sushidog
Well-known member
I have a hard time seeing how one can save much money buying food from a grocery vs fast food, like the 2 whopper for $6 deal at BK.
Let's break it down. 1 lb of 80% ground meat costs around $3-$3.50/lb around here, so you can make 2 nice burger patties for $3 (remember, they will shrink a lot when all the fat and water gets cooked out).
Then you must buy a head of organic lettuce (as no place I know sells smaller quantities) for $2. This is easily enough for 8 burgers. So 50 cents worth will be used for 2 burgers. You must then figure out something else to do with the rest.
1 - 1/4 lb organic tomato cost $2.50/lb or 62 cents for 2 burgers.
A bottle of mayo is $3. Of course only a small amount is used for 2 burgers, say 25 cents. Add another 25 cents for catsup and mustard and 40 cents for pickles and onions.
Big, fluffy hamburger buns go for $2.99 -$3.49/8, so a pair of buns will be 75 cents. The price of salt and pepper is negligible. The sales tax rate is the same here (about 9.5%) regardless if you buy groceries or prepared food, so that's a wash.
That means you have over $5 in ingredients if you want to make the equivalent of 2 "whopper" sandwiches yourself, vs $6 for buying them already made and ready to eat. So the value of your time for cooking and cleaning, plus the price of fuel, soap and paper products for the job must be worth less than a buck to you for you to break even on the deal. Plus you have lots of leftover condiments, lettuce, bread, etc. that you must consume before it spoils to even break even.
Sure if all you eat is ramen noodles, beans and rice, like I did in my college days, then you can do so for a fraction of the cost of fast food. But if I went to the grocery store and bought all the ingredients to make say a nice salad it would cost more than buying a $5.94 (with coupon) all-you-can-eat soup, salad and breadstick lunch at Olive Garden - plus you've got soup and breadsticks too.
I'm certainly not trying to tell anyone what or how to eat. I'm just saying if you add the cost of all the ingredients, seasonings, spices, etc. factor in cooking and clean-up costs and add the value of your time, even at 1/2 of minimum wage (which I don't think anyone here would willingly work for), sometimes (but certainly not all the time or even most of the time) eating out can be the cheapest way to go, especially if you are only cooking for one and have a healthy appetite. Now if you have a big, hungry family to feed and can buy your food in bulk, cooking huge meals to be shared by all then the opposite will be true, but I think few people here fall into that category.
Chip
Let's break it down. 1 lb of 80% ground meat costs around $3-$3.50/lb around here, so you can make 2 nice burger patties for $3 (remember, they will shrink a lot when all the fat and water gets cooked out).
Then you must buy a head of organic lettuce (as no place I know sells smaller quantities) for $2. This is easily enough for 8 burgers. So 50 cents worth will be used for 2 burgers. You must then figure out something else to do with the rest.
1 - 1/4 lb organic tomato cost $2.50/lb or 62 cents for 2 burgers.
A bottle of mayo is $3. Of course only a small amount is used for 2 burgers, say 25 cents. Add another 25 cents for catsup and mustard and 40 cents for pickles and onions.
Big, fluffy hamburger buns go for $2.99 -$3.49/8, so a pair of buns will be 75 cents. The price of salt and pepper is negligible. The sales tax rate is the same here (about 9.5%) regardless if you buy groceries or prepared food, so that's a wash.
That means you have over $5 in ingredients if you want to make the equivalent of 2 "whopper" sandwiches yourself, vs $6 for buying them already made and ready to eat. So the value of your time for cooking and cleaning, plus the price of fuel, soap and paper products for the job must be worth less than a buck to you for you to break even on the deal. Plus you have lots of leftover condiments, lettuce, bread, etc. that you must consume before it spoils to even break even.
Sure if all you eat is ramen noodles, beans and rice, like I did in my college days, then you can do so for a fraction of the cost of fast food. But if I went to the grocery store and bought all the ingredients to make say a nice salad it would cost more than buying a $5.94 (with coupon) all-you-can-eat soup, salad and breadstick lunch at Olive Garden - plus you've got soup and breadsticks too.
I'm certainly not trying to tell anyone what or how to eat. I'm just saying if you add the cost of all the ingredients, seasonings, spices, etc. factor in cooking and clean-up costs and add the value of your time, even at 1/2 of minimum wage (which I don't think anyone here would willingly work for), sometimes (but certainly not all the time or even most of the time) eating out can be the cheapest way to go, especially if you are only cooking for one and have a healthy appetite. Now if you have a big, hungry family to feed and can buy your food in bulk, cooking huge meals to be shared by all then the opposite will be true, but I think few people here fall into that category.
Chip
