Rising prices - Wow!

[RandomName]

Seen at a Wegmans store recently. A shallow plastic tray of pre- cooked mac and cheese. $19.00. Weighed 1.8 pounds. just over $10 per pound ! For mac and cheese. I suppose it's convenient. Just add water or milk to freshen it up, and heat ? But wow.

 

[StarSong]

Seen at a Wegmans store recently. A shallow plastic tray of pre- cooked mac and cheese. $19.00. Weighed 1.8 pounds. just over $10 per pound ! For mac and cheese. I suppose it's convenient. Just add water or milk to freshen it up, and heat ? But wow.

Convenience and laziness come at a high price. I will never get over people buying frozen peanut butter and jelly sandwiches (roughly $1.00 per sandwich). 200 calories each for these measly 2 ounce sandwiches.

At most a tablespoon of peanut butter (95 calories per Tbsp), another of jelly (50 calories per Tbsp), plus the 65-ish calories for the total of two small slices of crappy white bread without crust.

A loaf of Walmart's white bread is $1.42 for 22 slices so 11 sandwiches, so 13¢ per sandwich.
A 40 oz jar of Jif PB, $5.48, contains 68 Tbsp, so 8¢ per sandwich.
A 30 oz jar of Welch's Concord Grape Jelly, $2.97, contains 42 Tbsp, so 7¢ per sandwich.

Total: 28¢ per sandwich rather than $1.00. Only thing that needs refrigeration is the jelly. And it takes literally under a minute to put together a PB & J sandwich.

 

[Rae]

I went to the store today and bought some Pepperidge Dark Chocolate Cookies and they were $5.85 a package for 8 cookies and some Kodiak blue berry frozen waffles for $6.98 for eight. It is a good thing I don't buy them very often. My husband likes them once in awhile.

 

[Babs2u]

Sometomes for breakfast I have a packet of maple and brown sugar oatmeal (10 cents) and a banana (20 cents).

 

[Llynn]

I like condensed milk in my coffee. I normally buy a house brand 12 pack at Walmart. When it's on sale I get it for around a dollar a can. I ran out this week so I went to the closest small town IGA store where they only had a national brand for $6.46 a can. I decided black coffee would be a nice change until I could get to Walmart.

 

[Aunt Bea]

Seen at a Wegmans store recently. A shallow plastic tray of pre- cooked mac and cheese. $19.00. Weighed 1.8 pounds. just over $10 per pound ! For mac and cheese. I suppose it's convenient. Just add water or milk to freshen it up, and heat ? But wow.

I enjoy visiting the Wegman’s grab ‘n’ go food case.

Recently they’ve had packages of three baked sweet potato halves for around $9.00 or a similar sized package of mashed potatoes for $8.00.

I think price/value is meaningless to many shoppers that use a credit card and only deal with a lump sum payment once a month.

 

[againstthegrain]

Seen at a Wegmans store recently. A shallow plastic tray of pre- cooked mac and cheese. $19.00. Weighed 1.8 pounds. just over $10 per pound ! For mac and cheese. I suppose it's convenient. Just add water or milk to freshen it up, and heat ? But wow.

This might be the world's best mac and cheese. They sell some w lobster meat in it which I could see being priced at $19.

 

[againstthegrain]

I just made a cheese sauce for broccoli and cauliflower casserole. If buying the components in small qty it adds up pretty fast, plus the work, plus the clean up. I'm not paying $19, but if I caught it on sale for $12 w an additional 10% off for senior discount I'd buy a couple. It's certainly cheaper than getting take-away, or similar and better.

 

[OneEyedDiva]

Convenience and laziness come at a high price. I will never get over people buying frozen peanut butter and jelly sandwiches (roughly $1.00 per sandwich). 200 calories each for these measly 2 ounce sandwiches.

At most a tablespoon of peanut butter (95 calories per Tbsp), another of jelly (50 calories per Tbsp), plus the 65-ish calories for the total of two small slices of crappy white bread without crust.

A loaf of Walmart's white bread is $1.42 for 22 slices so 11 sandwiches, so 13¢ per sandwich.
A 40 oz jar of Jif PB, $5.48, contains 68 Tbsp, so 8¢ per sandwich.
A 30 oz jar of Welch's Concord Grape Jelly, $2.97, contains 42 Tbsp, so 7¢ per sandwich.

Total: 28¢ per sandwich rather than $1.00. Only thing that needs refrigeration is the jelly. And it takes literally under a minute to put together a PB & J sandwich.

Although I keep large jars of PNB in the house, gotten at a great price when Costco has a sale, I sometimes buy Uncrustables, the frozen PBJ sandwiches of which you speak. They come in handy to just grab and go. I like them and my oldest grandson (soon to be 37) loves them. Can't believe he even eats them partially frozen. Our timeshare resort's mini mart also sells them. $1 for an Uncrustable beats $12 (or more) for a sandwich elsewhere.

While your math and rationale are on point (I calculate savings like that too Star), sometimes I splurge for the convenience, yes or because I have a taste for something. I usually only buy the Uncrustables to take on the bus when I'm going to the timeshare. Most times, however, I make my own sandwiches. If I get enough notice that grandson is coming, I buy them as a treat for him.