Scratch or ready made.

Age old question, ismotmchesoer to buy something or make it from scratch.   Believe it or not , sometimes it is cheaper to buy the ingredient ready made.    The USDA hinted to that when the price of beef went up dramatically.  

In a quest to make more from scratch I did the math.  The recipe for pizza that was published in Woman's Day , used part of a small can of tomato sauce and Italian herbs.  The cost of a can  of tomato sauce lately has been 3/1 .   Which would make about three pizzas.    The cost of a pinch of Italian seasoning is too small to calculate.     That's roughly 11 cents a pizza.   It is not the same taste or texture as real pizza sauce.  

The scratch recipes researched were a lot more.   The lest expensive that is regular pizza sauce is in a jar at the dollar  store.  The problem with it, is that it makes numerous pizzas - if that is a problem.    The solution is to put it in an ice cube tray and freeze it.   It doesn't take long.  Then pop the cubes out and place on a bag and return to freezer.   It takes a few minutes to defrost either on the counter or in the microwave and you are good to go.   It takes about three cubes to make two large pizzas.  

Scratch pizza sauce recipes all came to at least two dollars.    You could freeze them the same, but the cost is more.  

By the way, if you don't have ice cube trays, they are at the dollar store too.   They also have glass small bowls for 4/1 in a package-  that's a fraction of what I paid for mesinplas bowls.  

My next attempt - scratch pizza crust .  

I did cost BBQ sauce, that , too is cheaper bought on sale with coupons.  

Kitchen time is best spent on things that either taste way better or are a lot cheaper to make scratch.  


Groceries on the cheap is looking at the Put Dinner On The Table meal train from a different

 Perspective . The  emphasis is on purchasing good food( shelf- stabll/ freezer staples )at the lowest possible cost and purchasing enough to last you until it goes on sale again -- Keeping a controlled non-perishable stock of the things you use on a regular basis. It means that when you shop, rather than purchasing just what you need for a day or a week, you  buy a loss leader protein, produce you will 

need on sale, a stock item if it's a RBP, and dairy instead.    This allows you to put well balanced meals 

on the table consistently  for a four dollar a day budget per person.   You spend more time on the 

planning and shopping end of the meal train and less on the cooking end by cooking efficiently.    

Four dollars a day is the target amount for people on snap.   My premise is that of you can do it on four dollars a day, spending more isn't hard.   You still get more bang for your buck.