When the children were young and my budget was tight, I started to think of the cost of meals rather than the cost of individual foods or rather to think of the value of the food cost, the role of the food in our diets. In the supermarket I would calculate how many meals a product would provide -
- a packet of four quarter pound burgers for instance would count as two meals. Such burgers tend to retail at around a minimum 50p each mark making the main component of the meal (the centrepiece in Douglas-speak) around a pound sterling, which if served with carrot and bread would have minimal additional cost, whilst with chips or another processed product the additional cost might be 50p-£1 more. For many years meal prices ranged in £1-2 bracket. Clearly beans on toast would come under that but as my children were never big baked bean fans I couldn’t resort to that too often although egg on toast has always been popular.
And at the other end of the scale are the luxury meals – lamb chops which we all love and nowadays, sushi – expensive, but I calculate based on the nutrient content. I feel the same about ready prepared fruit. They are too expensive ordinarily but when they are on offer I can justify the expense by nutrition – a pack of fresh fruit chunks for instance is a rapid way to increase vitamin intake so irresistable are the chunks, making the product seem a good deal less expensive than if I were to continue to view it as an exotic or luxury item. Many prepared veg are also so delicious that they are eaten with relish – mashed (pureed) carrot and swede, green beans and parsley butter, potatoes of various guises peeled or ready wedged I regularly buy if they are reduced.
Filed under: budgets, product diary
