Is premade foods cheap or expensive? I think that it depends on your perspective. For me it’s cheap. For many others, it’s expensive. So why would I think it cheap?
Well the reason is that it’s cheaper for me to buy premade foods and use them for cooking our meals at home than going out to eat or buying take out from a restaurant. Yet I do realize that buying premade foods aren’t cheap.
For example last night I bought fresh storemade butternut squash ravioli. It was $6.49/lb and I bought 1 pound for dinner. Yep our dinner was $6.49 + sauce and fresh parmesean cheese. But what would the same meal out at a restaurant have cost? Minimally 4x that much for the 2 of us, even take out. I think an average pasta entree is $13/meal. Yes it might be enough for two meals, but then it would have cost 2x much to go out.
So to me eating premade foods are cheaper when comparing them to what I would do otherwise. I also like to buy ready made pizza dough. Before when DH was less busy, and he still does occasionally, one of our favorite meals is homemade pizza. Now I just buy the dough so we don’t have to prep the dough and let it rise. Instead I get to make the meal asap.
I can see however this being pricy when raising a family. And of course it is more expensive than buying $1 menu items from a fast food restaurant. However, which would you prefer to eat?
Granted it’s absolutely the cheapest to cook from scratch, but finding the time is the problem. I feel if you have to choose between cooking at home with help (ie premade foods) versus going out to eat, it’s definitely going to save you money. But maybe I’m wrong.
I’m always looking for frugal ideas for cooking, so please share with me tips.
13 responses so far ↓
1 Tim // Sep 28, 2008 at 5:55 pm
so, instead of premade food, why don’t you just make your own food? there are some great cookbooks out there for quick meals in 30 minutes to an hour. my wife and i use sundays to prep food for the week, too, that way you can put it in the fridge or freezer, take out the portions you need, stick them in the oven, microwave or stove, and zoom, premade foods.
2 Stacey // Sep 28, 2008 at 7:06 pm
We save a lot of money making simple meals from scratch… but also rely on packaged food for 2 or 3 meals each week. (I know, Hamburger Helper is not exactly healthy, but nobody’s perfect…)
If premade foods allow you to get a meal on the table quickly and cheaply, go for it! It sounds like you’ve got a fairly healthy mix of packaged and fresh foods. Add some fresh veggies, a salad, or even fruit for dessert if you’re worried about nutrition.
3 Livingalmostlarge // Sep 28, 2008 at 7:43 pm
My husband does not like frozen premade foods. Very, very rarely will he put up with it. No hamburger helper.
Our premade foods include freshly made ravioli, premade pizza dough, and occasionally frozen ravioli.
My DH used to make ravioli and pasta from scratch. And he still makes pasta occasionally. But we don’t eat hamburger helper. He also used to make pizza dough but with less time he doesn’t do it as much.
I don’t particular like frozen soup, lasanga, etc. I make it from scratch still but I don’t freeze, we eat it for leftovers.
One thing we buy is frozen indian curry. That I have some trouble getting the mix right when I make it. I do an okay saag, decent masala, but the taste isn’t perfect.
I feel guilty enough using ravioli and pizza when we used to make it from scratch! Yikes.
4 Meg from FruWiki // Sep 28, 2008 at 8:33 pm
Yeah, I don’t tend to eat meals I freeze either. I do have better luck, though, with ingredients. For example, I freeze bananas, avocado (with a bit of lime juice), and rice. If I needed to, I would probably bag some dry mixes for hot chocolate, brownies, bread, pancakes, etc., but I like experimenting too much when I cook from scratch. I hate to see the prices, though, of those things in the store! Eek! Especially since you still have to add in thinks like eggs or milk! What a rip off!
5 fengshui // Sep 28, 2008 at 9:22 pm
We buy some premade things like pizzas, ravioloi, dips, and also Lean Cuisines. I like the Lean Cuisines for my lunches sometimes. I can be quite a cook when I want to be, but the truth of the matter is that I loathe cooking…. And there is no excuse for not cooking more, I’m just plain LAZY….. I don’t “feel” like it a lot of the time. So, yes, DH I could save probably $200 a month in groceries and take out if we cooked from scratch, but I guess that we think that the “convenience” is worth it…. Isn’t that sad.
6 Kristy // Sep 29, 2008 at 9:00 am
I love freezing my foods as well. My DH will eat just about anything. One of the other things I do is make casseroles on the weekend and make one on Monday and one on Wed. We eat leftovers Tuesday and Thursday. Oh, and I love using the crockpot too. It’s easy and the food is done when you get home from work!
7 LivingAlmostLarge // Sep 29, 2008 at 9:22 am
I’m going to experiment with casseroles. Usually I try to prep everything on the weekend and do it on the week.
For example I bought ground beef from costco this weekend, so the menu is Masala Curry Monday, Tuesday mapo tofu, wednesday is homemade dumplings made Tuesday night, Thursday is lasanga (precooked noodles, I cheated and bought).
Friday we usually eat out. I like the crockpot too, I’ve had a lot of luck with stews. I haven’t done much chicken in there, what are your favorite crockpot reciepes?
8 Fabulously Broke // Sep 29, 2008 at 11:37 am
I find premade foods very expensive because I do make everything from scratch.
What I tend to do, is just cook a big batch for the whole week. One batch is lunches. The other is dinner, and I just eat the same thing all week and switch it up next week…. Then on the weekends when I have more time it’s other kinds of meals. Great post idea!
9 Rachel // Sep 29, 2008 at 3:11 pm
I see your point, and if it’s avoiding take out/restaurants, than, yes- it’s cheaper and you shouldn’t feel guilty.
I know if I were to work outside the home, I would have little time/energy to put into cooking like I do and our grocery bill would go up alot just for that. I typically give myself an hour to make dinner- but really, when I have a day that I spend doing errands, I am worn out and don’t want to spend that much energy cooking.
It also depends on what you are willing to live with/without- just because it saves money now to eat Ramen noodles, doesn’t mean it will save years down the road– we need to eat decent food to stay healthy to avoid dr. bills too.
10 Kristy // Sep 29, 2008 at 7:18 pm
Chicken Thighs in Crockpot
1 TBSP butter
8 chicken thighs
salt and pepper to taste
1 can cream of celery soup
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 (5 ounce) jar of pimento stuffed green olives
1 (8 ounce) pacage of sliced fresh mushrooms
1/4 cup of Chablis wine (or any white wine)
1 TBSP all purpose flour
Melt butter in a large skillet over med-high heat. Season the chicken with salt and pepper and brown for 2-3 minutes on each side. Place in slow cooker. In a sauce pan over medium heat, blend the cream of soups. Pour over chicken. Add olives, mushrooms, wine and flour. Cover and cook on low for 8 hours. Serve over rice.
I usually prep everything the night before and turn on the crockpot when I leave for work.
11 Kristy // Sep 29, 2008 at 7:22 pm
Parmesan Chicken in the Crockpot
1 envelop of onion soup mix
1 1/2 cups of milk
2 cans of cream of mushroom soup
1 cup of long grain white rice
5-6 boneless chicken breasts
1/4 cup of butter
1/4 cup of grated Parmesan cheese
Combine onion soup mix, milk, mushroom soups and rice in a bowl. Place chicken in a greased crockpot and top with butter. Pour soup mixture over top. Sprinkle with pepper and Parmesan cheese. Cover and cook on low 8-10 hours or on high for 4-6 hours.
12 LivingAlmostLarge // Sep 30, 2008 at 8:16 am
Great frugal recipes. I’ll have to try the thighs.
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