Question: In the current economy, how do you avoid associating food with $?
I can’t help but feel like NOT finishing my meal is the exact same thing as wasting money. Like, unless I polish off my plate, I’m basically throwing my hard earned cash down the drain.
Jillian once mentioned she had this problem, but her solution wasn’t realistic in my opinion. I’m not talking about portions served to me while dining out. In my opinion, going to nice restaurants is a luxury and is all about the experience (so the high(er) prices are worth it). I’m more than willing to take home my unfinished lunch/dinner for leftovers.
No, what I’m talking about it sacrificing what I want to eat (or the amount I want to eat) for what I’m willing to spend.
To bulk or not to bulk? THAT is the question.
Do I buy the $3.50/10 oz. pack of dried fruit or the $4/20 oz. pack?
In theory (and economy 101) I should buy the $4 pack because I get double the amount of food for only 50 cents more. More bang for your buck, duh! BUT. (And this is purely a hypothetic situation now…) what if you have very little self control (ok, none), and you KNOW you’ll eat the entire pack in one sitting, regardless of how hungry you are? Regardless of which pack you buy? I finish things because I can and because they are there.
I don’t necessarily want to eat the entire portion, but am I more economical for buying the smaller pack that costs less, even though I know I’m not stretching my dollar to it’s full potential?
These are the issues I face on a daily basis at WF and it’s because of this that my shopping trips last hours longer than necessary.
It gets even MORE complicated when you throw organic items into the mix. It’s a miracle I even manage to get out of grocery stores by closing time!
Anyways, I’ve been sorta sick lately (and I worked this past weekend), so my cooking has been on the weaker side. I DID make red quinoa for the first time.
I had always wondered how RED quinoa compared to regular quinoa, and to be perfectly honest, I couldn’t taste anything really different.
This meal tasted like a vacation in the Mediterranean (although I guess if it were a REAL vacay, I wouldn’t be cooking for myself)…anyways, I had some falafel balls on the side of a big fancy schmancy salad.
Red quinoa, chickpeas, raw sweet corn, shredded carrots, and sweet potatoes, with a mini-tub of Sabra hummus on the side. Mmmmm…
Seacrest out.
“Do I buy the $3.50/10 oz. pack of dried fruit or the $4/20 oz. pack?”
The cheap/frugal person in me is screaming “the $4/20 oz pack!” hands down! BUT, the gluttonous pig in me knows EXACTLY what you are talking about with finishing the whole thing, so it is a tough decision that I struggle with every day. We should go shopping together…we would NEVER get out of the store!
I do think red quinoa tastes a little different, but even if you don’t, it certainly makes for a pretty colorful salad, right 🙂 ?
I hope you are feeling better? Or that you at least have a day off so that you can rest/relax and take care of yourself?
Courtney
i am glad that i am not the only one who can spend hours in a grocery store comparing items. i have gotten a lot better at not wasting food over the past year, i used to be real bad since i only buy for myself.. i was always throwing food out. portion control is a whole other issue though! it is funny that people will spend mega dollars on those 100 calorie packs instead of buying the actual product, ie: bag of doritos, box of cookies, and portioning them out into baggies. much cheaper. except i don’t eat any of that 100 calorie garbage (in my ever so humble opinion) so that really doesnt apply to me, i was just sayin!
loving your colorful protein packed plate! yummmm!
Haha, I am queen of long shopping trips! Sometimes I have such a hard time deciding that I wish there was only a few options to begin with – for example, do we reeeaaally need 40 different types of toothbrushes in every store? Really?? In terms of food, I usually go with cheaper/bigger = better, except for produce. I figure that anything that isn’t fresh fruits/veg will last, but for produce I’d rather pay a little extra than see any food go to waste. Also, I try to buy organic only for the ‘dirty dozen’ – I figure I’m paying for my health down the road, so it’s worth it. Secretly though, I don’t fuss too much about spending a lot on food – I eat very little prepackaged stuff, so what it costs is what it costs! I’d rather feed myself well than spend money on going to see a movie, etc.
I love the colour of red quinoa – it also tends to be cheaper, at least where I live. Hooray! 🙂
-Eve
Gah. I have the same dilemma- buy a more economical thing even if it means eating more than I want to/need to just because technically it works out cheaper? I guess it’s ‘wasteful’ either way, you know? Right now I’m in “spend as little as possible” mode so buying only what I need because I feel horrible throwing food away and hate feeling like I need to rush to use things up.
Red quinoa might not taste different but it’s definitely pretty 😀
(Did you see the new hummus in TUBES?!!!!!!)
Oh- did you get your work schedule beyond the 9th? Am thinking a Saturday might be better for people?..
I spend ages comparing prices at the grocery store…not only do I love grocery shopping for the obvious reasons, I also LOVE getting a bargain!
I try to make choices based on the price per oz which is the real teller of what kind of value you are getting.
Love that colorful plate!
Your Med meal is absolutely fantastic – if I could marry a meal, it would be that one.
When I saw your title I had flash backs to Micro/Macro Econ…I almost had a heart attack. FEEL BETTER, LOVEY!!!
I feel the same way about grocery shopping. It’s so hard to justify not buying in bulk–but having more really does lead me to eat more. I recently had a enormous FSTG bag of chips from Costco, and I plowed through it in the same time it takes me to get through a normal size bag I’d buy at WF… simply because there was more to eat (and usually I like to conserve my FSTG goodies)… Ah, I don’t know… Your med eats look to die for, though!
Have a great Monday!
Sarah
Ummm all I gotta say is switch it up because in homegirl math, sh!t evens out and your metabolism is high and even if the funds are low, you find yourself at a foodie full stomach equilibrium …and I am totally making this sh!t up.
HEART uuuu!
Oh to hell with math. I’m all about buying what is going to make you happiest and healthiest because what you put into your body is the most important. I swear.
What’s more important is that you read this article from Nation’s Restaurant News (I’m researching for one of my classes). I thought of you immediately: http://www.nrn.com/article.aspx?id=372368
HEAVEN. xo.K
Interesting post!
I have to admit that I am much more aware of the price of eating organic now-a-days but they way I look at it is that my body is my prized possession and it deserves the best. I’ll skimp elsewhere.
nanoosh!!! i LOVE that place. its right in my hood too. 🙂 also ive been to daphne’s back when i loved in CA. thx for the article love. nothing makes my heart pitter patter quite like the chickpea – oh, and my fiance? haha
word.
I never used to care or look at prices in the groc store. If I wanted it, I bought it. Becoming a largely one income fam with a kiddo AND just purchasing a home, and the current economy, well yeah, budget conscious is my middle name lately.
I would say always to buy in economy and like padlock the extra portion in a shoebox or something LOL don’t know what to tell the impulse control police on that one but I’d opt for saving money.
Funny you should write this post, I have a blog post half written about the high price of facial cleansers (vegan) and that I found one for 5.69 which is music to my ears vs. like $50. I mean who in this economy can spend 50 bucks on facial cleanser?
Your sweet potato rounds looks so munchable. Nice work on the Medi Feast!
Yeah, the red quinoa just looks prettier!
$50 for facial cleanser!?! whoa. glad you were able to snag the cheapo kind bc otherwise thats CRAZY!
thats pretty much the only difference i can detect too 🙂
I used to go for the $4/20 oz every time… but I guess I sort of have the opposite problem from what you described, because if I go for a jumbo size just because it’s a “better value,” half of it ends up being thrown out. How did I save money if I essentially tossed it in the trash?!
And where are you still finding raw corn??
<3 <3
i know what you mean…its hard to see the point in buying the individual packs (ESPECIALLY bc of how much extra plastic and crap it uses – not hippie approved at ALL), but also because you are paying 200% the true cost. i guess then theres always the risk of eating the entire box in a single sitting that ill just have to live with 😉
i agree. food IS one of the things i will happily spend my $$ on, and sacrifice in other areas, like you said. and produce is something i ALWAYS finish before it goes bad. i dont buy in bulk though because i have nowhere to store it. thats another one of the issues i didnt even get into in this post…small apartment space = NO food storage space. anyways, your comment about the toothbrushes had me laughing bc seriously how many differences could there POSSIBLY be? any dentists out there reading?
are you kidding? barzini’s (on the UWS) has packs of 3 for $1.99 and i go through them like its my JOB…haha i know what you mean though, i HATE throwing away stuff that went bad when i bought it to “save” money…grrr
i have a feeling a joint shopping trip would be an 8 hour affair with us, haha.
have you seen this btw:
http://veganyumyum.com/2009/09/hurry-up-alfredo-vyy-cookbook/#comment-14340
looks like its right up your (and my) alley 🙂
are you kidding!! hummus in tubes? wow. i cant wait to see it, thats even easier for my lunches, and probz more environmentally friendly. hippie love.
i dont have my sched yet, but i THINK (pray/hope) that it will be posted when i work tomorrow. blah, my boss is so lame with these things. i will say, that weekend is my work weekend though, so i know im working sat and sunday for sure. im more than willing to go to a dinner straight from work, but i will be (a) in scrubs and (b) exhausted and thus likely to be delirious and incoherent in terms of making social chit chat. if you feel comfortable meeting me for the first time and thinking im a crazy person given the aforementioned conditions, then im in, but consider yourself warned. 😉
i rely on those price per oz amounts too.
I spend more on organic, high quality produce and buy what I can out of bulk bins. And I hate to say it, but I’ve been saving a lot of money on groceries since I’ve stopped juicing so much. And not eating meat saves a lot too! I hate throwing food away, so we are big into leftovers for lunch in this house! I’d eat your leftovers any day…
I am always always always comparing items. But I love bulk because it makes me sad when things run out. Like if I go to eat something and it’s not there. Talk about an angry eater. Plus we have a big family so bulk is better espesh when your dad is a human vacuum. I understand the non controlling part though and I have that problem too. Thats why one of my rules is I’m not allowed to eat out of a bag. I always have to put everything on a plate or in a bowl because if I close the bag or whatever it is then the chances of me going back to it are slim. sometimes..
girl I was puh-raying for the Bills to win last night. But I’m okay that they didn’t because I know my man Marky will crush Brady ( hopefully..)
how’d the fantasy football go for you?
Ooohhh…maybe a way to get nuts in my belly?! I must try it! Thanks 🙂
I don’t know if you actually WANT them, but I will try to send you some yummy tried and true nutritional yeast sauce recipes this week…SO delicious!
Courtney
oh! i didnt know sabra made mini hummus things .. i have tried the tribe ones and they are just meh … i find sabra to be far more tasty!
mmm .. bulk … i think it always depends on price and how fast the stuff goes bad vs how fast you can eat it
my dad randomly brought home a 48 count pack of string cheese last night … in that case, i vote, not to bulk, especially since hes the only one who eats it haha
hahaha. thats a LOT of string cheese! i only recently found sabra’s minitubs…they still are stocked in stores only sporadically, so i am using the tribe ones in between. i agree though, the sabra ones are WAYYYY tastier. the tribe ones are meh so i use them in my lunch salads as “dressing.”
i know. i have bags and bags and bags of bulk bought dried fruit, nuts, and beans, etc. i def HATE when it runs out…or when i specifically go to the store to get dried chickpeas (bc thats def the cheapest way to go) and they are OUT. eek! whats a hummus lover to do?!? dude. the bills? whaaaaaat? im all about brady. heart him (on AND off the field). loving the exciting finishes to all these games lately, though. the heart breaker THIS week was the federer loss. poor rog.
i used to be so jealous of your bulk costco trips…produce GALORE. if i had a house and not an apartment i could maybe justify such…but since we dont even have room to store our umbrellas, im thinking i should hold off on joining the costco/sams club crew.
This might be scary for you but I think we think alike sometimes 😉 I go through the same thought process with buying in bulk.
I still have not tried SABRA!!
i think that ALL the time when i read your posts! when you move to the US, sabra will NEED to be in your first grocery trip, haha
Awesome post topic- I HATE wasting soo much, and at the same time I HATE spending insane amounts of money, and at the same time don’t want to eat something simply because it’s going to go bad!! I think friends/family who are less anxiety-ridden and type A than me have taught me a good lesson in that it is OK to let things go bad, or to not use everything…esp since I’m pretty frugal in other spending areas. Also, I’m a big fan of the freezer 😀