Worked Examples
Theory is great, but let’s make this concrete. How do these principles translate into an actual shopping cart? Here are two practical examples: a full week’s shopping trip for two people on a tight budget, and a quick cost-benefit analysis of a common convenience item.
One-Week, $50 Grocery Basket for Two
Imagine a weekly budget of $50 for a two-person household. This requires focus and a willingness to cook, but it is entirely achievable. The basket would be built around versatile, low-cost staples. A whole chicken, often a loss leader, might cost around $8. A five-pound bag of potatoes is about $4, and a three-pound bag of yellow onions is $3. A dozen eggs can be found for around $3. From there, we add a loaf of store-brand whole wheat bread for $3 and a block of cheddar cheese for $4. For vegetables, a large bag of frozen mixed peas and carrots offers great value at $2. For fruit, a bag of apples is about $4. Pantry staples round out the cart: a large container of rolled oats ($3), a can of black beans ($1), a 28-ounce can of crushed tomatoes ($1.50), and a bag of long-grain rice ($2.50). This brings our total to approximately $42, leaving about $8 for essentials like cooking oil, salt, or a small carton of milk.
From this basket, the meal possibilities are substantial. Dinner one is roasted chicken with roasted potatoes and a side of the frozen vegetables. This one meal sets you up for the week. Dinner two uses the leftover chicken, shredded and combined with the black beans, rice, and a little cheese for simple burrito bowls. Dinner three is a hearty soup made by simmering the chicken carcass to create a broth, then adding leftover chicken, the remaining potatoes, and onions. Lunches can be chicken sandwiches, leftovers from dinner, or hard-boiled eggs. Breakfast is consistently oatmeal, one of the cheapest and most filling meals available. This isn’t a glamorous menu, but it is nutritious, filling, and incredibly cost-effective, demonstrating how a small, strategic purchase list can be stretched across many meals.
Is It Cheaper to Cook This? The Pasta Sauce Test
Let’s look at a common crossroads in the grocery aisle: the jar of pasta sauce. A popular national brand of marinara sauce might cost $3.79 for a 24-ounce jar. The store-brand equivalent, often right next to it, might be $2.29. A quick glance at the ingredients list reveals they are remarkably similar: tomatoes, onions, garlic, oil, and spices. Choosing the store brand already saves you $1.50.
But can we do better? Let’s build a simple sauce from scratch using store-brand ingredients. A 28-ounce can of crushed tomatoes costs about $1.50. We’ll need half a yellow onion (about $0.50), two cloves of garlic (about $0.20), a tablespoon of olive oil, and some dried herbs from the pantry. The total cost to make a larger, 28-ounce batch of sauce is roughly $2.20. It takes about 20 minutes of mostly hands-off simmering time. Compared to the national brand, you’ve saved over $1.50 and have more sauce. More importantly, you have complete control over the ingredients, especially the amount of added sugar and sodium, which are often high in commercial sauces. This simple calculation can be applied to salad dressings, granola, and countless other items where a small amount of kitchen time yields significant savings and a healthier final product.
