Spending more on Food

[LivingAlmostLarge]

I was just thinking and reading about shredded cheese and it is expensive. But I find myself more now than ever buying shredded cheese. I also buy pasta sauce and pancake mix. Stuff I used to more do from scratch.

I do cook about the same as pre-kids but I find myself looking for easier fixes and not as much from scratch. Do other people do this? I justify buying shredded cheese, pasta sauce, mixes, etc because it's still cheaper than eating out, and I'm trying to cook and it's something. But I feel sometimes pretty spendthrift knowing that I'm looking for short cuts.

What do others do?

[disneysteve]

We definitely aren't nearly as frugal in the food department as we used to be. We lead busy lives and even when we have the time, we often don't have the energy to spend making things from scratch, shredding a block of cheese by hand, etc. So the result is we do very little comparison shopping and buy more convenience items. I definitely don't like it and I try to tune it up now and then but compared to when we first got married (20 years ago) our habits aren't nearly as good financially speaking. Maybe I need to pull out the Tightwad Gazette again and read through it to get back in that mindset.

[snafu]

We all use short cuts that make our lives easier. I prefer to shred a block of good cheese just because the packaged shredded cheese I bought had little flavor and a lot of chemicals. It's important to watch the expiry date of packaged pancake mix because of the cases of anaphylaxic shock reported.

I've been making detergent the last few years not because of cost but because the HE products were so ineffective in the front loading washer. I used to make bread because it was satisfying, tasty and cheaper. We were eating a loaf a day after DH & DSs bought me a bread maker. It soon could be seen on our waistlines so now we use regular bread for toast or sandwiches. I only make breads and rolls for special occasions although it's so-oo easy.

I know it's much cheaper to buy whole chickens and cut it up myself but it's so slimy I keep telling myself to buy the whole as I pick up the package of frozen breasts. I also buy frozen hash brown potatoes whenever they're on sale because I can't do potatoes in theearly morning lol.

Better to save money by not paying more interest or more taxes than absolutely necessary.

[thesimplemoneyblog]

A lot of it is about weighing your sanity with saving a couple extra bucks. We often buy shredded cheese (except the expensive cheeses we get it in bulk at Costco in cheese blocks) because it makes meal preparation a whole lot easier and keeps meal preparation times a little lower. The alternative for us is if we don't feel like doing a lot of cooking one evening after work, then we would decide to go out (which is obviously significantly more expensive than cooking at home in most instances), so to us, spending a little bit of a premium on time saving ingredients here and there can be worth it.

[greenskeeper]

the great inflation "illusion" has been (since QE began) reducing the amount of product while charging the same (or slightly more) for it. It is a total joke what a dollar will buy today.

[LuckyRobin]

Around here the two pound block of cheese costs the same amount as the 2 pound bag of shredded cheese, so I don't see much point in not getting the shredded. It's those little 8 ounce bags that get you on price. Regardless, sometimes convenience is worth it. I try to make most things from scratch, but even I have my days when I'll buy the container of pre-cut up onion, carrots, and celery for making a quick soup.

[phantom]

The only place I know to get a block of cheese is in the specialty section of the grocery store, so it's possible I just don't know where to find inexpensive cheese. But, generic or on sale shredded cheese is usually less expensive than the blocks of cheese I've seen.

In fact, I often find convenience foods to be less expensive than the ingredients for making something from scratch. For example, I find it really hard to justify taking the time to make a fresh loaf of bread when flour alone costs a couple dollars and I can buy a sliced loaf for $0.87 or Pillsbury biscuits for less than $0.50. Sure, fresh bread from scratch is a great treat, but it's certainly not the least expensive option.

One place I tend to get the convenience food even though the alternative is much less expensive is bags of lettuce. I estimate that buying a head of lettuce makes lettuce for a side salad cost about $0.10 and that buying a bag of lettuce makes lettuce for a side salad cost about $0.60. But, even though lettuce out of a bag costs six times more, I like the convenience enough to justify it.

I figure that as long as your grocery budget is reasonable overall, it's okay to spend more for convenience. The same goes for spending more on foods that you really enjoy. Unless you're in a situation where you really need to save every penny that you possibly can, I think a few extra dollars a week to make meals easier and more enjoyable is totally worth it.

[disneysteve]

I often find convenience foods to be less expensive than the ingredients for making something from scratch. For example, I find it really hard to justify taking the time to make a fresh loaf of bread when flour alone costs a couple dollars and I can buy a sliced loaf for $0.87 or Pillsbury biscuits for less than $0.50.

You are comparing apples and oranges - the cost of one loaf of bread to the cost of ingredients to make many loaves. It is true that a 5-lb bag of flour costs a few dollars but how many loaves will that make?

On the other hand, you raise a good point. If it is an item that you wouldn't make that often or don't need that much of, it might be a better value to buy the convenience food item. You mentioned lettuce for salads. If you make salads for your family every day or so, buying the raw ingredients will be cheaper. If you just want a salad now and then, it is better to buy the prepared stuff. There will be a lot less waste that way.

[phantom]

You are comparing apples and oranges - the cost of one loaf of bread to the cost of ingredients to make many loaves. It is true that a 5-lb bag of flour costs a few dollars but how many loaves will that make?

On the other hand, you raise a good point. If it is an item that you wouldn't make that often or don't need that much of, it might be a better value to buy the convenience food item. You mentioned lettuce for salads. If you make salads for your family every day or so, buying the raw ingredients will be cheaper. If you just want a salad now and then, it is better to buy the prepared stuff. There will be a lot less waste that way.

It's been several months since I last bought flour, but I seem to recall it costing about $6 for a bag that would make about 4 loaves of bread. Maybe I could get the costs closer if I bought larger quantities of flour. But, I think the real reason making bread gets expensive for me is that I seem to mess up about 1 out of every 5 loaves I make. Usually, I'm pretty good at following a recipe, but I have a hard time keeping my measurements precise enough when I'm making bread. Maybe making homemade bread would be less expensive if I practiced making it more often.

Since it's just my husband and I for dinner most nights, we would have to have salad every night to get through a head of lettuce before it went bad, and even then we would be cutting it close. So, since we only have salad a few nights a week, we definitely waste less food by buying bags of lettuce. But, we could still save some money buying heads of lettuce even if we only used them twice before throwing them out.

I am taking a salad to Thanksgiving dinner this year, and I will definitely be buying a head of lettuce for that. It's much easier to justify the work of tearing up lettuce when you're making enough salad for 10 people, and it's much harder to justify buying bags when you have to buy several of them at once. So, quantities definitely matter.

[disneysteve]

since we only have salad a few nights a week, we definitely waste less food by buying bags of lettuce.

quantities definitely matter.

Another option that we've used sometimes is the in-store salad bar where you pay by weight. Even though it is higher than buying the ingredients at the produce section, if it is something you don't need a lot of, it is worth it. For example, if I want some red cabbage, getting a scoop from the salad bar is a lot better than getting a whole head and throwing out most of it.

[phantom]

Another option that we've used sometimes is the in-store salad bar where you pay by weight. Even though it is higher than buying the ingredients at the produce section, if it is something you don't need a lot of, it is worth it. For example, if I want some red cabbage, getting a scoop from the salad bar is a lot better than getting a whole head and throwing out most of it.

That's a great idea. I'll have to check that out next time I want a small quantity of a salad ingredient. I know our usual grocery store has a salad bar, but I've never even thought to see exactly what was on it.

[MauBell0405]

Buying shredded cheese is much more expensive than buying a block of cheese. Sometimes we feel too tired to do things from scratch, but think about the savings you can get. aside from that, shredding cheese could serve as a very simple exercise for your arms

[marvholly]

I happen to live in an area where the local Safeway (Dominicks) runs their 2 lb bricks and sometimes shreds for $5 about 1 Friday/month.

Also, Aldi has bags of shreded cheese & blocks fairly cheap if no one else is having a sale.

NOITE: I keep my shreded cheese in the freezer so it lasts Forever. It thaws quickly.

[EarlyRetirementJoy]

It's very jarring to note the difference in my weekly grocery spend when I slack off, if you will, and plan my weekly menu around items of convenience, versus making things from scratch. The way I stay balanced and on track, spending wise, is to make my more time consuming meals on the nights I know I'll have time, then utilize the leftovers on nights when I have less time.

Even though we're recently retired, our lives our just as robust, if not more so, then when we were working (just minus the stress ), and it's simply not realistic to think I'm going to want to spend an hour each night in the kitchen making dinner. I can, however, easily make up a fresh salad to go alongside last night's leftovers. Oftentimes, particularly with regard to soups, pasta and risotto, the food tastes even better on day two because the flavors have had more time to developed.

I also make things in bulk, then freeze into individual portions for easy reheating later. As an example, we just left town for a week, and I deliberately doubled the recipe I made the night before our departure so I could freeze the leftovers. When we arrive home in a few days, I'll have dinner all ready to go, once it's made a quick trip through the microwave.

[JoeP]

Remember when lunch meat used to be some price per pound? Now it's gotten to be so expensive, that it is priced per HALF pound.

We acquired a meat slicer (nothing fancy, a simple one from the 1970s) and buy a small ham or turkey from Aldi and then slice the meat, vacuum seal it, and then freeze it. The meat comes in a shrink wrap and is shaped like an oblong melon. Anyway, we save quite a bit this way.

Growing up, we used to buy blocks of cheese and slice it on a grater. Today, we get those grated cheese bags for convenience, and pay more. Some of the blends are hard to reproduce yourself, unless you buy and grate 4 different cheeses.