Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My mac and cheese recipe (makes about 8 servings)

0.75 lb cheddar ($5)
1lb pasta ($1.50)
1 bag frozen peas ($2)
1 can salmon ($3.50)

misc amounts of milk, flour, breadcrumbs, butter, seasonings.

That's $1.50 per serving--so pretty economical, IMO!

But, there is nothing fresh here, and full of fat.

It's a pantry meal--so no, that's the point.

And how is it full of fat? It has cheese and butter, but not in great quantities.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You are comparing apples to oranges. Or actually apples to chips.

TJ's boxed mac and cheese isnt' made with three types of expensive cheese.

Apples aren't the same thing as chips. Apples are a lot cheaper than the packaged apple chips.

Well, you've got me there. There are actually FOUR real cheeses (not processed cheese food like Velveeta) in the TJs frozen mac and cheese.

For all you mocking TJs as "crap," too processed, not real, equivalent to Velveeta or powdered Kraft--the ingredients list, direct from the box I made last night: cooked elbow macaroni, milk, cheddar cheese, havarti cheese, imported gouda cheese, imported swiss cheese, unbleached flour, butter, rice starch, salt, and spices. (And for those of you who say, "but those cheeses still have sub-ingredients!" of course, you're right. They are (combined, since most were the same): cow's milk, cheese cultures, salt, rennet, enzymes, calcium chloride (another type of salt), annatto (color), and carotene (color) -- the exact same things you find in blocks of cheese at the grocery store. Not Velveeta.)

I make "fancy" homemade mac and cheese all the time (well, probably once a month) (http://www.cookistry.com/2011/03/crock-pot-mac-and-cheese.html ). Yet I also make TJ's mac and cheese, sometimes as often as twice a week. It is seriously good stuff, and way more convenient. If you haven't tried it, you've got no business knocking it. (And since I *know* someone is going to ask me why I ever bother with homemade if I love TJs so much, it has a distinctly different flavor. TJs is great for quick dinners with just me and my toddler. Homemade is easier to cook for large groups and has a more gourmet flavor, and at that scale, it may well be cheaper.)

As you just acknowledged, apples to oranges. Although you like the TJ mac and cheese, it is not a replacement for your other mac and cheese.

I like how you completely ignored the whole point of my post--that TJs mac and cheese is NOT crap and contains basically the same ingredients as many homemade recipes (thus, in terms of quality, apples to apples)--and instead picked at something that I wasn't even explicitly arguing with.

To address the OPs original question, cooking from scratch in large quantities is often cheaper -- that's a basic economy of scale. Cooking for scratch for one adult and one toddler, not so much. Still no excuse for bashing a perfectly reasonable frozen food item and the people who use them.

Anonymous wrote:My mac and cheese recipe (makes about 8 servings)

0.75 lb cheddar ($5)
1lb pasta ($1.50)
1 bag frozen peas ($2)
1 can salmon ($3.50)

misc amounts of milk, flour, breadcrumbs, butter, seasonings.

That's $1.50 per serving--so pretty economical, IMO!

But, there is nothing fresh here, and full of fat.

Anonymous wrote:You are comparing apples to oranges. Or actually apples to chips.

TJ's boxed mac and cheese isnt' made with three types of expensive cheese.

Apples aren't the same thing as chips. Apples are a lot cheaper than the packaged apple chips.

This.

As a newly single mom who has had to teach my self to cook of late, I LOVE this thread. And while I am still learning techniques, I think 12:40 may have just saved my life, or at least restored a little sanity. So, thank you, DCUMs!!!

Anonymous wrote:Fried rice is great, PP. Use up your scallions, an egg or two, and don't buy new veggies - use left over veggies (last night's spinach). That's all I mean about not using recipes - don't feel you need to buy snap peas for your fried rice, use your spinach instead.

I keep a bag of frozen mixed veges that work well for fried rice - those, whatever meat's in the house, scallions or onions if I have 'em, and eggs.

It is cheaper.

ie: your mac and cheese example using the recipe I use:

8 oz box of pasta
2.5 cups of milk
2 cups of cheese (we only use one kind - typically colby jack)
2 tablespoons of flour
1 teaspoon of salt
1 teaspoon ground mustard
2 tablespoons of butter
1/4 cup breadcrumbs

That's for a pan that contains around 4-6 servings for a lot less then $6

You don't use an entire bottle of milk or a whole jar of spices or an entire stick of butter - only parts. And what's left you use in other recipes. If its something like cheese, you plan another recipe to use whatever cheese you didn't use up when making the mac and cheese.

You don't need to toss spices after a week. You can keep using them therefore you don't have to keep buying them at every food shop. Produce we use a combination of fresh and frozen.

An apple costs less then a bag of chips.

Another example: Roast chicken

Small chicken, butter or olive oil, salt and spices = around $5-10 (shop sales - Wegmans often has them for pretty cheap)
Potatoes and veggies for a side = probably less then 5 dollars

That's enough for dinner and lunch and possibly some leftovers for a small family. And then you can boil the chicken carcass to make stock which makes soup - just add celery, onion, spices, carrots, the leftover chicken from the carcass, and rice or noodles and you have another 1-2 meals.

Shopping sales helps and meal planning helps.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You are comparing apples to oranges. Or actually apples to chips.

TJ's boxed mac and cheese isnt' made with three types of expensive cheese.

Apples aren't the same thing as chips. Apples are a lot cheaper than the packaged apple chips.

Well, you've got me there. There are actually FOUR real cheeses (not processed cheese food like Velveeta) in the TJs frozen mac and cheese.

For all you mocking TJs as "crap," too processed, not real, equivalent to Velveeta or powdered Kraft--the ingredients list, direct from the box I made last night: cooked elbow macaroni, milk, cheddar cheese, havarti cheese, imported gouda cheese, imported swiss cheese, unbleached flour, butter, rice starch, salt, and spices. (And for those of you who say, "but those cheeses still have sub-ingredients!" of course, you're right. They are (combined, since most were the same): cow's milk, cheese cultures, salt, rennet, enzymes, calcium chloride (another type of salt), annatto (color), and carotene (color) -- the exact same things you find in blocks of cheese at the grocery store. Not Velveeta.)

I make "fancy" homemade mac and cheese all the time (well, probably once a month) (http://www.cookistry.com/2011/03/crock-pot-mac-and-cheese.html ). Yet I also make TJ's mac and cheese, sometimes as often as twice a week. It is seriously good stuff, and way more convenient. If you haven't tried it, you've got no business knocking it. (And since I *know* someone is going to ask me why I ever bother with homemade if I love TJs so much, it has a distinctly different flavor. TJs is great for quick dinners with just me and my toddler. Homemade is easier to cook for large groups and has a more gourmet flavor, and at that scale, it may well be cheaper.)

As you just acknowledged, apples to oranges. Although you like the TJ mac and cheese, it is not a replacement for your other mac and cheese.

Anonymous wrote:It costs me more to buy a fresh chicken to make roast chicken at home than it does to just by one of the cooked rotisserie chickens at the grocery store. It also takes me almost 30 minutes to prep the chicken and make the spice rub (fresh garlic, oil, spices, then rub it all over and under the skin), and then I have to be home for the 1.5 hours it takes to cook. Every time I do this my DH asks why I bother when we can just just get the rotisserie chicken for cheaper and easier!

We are VERY tired of eating those, so I cut it up and make soup or Indian style food with it. Less complaining from the family, and tastes better.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I hear you op about the garlic head and ginger and herbs and chorizo and heavy cream and .... You waste a lot if you don't make dishes calling for rosemary for 5 consecutive nights!

Which brings me to my point: totally depends on WHAT you're cooking, doesn't it?

exactly, like I made lentil soup with ginger, garlic, onions but then did not cook anything with those ingredients for the next week or so and they all went bad. Or the other day, I made stuffing with fresh rosemary and thyme and then did not cook anything else that required those herbs and they all went bad. I wasted so much money! but I love fresh herbs. I guess I need to freeze a lot more stuff and plan meals that contain the same ingredients in a row????

Yup. You can also grow herbs really easily -- a pot of the herbs you use most frequently (say, rosemary, thyme, parsley, chives, etc) will save you a ton. Remember, you can also chop fresh herbs, throw them in an ice cube tray with a bit of water, and freeze them for future hat use.

I'm not disagreeing, and I'm trying not to be combative (really!) but I have found that these suggestions are not acceptable to me personally. Living in DC (vs Los angeles), potted herbs don't taste good in October - march 15 when grown on my indoor windowsill. Frozen herbs taste frozen ('cept basil) to me. I am cursed by my palate and let the perfect be the enemy of the good ...

And then, if I know my dish is going to taste frozen-y / windowsill-y / out-of-season-y (tomatoes, ie) ANYway, I get weak and order out or grab a frozen TJs marinaded salmon piece.

Where's the problem? Buy frozen, eat out, save money. It doesn't get easier than that.

My mac and cheese recipe (makes about 8 servings)

0.75 lb cheddar ($5)
1lb pasta ($1.50)
1 bag frozen peas ($2)
1 can salmon ($3.50)

misc amounts of milk, flour, breadcrumbs, butter, seasonings.

That's $1.50 per serving--so pretty economical, IMO!

Anonymous wrote:You are comparing apples to oranges. Or actually apples to chips.

TJ's boxed mac and cheese isnt' made with three types of expensive cheese.

Apples aren't the same thing as chips. Apples are a lot cheaper than the packaged apple chips.

Well, you've got me there. There are actually FOUR real cheeses (not processed cheese food like Velveeta) in the TJs frozen mac and cheese.

For all you mocking TJs as "crap," too processed, not real, equivalent to Velveeta or powdered Kraft--the ingredients list, direct from the box I made last night: cooked elbow macaroni, milk, cheddar cheese, havarti cheese, imported gouda cheese, imported swiss cheese, unbleached flour, butter, rice starch, salt, and spices. (And for those of you who say, "but those cheeses still have sub-ingredients!" of course, you're right. They are (combined, since most were the same): cow's milk, cheese cultures, salt, rennet, enzymes, calcium chloride (another type of salt), annatto (color), and carotene (color) -- the exact same things you find in blocks of cheese at the grocery store. Not Velveeta.)

I make "fancy" homemade mac and cheese all the time (well, probably once a month) (http://www.cookistry.com/2011/03/crock-pot-mac-and-cheese.html ). Yet I also make TJ's mac and cheese, sometimes as often as twice a week. It is seriously good stuff, and way more convenient. If you haven't tried it, you've got no business knocking it. (And since I *know* someone is going to ask me why I ever bother with homemade if I love TJs so much, it has a distinctly different flavor. TJs is great for quick dinners with just me and my toddler. Homemade is easier to cook for large groups and has a more gourmet flavor, and at that scale, it may well be cheaper.)

Fried rice is great, PP. Use up your scallions, an egg or two, and don't buy new veggies - use left over veggies (last night's spinach). That's all I mean about not using recipes - don't feel you need to buy snap peas for your fried rice, use your spinach instead.

I cook, have a well-stocked pantry, and while I haven't reached the "don't rely on recipes" strategy yet, I have many different meals I can make, many of which use one or more similar ingredients. So, for example, when I make Turkey Burgers from MS's Everyday Foods, I need five ingredients:

Ground turkey (1+ lb package $6)
Scallions ($1)
Breadcrumbs
Garlic
Gruyere cheese ($6)
Mustard and Mayo ($1)

Then for sides I add:

Rice
Spinach ($3)

So let's round up and call it $20 for this dinner. It feeds 3 adults, and 3 picky children. Sometimes there's lunch for 1 adult the next day.

Conservatively, this meal costs $4 (rounding up again) per person. I use the gruyere for another recipe that everyone eats. The scallions, though, do go to waste. I'm working on that. Fried rice is next on my list.

The difference in cost, for me, came when I threw out the cook books and stopped consulting epicurious for every day meals. I use recipes for special meals, not every day ones. What you need are techniques, not lists of ingredients. When you have techniques, you apply them to whatever ingredients you have that week, based on what was cheapest or freshest or whatever your criteria is when you shop. So shop once a week, and totally avoid the center aisles of the store (aside from frozen veggies). Buy two packages of meat (a package of chicken breasts and some ground beef, maybe) and three veggies (broccoli, kale, and cauliflower are good and inexpensive this time of year). And a box of eggs and some rice and pasta. When I do that, my week might look like:

Day 1 - stir fry chicken and broccoli
Day 2 - meatballs over rice with roasted cauliflower
Day 3 - Egg omelette or fritata with the left over stir fry inside
Day 4 - Pasta with kale and garlic
Day 5 - Rice pilaf (or risotto, if you bought that kind of rice) with left over meat from meatballs, and cauliflower and garlicky kale

With all these, the technique is the important part - you know how to stir fry, you know how to amp up a a pasta sauce based on pan brownings and pasta water, you know your "risotto" will taste fine for a weekday if you leave out the cheese. You don't buy ingredients based on what the recipe says you should do, and you don't go out for ingredients if you didn't buy something. You cook with that you have, and use basic techniques to make it really taste quite good.