Is this wasteful? Settle a debate!

[Anonymous]

Better to use the gift card now than to save it only to forget about it later.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Settle a debate!

I received a $25 gift card to a local, gourmet-type grocery store. They sell specialty items but also many of the usual grocery items you find at big box stores, just at a higher price point. I have no desire to purchase any of the specialty items they sell and look at this $25 as “free” money to stock up on some of my usual grocery items.

So, for example: Let’s say I spend the $25 on the things I’d need to make a pasta dinner. I’ll spend more per item—say $2.95 for pasta noodles as opposed to $1.50 at the big box store—but I’m eating this pasta dinner for free.

Someone is arguing with me that I am just wasting the money by paying extra for things I can get cheaper, and I should save the gift card until I can use it on something “specialty” that I can’t find anywhere else. That it’s stupid to waste $25 on ingredients for a dinner that would have only cost me $15 at the big box store.

What kind of people are in your circle that you discuss such things?

[Anonymous]

I got a Wegmans gift card a few years ago and did what you are suggesting. I did buy a couple things I normal wouldn’t but used most of it for the basics

[Anonymous]

Seems wasteful, but I guess it's yours to so with as you wish. I'd buy good vinegar and/or oil and maybe some chocolate. You do you.

[Anonymous]

This is like a classic Econ 101 question about the relative value of items to different people.
Eg if I got a GC to Luke’s lobster, I would value it at face value because I like lobster. My husband would value it at zero (or, more realistically, the goodwill value he would get giving it to me) because he hated lobster.
If you really don’t like any of the fancy items, they have no value to you. So the question is whether you would get more than $15 value by giving it to someone else. If not, then getting a $15 dinner for a $25 gift certificate is a good value for you.

[Anonymous]

I see their point, but it's your gift card so you can do what you want.

[Anonymous]

Your gift. Spend it how you want! That’s the best thing about gifts (at least, as they are meant to be)… no strings attached.

[Anonymous]

You can but better pasta, better grated cheese than at the big box store. Maybe fresh basil or tomatoes to make a simple sauce. It's a gourmet dinner, not a waste at all.
Once you taste that cheese.....

Or get a variety of cheeses from the gourmet store and your cheapo crackers from the big boosters.
There is no going back...