5 ms·

Yea I'm not sure how someone can claim "$5 for a meal for one" could possibly be cheaper than cooking unless you're deliberately cooking something expensive? N

Yea I'm not sure how someone can claim "$5 for a meal for one" could possibly be cheaper than cooking unless you're deliberately cooking something expensive? Now maybe I'm missing some cultural context for the price of produce in the US but for €5 per person here in Ireland I could make an absolute feast. Say I make a ragu for 4-5 people, here's what my shopping list might look like (checking prices on tesco.ie): - Pasta 500g (€0.65) - Ground pork 400g (€3.50) - Bag of onions 1kg (€0.60) - 4 bulbs of garlic (€0.80) - Bag of carrots 500g (€0.60) - Celery 450G (€0.79) - Tinned Tomatos (€0.45) So for €7.39 I could feed 4-5 people and have most of the onions, garlic and celery left over for another dish. If I had the budget to get 5 people Taco Bell at €5 a head, I could cook that recipe twice over and have enough left over to buy a half-decent bottle of wine. I know scale changes if you live on your own say, but that's when you save stuff for lunches, make smaller recipes etc. And I live in one of the highest cost-of-living countries in the EU - is the situation really so dire in much of the US as to be drastically different?

jefftk 4y ago
Your prices are in the same range I'd see here.
ghaff 4y ago
Those vegetable prices are very cheap compared to a US supermarket--like maybe 1/3 or 1/4 the price?
- OJFord 4y ago
  They look about right from the UK (I'd pay more for the tomatoes and pasta in particular, personally, but certainly available that cheap) - but that has been my experience in US/Canadian supermarkets, that groceries seem expensive.
- jefftk 4y ago
  Checking on Instacart and so including their markup, our local Market Basket has, for the veggies: * Onions: $1.59 for 2lb * Carrots: $0.89 for 2lb * Garlic: $1.89 for 5 heads * Celery: $3.09 for a bunch (~1lb) The carrots are cheaper, and everything else is more expensive but mostly the celery. This "basket" of fresh vegetables is $6.67 vs €2.79 (2.4x). Exclude the celery and it's $3.55 vs €2.00 (1.8x)
HWR_14 4y ago
Those prices seem very low for the US (except for the pork). I also see you're leaving out the salt, pepper, olive oil, red wine, Parmesan, and spices/(dried) herbs. Yes, all the things you left out will last for a long time (except the 1/4 bottle of wine) but they are a huge upfront cost for a single meal. Cooking is a financial commitment. I'll also say the first recipe I found suggested 1kg of pork to go with that much pasta and vegetables.
- ghaff 4y ago
  A woman I knew way back when said that when she cooked for her ex-BF at his place, it always cost her a fortune because he had very few pantry staples. You don't need to go crazy but it's probably a few hundred dollars to setup for reasonable cooking from square 1.
  - HWR_14 4y ago
    Exactly. And if you aren't used to it, you can easily mess it up. You get things that don't last as long as you expect, or too much of an ingredient. Once you have a decent set up and pantry, it's not bad. But if you need 5 spices to try a recipe, you're looking at at least a $15 home cooked meal. For one person.

jefftk 4y ago

Your prices are in the same range I'd see here.

ghaff 4y ago

Those vegetable prices are very cheap compared to a US supermarket--like maybe 1/3 or 1/4 the price?

OJFord 4y ago
They look about right from the UK (I'd pay more for the tomatoes and pasta in particular, personally, but certainly available that cheap) - but that has been my experience in US/Canadian supermarkets, that groceries seem expensive.
jefftk 4y ago
Checking on Instacart and so including their markup, our local Market Basket has, for the veggies: * Onions: $1.59 for 2lb * Carrots: $0.89 for 2lb * Garlic: $1.89 for 5 heads * Celery: $3.09 for a bunch (~1lb) The carrots are cheaper, and everything else is more expensive but mostly the celery. This "basket" of fresh vegetables is $6.67 vs €2.79 (2.4x). Exclude the celery and it's $3.55 vs €2.00 (1.8x)

HWR_14 4y ago

Those prices seem very low for the US (except for the pork). I also see you're leaving out the salt, pepper, olive oil, red wine, Parmesan, and spices/(dried) herbs. Yes, all the things you left out will last for a long time (except the 1/4 bottle of wine) but they are a huge upfront cost for a single meal. Cooking is a financial commitment. I'll also say the first recipe I found suggested 1kg of pork to go with that much pasta and vegetables.

ghaff 4y ago
A woman I knew way back when said that when she cooked for her ex-BF at his place, it always cost her a fortune because he had very few pantry staples. You don't need to go crazy but it's probably a few hundred dollars to setup for reasonable cooking from square 1.
- HWR_14 4y ago
  Exactly. And if you aren't used to it, you can easily mess it up. You get things that don't last as long as you expect, or too much of an ingredient. Once you have a decent set up and pantry, it's not bad. But if you need 5 spices to try a recipe, you're looking at at least a $15 home cooked meal. For one person.