cjsmith | Food and Budget

I've never actually done it, but I've thought about the concept with food in general.

How did you manage to spend $3.98 on two bell peppers? The best I can manage is $2 for a *pound* of bell peppers.

Unless I read the receipt wrong, that's what I paid. They were sold by the pound; I don't remember the per-pound price. I can look it up when I get home.

That sounds about right. At Safeway, green bell peppers are $1.56 each. How do I know this? I just got back from there :).

I found the receipt. I did read it wrong. $3.49/lb for these, total of $3.35. (Still not necessarily my smartest purchase on this trip.)

Anal-retentive? Me? Hahahahahahaha.

I found the receipt. I did read it wrong. $3.49/lb for these, 0.96lb, total of $3.35. (Still not necessarily my smartest purchase on this trip.)

Anal-retentive? Me? Hahahahahahaha.

Am I the only person I know who picks up TV dinners and divides dollars by calories?

hmm, no, haven't tried that! i will geek out over the cost of a recipe or a meal every once in a while.

*tucks a calculator in my purse for my next shopping trip*

One thing I like about the Safeway food chain is that they do a lot of math for you and are perfectly willing to put it in a useful reference location. On all the shelf-labels for paper towels, for example, there's a price per sheet. On all the shelf-labels for fiber capsules, there's a price per capsule. Oddly enough, a lot of the things that are packaged to look inexpensive (just one color on the box, for example, or very plain fonts) are not cheap by comparison to their competition!

But they don't do dollar per calorie on TV dinners. Fortunately, that's usually pretty easy math. Above a penny per calorie is just not worth paying. I can go to a cheapy restaurant for that price! Half a penny is getting pretty good, especially if it's not all fat and starch.

The closest I come is reminding myself that no matter how expensive the groceries are, they're less expensive than eating out.

Yeah. I'm still trying to convince myself of that, actually. :-/ Factors that affect this balance include my lack of total goddesshood in the kitchen (leading to waste both through mistakes and through spoilage of what I can't bring myself to finish eating), the fact I cook for one (leading to waste again, usually spoilage), and the fact I'm pretty darn good at eating cheaply at burrito places. :-)

These peppers were bought with tikka masala in mind. I also got tofu, though I forgot the heavy cream and will have to pick that up later. The recipe "feeds four". Tombstone beats it handily on price, as do at least two of the places my coworkers and I go for lunch. (O'course, it'll be tikka masala. That's worth something.)

Yeah, I would compare tikka masala made from scratch to tikka masala bought at a restaurant, rather than comparing it to a Tombstone pizza or a burrito. (I think Trader Joe's might have it in a single-serving pouch, btw.)

When making food for myself, I tend not to really "cook" so much as throw stuff together. Frex, I just got done eating some "Imagine" brand creamy tomato soup to which I added a hunk of cheese, a handful of tortilla chips, and a handful of nuts. Each ingredient is expensive to buy ('cos all organic except the nuts, and nuts are expensive), but I can get 4 meals out of it with ingredients left over.

Yeah, I would compare tikka masala made from scratch to tikka masala bought at a restaurant, rather than comparing it to a Tombstone pizza or a burrito.

Right, fair enough.

(I think Trader Joe's might have it in a single-serving pouch, btw.)

And I bet that beats both the other options.

...but I can get 4 meals out of it with ingredients left over.

*nod* For me, leftover ingredients have zero value because they don't get used... but as you say, if I got the hang of "throwing stuff together", that would improve.

And it's easy enough to find uses for leftover tortilla chips, cheese, and nuts, if only for TV snacks. :-)

Yum! :-)

I think that's the irony of food in America: what's expensive is not calories but good-for-you. Our poor are fat, but malnourished.

Yeah. Some amount of carbs and fat are good for you, and those are cheap; thus I buy my frozen pizza on sale and give myself a thumbs-up. As for greens, it's really telling how often my workplace caters dinner and what I choose to order is a big ol' salad.

I tend to calculate by meal. As in "Wow, I can feed all five of us for five bucks and probably have leftovers!

Are bell peppers out of season? I've paid that much for red peppers before, but never green.

Wow, I can feed all five of us for five bucks and probably have leftovers!

That's pretty impressive!

Are bell peppers out of season? I've paid that much for red peppers before, but never green.

I found the receipt. Turns out these two were $3.49/lb for these, together they weighed 0.96lb, price $3.35. (Anal-retentive? Me? Hahahahahahaha.) I doubt they're too far out of season in California -- vining stuff like peppers oughtta have a fairly long growing season here -- but yeah, it's probably the tail end of it.

That's pretty impressive!

That's chili and cornbread. Homemade, starting from beans I soaked myself, with no meat. :-D

That still seems excessive. Are the food costs really high there?

That still seems excessive. Are the food costs really high there?

I wouldn't know unless I could compare to someplace that's "average". I gotta admit, though, fresh produce and raw ingredients (especially meat) are NOT the most inexpensive way to eat. People (around here) who sneer at the expense of prepackaged food should maybe look again.

I've decided that's the great unifier between Republican and Democrat, by the way. Sneer at women who don't cook.

Yeah, the more I hang around women, the more I realize they have a politics all their own.

When I was a working mom, they sneered at me for not spending more time with my kids, and for not baking cookies for class treats. When I was a stay-at-home mom, I was sneered at for being lazy, having all that luxury, and for 'showing us up', despite the fact that I most certainly didn't try to show anyone anything, let alone 'up.'

And I get my share of sneers cooking my own food, too. Ya just can't win.

Yeah, the more I hang around women, the more I realize they have a politics all their own.

And sadly, a lot of it seems to be based on sneers. The more I realize that, the more I value my friends who don't seem to get into that game. (I'm thinking, say,

mactavish here.) My friends are a happy thing!

Food and Budget

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