What would you pay for convenience?

This week's grocery bill was off the charts high and I couldn't quite get around why I went over my weekly budget of $125 by quite a significant amount. In fact, I think my $125 is too high especially since I'm buying food for only Carlos and I. There was only one factor that threw things off. Carlos' birthday. I'm making Pastel de Choclo for him and since one of the main ingredients, fresh ears of corn, is out of season I had to pay a whopping $8 for only 6 ears! But where did all the other expenses come from?

The other day, I was having a Twitter conversation with Erin of the excellent blogs Films and Foodies and Things Our Mom Taught Us. I had proclaimed my confusion in a tweet about why a pack of Chicken Cutlets now cost on average $5.50 at Market Basket (a grocery store chain known for very low prices) yet a whole rotisserie chicken only costs $3.99. You get a whole cooked chicken for $1.50 less than some raw slices of a chicken breast? That made no sense to me. That is until Erin explained it.

So the labor involved in creating those thin chicken cutlets, and waste lost, makes the price go up significantly. I always knew that buying whole was cheaper but I didn't realize to what extent. Then I started thinking about what I was paying for convenience. How much was I paying for another person's labor so I can spend less time in the kitchen? Is a can of beans more expensive per pound than a bag of dry beans? Do I really want to save the money in beans but add more time to my already packed schedule? Are company profiting off of our busy lives by charging us for the labor that it takes to make convenience foods? I'm I the last one to be smacked in the face by the reality of this?

In budgeting for my family's meals, I've been doing the following

• buying cheap cuts of meat (think ground beef and chicken and not filet mignon)
• make a game out of looking for the least expensive pack
• using more vegetables and fruits and less packaged goods
• only buying what I need for the week
• planning out the week's meals in advance so I don't buy extra crap
• purchasing very few or no snacks
• skipping many name brands and going for generic when I can

What I haven't been doing is looking what I'm spending on convenience. Would it have been cheaper to make 2 Oreo cookie crusts from scratch or to buy 2 already made ones for $4? Do I really need to spend $2.50 on Baker's Dipping Chocolate for one use when a $2.50 bag of Ghiradelli Chocolate Chips would give me multiple uses, including melting chocolate for dipping? Should I buy a block of cheddar cheese and shred it myself or is it worth the money already shredded?

How do you cut back on your grocery bills? What grocery buys are worth the extra money to save you time in the kitchen? Is time worth the money or is money worth the time?

When Bad Things Happen to Good Cooks

I'm like a poor man's MacGyver when it comes to First Aid.

It pains me to write this. No literally, it pains me to write this because I've injured my right hand. 

OnThursday evening I started making a Chicken version of Cookin Canuck's Shrimp, Sun-Dried Tomatoes, Asparagus and Bucatini Recipe in a White Wine Garlic Sauce (her recipe titles are always super long!). I decided to sautee some chicken cutlets in light olive oil in a skillet. So I heat up my skillet and start cooking and guess who comes knocking on my door? It's my beau Carlos and he's over an hour early. I try to greet him while simultaneously taking care of the chicken but oops! the chicken breasts are burnt. I flip them over to cook them a little more. But it's too late. We set off the fire alarm with all the smoke. Carlos turns the fan on, I open up a window and soon the smoke clears. In my infinite wisdom, I throw in another chicken breast into the super hot oil before I let it cool down. Emphasis on the word "throw". The hot oil splashed all over my hand and on the wall behind me. Luckily, I threw the chicken breast with a pair of tongs and I wasn't standing directly in front of the skillet. However, I was burned pretty badly. I had second degree burns on my wrist (almost all the way around) and on some of my fingers. It's blistered pretty badly and it hurts to do anything with my right hand (type, shake hands, pick up things, etc.).

My kitchen confidence has been wavering lately. I feel like I've gotten lazier and not better. The time I have to devote to cooking has been reduced and my budget is super tight. So I've been cutting corners a lot lately to save time and money. But it's not making me a better cook.

So what do I get out of this experience besides a burnt hand? Time in the kitchen cooking should be joyful. I should take my time and be methodical. I should regain the pleasure I felt in the process and not necessarily rush to the result. And never let Carlos (and his soft kisses) distract me from cooking ever again.

Sunday Thoughts ~ May 9th, 2010

Administrator's note: I am changing Sunday Roundup to Sunday Thoughts. More free-form, less linkage.


Last week was pretty nightmarish. I had gone to the hospital two Saturdays ago with an infection. The antibiotics that the hospital gave me, and my exposure to hospital bacteria, gave me a brand new infection that left me in intestinal turmoil for the whole week. Who would have thought that an antibiotic would cause an infection?! I had blood tests (and other unspeakable tests) done to me to see what it was that I had. Turns out it was clostridium difficile colitus and boy it hasn't been a fun infection to have.

The nurse practitioner I saw put me on a bland food/liquid diet. Chicken, potatoes, brown rice, plain carbs, chicken broth, apple juice, watered-down gatorade, etc. No vegetables, no meats, no salads and the such. Also, I read online that a good way to combat the... umm... effects of such an infection is to go with BRATTY foods. That's Bananas, Rice, Applesauce/Apple juice, Tea, Toast and Yogurt. For the most part, I can't eat yogurt, so I've been trying to stick to the other foods on that list.

I am usually very conscious of what I eat. I am hypoglycemic so I have to keep a relatively low-sugar diet and be aware of blood sugar drops. I have a lazy digestive system so I need to eat things that help speed things along and avoid foods that prevent the train from arriving at the station, so to speak. I'm also somewhat lactose intolerant which prevents me from indulging in my love of all things cheese (::gripe::). I'm generally conscious of my weight and overall health and try to eat a relatively low calorie diet with lots of fruits and vegetables without depriving myself of certain culinary joys.

So on Saturday I found myself on the road and hungry. I'm hardly ever really hungry. You know, the kind of hungry that makes you feel empty at your very core and the call of the stomach sirens with their lurches and bellows seems irresistible. You must eat. NOW.

Solution. McDonald's!

McDonald's?

No it's true. I kept to my bland food diet and didn't overindulge by going to McDonald's and buying a Happy Meal. The experience also brought me back to my childhood. Many a time did my mother take me to McD's where I had a Happy Meal with a lovely toy inside waiting for me to play with. At 29, I'm still a kid at heart and I wasn't even the least bit embarrassed to order to go the McDonald's drive-thru and order a girl's Happy Meal.

To stick to my bland food/liquid/bratty diet I got a Happy Meal with chicken nuggets, french fries and apple juice. The total calorie intake was just under 500 calories which is what I try to stick to anyways for a noon-time meal. It was delicious and did just the trick. And I got a mermaid doll out of it too. Score!

Sometimes you have to make lemonade when life throws you lemons. And a Happy Meal makes for a tasty lemonade.