Prepared food costs at grocery stores

[Saltheart]

I can't believe what they want for prepared foods at the grocery stores this thanksgiving.

Butternut squash $5.99/lb

Chicken salad $7.99/lb

Mashed potatoes $5.99/lb For Mashed potatoes!!!

8 inch cake $15

Unreal price gouging IMO

[spence]

Well, also all dense foods that will feed a lot. If the quality is decent it's still not a bad deal considering the material cost, time to prepare and more importantly clean up! I'm assuming these are prepared onsite or somewhere locally.

-spence

[ecduzitgood]

It is still cheaper than what you would pay for it prepared somewhere else like a restaurant for instance. Save time or money it's your choice.
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[UserRemoved1]

I cringe when I go in grocery stores.

If you ever want to get rich that's the way to do it.

You want to be lazy and not make it yourself you get to pay for it is how they look at it.

[Saltheart]

There is not a single item on that list that I could justify under any circumstances. $5.99 potatoes means NO POTATOES for me. You can buy butternut squash all peeled and chopped up for $2 a pound. All you have to do is boil it and you save $4 a pound! Chicken salad for $8 a pound? Its cheaper to buy a grinder and scrape the chicken salad out of it on to a plate! What a huge price for convenience (or laziness).

[justplugit]

Originally Posted by spence

I'm assuming these are prepared onsite or somewhere locally.

-spence

Is China local?

[Chesapeake Bill]

Unfortuantely, Saltheart, that is a sign of the times. The price of oil drives up transportation costs which gets translated to added food and labor costs. It seems everyone uses the gas cost to raise prices. When the cost of oil drops no one drops their price...and someone is always wiling to pay what they ask for it...

I'm another one who cringes in the grocery store. My children come over and shop in my root cellar where I have become my parents and hoard cans of food for the coming armageddon. LOL

Depsite that, I still have a lot to be thankful for!

[Raven]

butternut squash is the easiest to grow
one of the best because of how long a shelf life
the squash has...

[Nebe]

Your paying extra for the labor to make it
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[Saltheart]

Originally Posted by Nebe

Your paying extra for the labor to make it
Posted from my iPhone/Mobile device

I'm paying 50 cents/lb for the labor to make it. I'm paying $3 a pound to some greedy profit margins!

In reality , I'm not paying a thing cause I just will not buy rediculously priced stuff. I eat just about everything in the world. If something gets too expensive I'll eat something else.

Yes butternut squash is easy to grow around here and home grown tastes way better than the dark starchy ones the stores sometimes have. If you want a really long storage life on them , leave about an inch of stem on when you harvest them.

[Joe]

I go into the East Greenwich Dave's sometimes - there are a lot rich people that buy dinner there every night. It's a matter of perspective and earning power. If you're a lawyer making $200 an hour, it makes more sense to stay at work an extra 15mins and buy a prepared dinner - you're ahead like $20.
Cooking, cleaning, running errands, and cutting grass is a losing proposition for a lot of people - just not me.
I'm more envious of the people who can outsource domestic tasks than those who have raised cheapness to a high art.

[striperman36]

I love the Registered Dog Poop Scooper that comes into the neighborhood.

[Karl F]

i just ate a dozen oysters for free, (well the permit cost money, but over the course of the year it's just a penny a pound or less)....any idea what they go for prepared?......(and they would not be anywhere near as fresh!)

bottom line is convenience (for consumer) ...& profit (store)..... always a trade off...and the price is determined by demand and sales

[striperman36]

Originally Posted by Karl F

i just ate a dozen oysters for free, (well the permit cost money, but over the course of the year it's just a penny a pound or less)....any idea what they go for prepared?......(and they would not be anywhere near as fresh!)

I wish I lived where I could do that.

[Saltheart]

Originally Posted by Joe

I go into the East Greenwich Dave's sometimes - there are a lot rich people that buy dinner there every night. It's a matter of perspective and earning power. If you're a lawyer making $200 an hour, it makes more sense to stay at work an extra 15mins and buy a prepared dinner - you're ahead like $20.
Cooking, cleaning, running errands, and cutting grass is a losing proposition for a lot of people - just not me.
I'm more envious of the people who can outsource domestic tasks than those who have raised cheapness to a high art.

The proper word is Thriftyness , not cheapness. I like to think I buy the "best" of almost everything but I shop like hell to get the lowest price on the "best" products. That's Thrifty , not Cheap.

[Joe]

I looked it up, and you're right. But you're supposed to replace "y" with "i" in thriftiness - that's part of the problem once you get into the semantics of parsimony and penny-pinching.

[BMEUPSCOTTY]

Originally Posted by Joe

I'm more envious of the people who can outsource domestic tasks than those who have raised cheapness to a high art.

yep. Time is money... And money is time... For the fun stuff... Not that I know from experience... :-/
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[Fly Rod]

Originally Posted by Saltheart

I can't believe what they want for prepared foods at the grocery stores this thanksgiving.

Butternut squash $5.99/lb

Chicken salad $7.99/lb

Mashed potatoes $5.99/lb For Mashed potatoes!!!

8 inch cake $15

Unreal price gouging IMO

I understand now why people that eat prepared foods have to work two jobs to make ends meet.

The old fashion way:

Butternut Squash $.79 per lb. 7 minutes in micro

Perdue Oven Roster 8lbs. @ .89= $7.12 roast 1 1/2 hrs. while playing texas holdem on computer or working on boat or other project.

Idaho or Russet Potatoes 5 lbs. $2.49 equals 49.8 cents one pound in the micro 6-7 minutes.

Joe..... It's not being cheap its being frugal.

[Mike P]

Originally Posted by striperman36

I wish I lived where I could do that.

There are plenty of Cape towns that have a decent oyster fishery. As a Mass resident you can get a non-resident shellfish permit from any town. They range in cost from $80 in Falmouth to $175 in Bourne.

[spence]

Originally Posted by Karl F

i just ate a dozen oysters for free, (well the permit cost money, but over the course of the year it's just a penny a pound or less)....any idea what they go for prepared?......(and they would not be anywhere near as fresh!)

Local oysters on the half-shell are generally around 3 bucks each.

Bill, just over the bridge head south a little over a mile and Bridgeport Seafood usually has pretty decent local oysters for under a buck.

-spence

[Saltheart]

Originally Posted by Joe

I looked it up, and you're right. But you're supposed to replace "y" with "i" in thriftiness - that's part of the problem once you get into the semantics of parsimony and penny-pinching.

Ah, a classic conundrum. Is it better to use the correct word but spell it incorrectly or is it better to use the incorrect word but spell it correctly? Thriftiness and cheapness are common terms so the conundrum is not caused by an enigma but rather the result of having nothing but bad choices for an answer to the question as stated. I do think the value of my original euphemism has intrinsic value that transcends either choice of answers to the conundrum , both of which are simply conjecture.

[Joe]

I don't buy prepared foods. I cook food from scratch and I get most everything at the Wal-Mart super store which is about 35% less expensive than Dave's. I just go into Dave's now and then because they have fresh fish, or if I'm rushed to make one meal, but not to do a whole shopping.
The people who buy that stuff are stinking rich, and the store is right off the highway on the way home, and they've got more money than time. I think it's not how long it takes to cook something, it's the notion that they are above domestic servitude, that's what turns them off. They don't want to get something on their clothes or have the house smell any more than they want to push a lawn mower.
That's Dave's niche: high margin prepared foods for busy professionals. The business model seems to be working for them. It looks like at least 30% of their inventory is prepared foods and they are expanding in the more affluent areas.

[Fly Rod]

Originally Posted by Joe

The people who buy that stuff are stinking rich, got more money than time.

I see nothing wrong with being rich. The 35 + years in business I never worked for a poor person. And if it were not for the rich you and I would be out of a job.

In today's world people are busy regardless if it is working or recreational and prepared foods( to much sodium) may be the way to go for some.

Like you 99% of my meals are from scratch. For people that are busy the crockpot is a great way to go. Today's crockpots also come with a timer to automactically turn on and off. We use the pot often.

[Redsoxticket]

Then there are those that find prepared foods a convenience for their lack of cooking skills, creativity and taste.
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[Fly Rod]

Originally Posted by Redsoxticket

Then there are those that find prepared foods a convenience for their lack of cooking skills, creativity and taste.
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Very True.

[Slingah]

I'm frugal and like to cook. Brought up that way.
Roasted butternut squash with fresh sage, caramelized sweet onion and dried cranberries.
Time is money.