"cshenk" > wrote in message
...
> Julie Bove wrote in rec.food.cooking:
>
>>
>> "cshenk" > wrote in message
>> ...
>> > Julie Bove wrote in rec.food.cooking:
>> >
>> > >
>> >>"cshenk" > wrote in message
>> > > ...
>> >>> Gary wrote in rec.food.cooking:
>> > > >
>> >>> > Julie Bove wrote:
>> >>> > >
>> >>>>> "Christopher Helms" wrote:
>> >>>>> > It's a lot easier to spend a hundred dollars on groceries than
>> >>it >>> > used to be. I try to stay under thirty dollars per trip and
>> >>it >>> > seems to require a little more creativity every month.
>> >>> > >
>> >>>>> $30 would only buy maybe one meal here.
>> >>> >
>> >>> > No way, Julie. I also spend about $30 per week or a little bit
>> >>> > more. That's just for me though. There's no way you are
>> spending >>> > $30 per MEAL for your family of 3 that don't like most
>> foods. >>> >
>> >>> > G.
>> > > >
>> >>> True Gary. I spend a little less than you per person but with 3
>> of >>> us, we can make more use of sales and I am in what is
>> considered a >>> fairly cheaper food area.
>> >>> Carol
>> > >
>> > > I spent about $30 a week on just myself back in the 1980's. And I
>> > > dined out a lot. Groceries are not cheap here! I probably spend
>> > > about $300 a week, no counting restaurant meals but that's hard to
>> > > tell because some things I buy like flour, black pepper or olive
>> > > oil would certainly last far more than a week. I also stock up
>> > > on canned things, and I buy paper products, cleaning supplies,
>> > > magazines, books, cat things and some cosmetics. So not all food.
>> >
>> > That you spend more, doesnt mean you are spending wisely.
>>
>> Nor does it mean that I don't. I am no cheapskate! I do get the
>> Rosarita refried beans for 80 cents a can. That price probably beats
>> dried beans since I am not having to add seasonings or cook them.
>> But I also buy expensive olives sometimes, just because I want them.
>> And I am grateful that I can. There was a time when I couldn't buy
>> any kind of olives!
>
> Julie, some of us shop less often to it's easy to average it out. I
> tend to a big trip every 6 weeks. I run about 500$ and split that
> down, it's 27$ a week per person. That happens to include toilet
> paper, laundry detergent, and sundry things like shampoos.

Every 6 weeks? I would have nowhere to store that much food!
>
> The actual food would be about 400$. I make small ancillary trips for
> fresh veggies, buttermilk and such at the 2 week and 4 week point.
> Those cost 20-30$ or so. That works out as 25$ a week here per person
> but don't worry, the other 5$ per person per week finds a home with
> some sort of takeout.

And I'm sure that the cost of living is much less where you are than it is
here.
>
>>
>> Tonight's dinner is pizza and salad. Yes, I did buy a bag of mixed
>> greens just because that is likely the only salad we'll eat this
>> week. It was just enough for three. I added toppings based on what
>> people like. Black olives, plum tomatoes, celery, red pepper, red
>> onion. Would have been cucumber but the last little piece had gone
>> mushy.
>>
>> Whole wheat pizza crust made from scratch. I did purchase the sauce.
>> Yes, I know I could have made it but stuff came up, and husband
>> wanted to eat right away so I just bought sauce when I went to the
>> store. Expensive sauce. Not the most expensive I have bought but it
>> was $4.99 for the two pizzas. Theirs has a combination of Western
>> Family (cheap) mozzarella and a small amount of leftover medium
>> priced, mixed Italian cheeses and some very expensive, uncured
>> pepperoni. Mine has Daiya (dairy free) cheese, red onion, fresh
>> tomato slices and pine nuts.
>
> I use the weekends and make pizza sauce that is better than the jar.
> If you used the whole 4.99 jar on just 2 pizzas, theyd be swimming in
> sauce so much you'd have to eat it with a spoon..

Not true at all. The jar was small. I like a lot of sauce. They don't.
Occurred to me later that I should have bought another jar because I like to
dip my pizza in it as well.
>
> At the most sloppy pizza, you'd get 4 to 6 pizzas from that jar. Me, I
> take 1.50 (BOGO) worth of 28 oz cans, spice and reduce them for a
> really better sauce than I can buy. I start with 48 oz there and reduce
> to about 32 and make some spagetti with 12 oz of it then reduce the
> rest to a serious thick pizza sauce that peaks when stirred and use
> that for pizza. For about 1.70 (includes price of spices) I get 4
> pizzas and a big pot of spagetti.

Nope. This jar wasn't anywhere near that big. It was the San Marzano kind.
As I said... I didn't have time to reduce a sauce. And we don't often eat
spaghetti. That is not planned at all in the coming week so didn't need any
more sauce. None of us are big on pasta.
>
> Lets add 45cents for the 2 pizzas dough, 30 cents worth of pasta for
> the spagetti. 2.45. Bell peppers, 2 for 1.26. An onion, .15 bought
> in bags, sliced pepperoni at 3.69 a bag covers 6 pizzas (really more
> but we'll pretend) so add 1.23. You are at 5.09 cents. Each pizza
> feeds 3 and the spagetti has 6 servings. 12 servings total. 42 cents
> a serving. Plenty of room to add some meatballs or whatever else like
> cheese to the pizza. 2 cups grated cheese here commonly on sale 3 for
> 5$ for example which is 1.66 a bag and you need 1 cup per pizza for an
> extra 83 cents a pizza but that gets split 3 ways for a 27cent cost per
> serving per person.

My pepperoni was uncured and cost far more than that. I think it was $8.99.
The slices were huge! I had to seriously overlap them to get it all to fit
on the one pizza. I won't eat the stuff. Okay. I assume that your family
likes spaghetti. That isn't the case here. Once in a while I will eat it
myself but the others won't usually willingly eat it. I think I made too
much pasta over the years and we all got burned out on it. Husband will eat
meatballs. Daughter won't and I can't. Cheese is rarely ever that cheap
here. More like $3 a bag when on sale and that's for the store brand.
>
> Pizza is now at 69 cents a serving.
>
> If you noticed, I cheated, See I added money for 4 pizzas and would
> have had leftover pizza fixings there. Specifically, sauce.

Lovely. But I couldn't do that. No place to put the other pizzas and they
would surely go bad before they were eaten.
>
>
>> I looked at potato prices. The only one I remember was for the bulk
>> russets at 98 cents per pound. I did not buy any. I did buy black
>> grapes and cherries. Cherries were $9.98 per pound. I only bought
>> them because husband ripped through the last bag that I got in no
>> time flat. I prefer to buy food that they will eat and not have to
>> throw things out.
>
> Nothing wrong with that Julie but bulk potatoes are always a good thing
> to have about. I have a potato bin that will hold 8 lbs with room to
> spare and it has a compartment to hold onions (3lb bag is just right).

I have a bin too but I can not eat potatoes and the others aren't big into
them so I rarely make them. Learned to buy as needed or they will sprout.
>
>
>> I do like to save money on many things. However there are other
>> things where I prefer to buy really good stuff. One of those things
>> is meat. I don't see too much difference with canned beans but when
>> it comes to the refried, there were a few I did not like at all
>> because they were runny. I don't see much difference with most
>> canned vegetables. Tomatoes can be an exception. I do think when it
>> comes to some tomato products, some are superior but that's not
>> always what I buy.
>
> Red-gold brand tomatoes are really good and lower in sodium. Furmanos
> works for me very well.

I have not seen either brand here. I often buy the store brand.
>
> Meantime, we cooked up 8 pork loin (boneless) 1 inch thick steaks, 3
> lbs wahoo (Don catches this of the coast of mexico and we have it
> professionally cleaned and frozen then shipped back), and i am about to
> start a chicken soup from a 3lb chicken in the crockpot. I won't
> detail the cost this time but it works out to about 47cents a 1 cup
> hearty serving.

Okay. Pork loin will not get eaten here. Only pork I eat is really crispy
bacon. The others aren't much into pork. They will eat a chop or ham once
or twice a year but not loin.
>
> If wondering on the fish, when you add the cost for the fishing trip,
> cost of tickets and hotel, and professional cleaning, packing and
> shipping, the fish is 2.41lb. Professionally packed and shipped, it
> will last for 2 years.

I'm sure that my husband could get fish for cheap. He works right on the
water. We just don't eat the stuff. And he shouldn't eat much due to the
gout.
>
> The point isnt that you are 'wrong' so much as not looking at it right
> for savings I think.
> Carol

I could never do what you do. I have no pantry and not a lot of room for
storing food. I have to store the bulk of my canned goods in the garage. I
can not put anything out there that animals might get into. I have to put
things like pretzels, chips and cereal in the dining room. None of my
cupboards are big enough to accommodate it except for very small boxes of
cereal.