can't buy a whole chicken, and the ingredents to use for batter, the oil and heat for the frying for $2. The same goes for the salsbury steak that they have, along with several other frozen foods-all I do is put it in the microwave and 15 minutes later it is done.

[Tree0164]

Bread
Mac and cheese

[PrincessPerky]

I have to disagree on the bread, at least for whole wheat. flour and such for two oaves, is less than a buck, it can't cost buck for the oven to be on for an hour. White might be different though.

[amomof4]

It is cheaper to buy cheese than to make it. It takes a gallon of milk to make 1 lb. of cheese, but u also of other cost such as cooking costs, salt, & culture. When we had a cow, I made cheese because we had extra milk.

I would guess h/m ice cream can costs more too.

The price of milk is government regulated and not connected with supply and demand. So most probably the government increased the cost of milk.

[PrincessPerky]

yet another reason the overnment should leave things alone.

[Momtwo]

I always buy oj from concentrate because it is so much cheaper than squeezing oranges and making your own.

If I can get brownie and cakes mixes cheaply after doubled coupon, I do. They are cheaper than putting all the ingredients together that way.

[PrincessPerky]

yeah but a real brownie tastes so much better!

[pschale]

I am a diabetic plus my family is at risk for cancer. My Dad and my sister both died from cancer. I am very picky about our food after reading all of the info I could find about cancer and its causes. I cook from scrqtch so I can control what goes into our food. I am the same way about what we drink and cleaning products we use. I use a lot baking soda, vinegar, Borax, washing soda, etc.

[coolchinchilla]

Things I don't make from scratch: mayonaise, salad dressing, marshmallows, bread, jelly/jam, canned soup for recipes (e.g. cream of mushroom, celery, chicken), pizza, margarine/butter, cheese, breakfast cereals, pet food, canned kidney beans, tomato sauce, dryer sheets, laundry detergent, orange juice.

I should mention that I'm single, so that impacts my food choices too.

I buy things like mixes because if I bought the ingredients to make brownies, those ingredients would have to be thrown out before I could get them used up. It ends up costing more than it does to buy the box. I buy cheap frozen waffles and lite syrup.

I buy microwave dinners (I wait until it's $1/box) because that gives me variety easily and again so I don't have ingredients that die in the fridge before I can use it up (e.g. fresh mushrooms).