Virtual paycheck

No, you can't exactly take it to the bank.   I guess if you really have mass $$ a week to spend on food, you actually can put the difference you save on the bank.  For many of us, saving on the grocery bill makes it easier to take care of necessities and not go without.

Virtual paycheck is a concept a true realist can't fathom.  

It is used to make a logical conclusion as to wether  or not making something from scratch, or buying it ready made  is worth your time.   You can use it for anything you use your manual labor for.
Of course, other rationale comes into play at times.   Like is homemade healthier?

Here's a couple of senerios  to explain.

Tortillas.   I can buy them for about .10 each,    Or 1.00  for 10.   The ingredients are minimal, but  it would take you an hour to mix, rest, ball the dough , roll it out and cook it both sides one at a time.
The material cost is about .40 .   So, you would  be making .60 an hour . Not enough to make me take on the chore.

Artisan bread 🍞.  The cost of artisan bread in the store bakery is upwards of 3.00 a loaf.   The cost is less than .30.   Difference 2.70.   It takes five minutes per loaf to make the dough,   Another five minutes to shape it  and put it to rise.   Seconds to program the oven .   Total ten minutes a loaf.   Doing the math, that's 16.20 an hour.   That makes it worth my while considering there are no preservatives . No fat, and I get it fresh, hot, out of the oven.

My daughter and I made lemon pound cake and compared it to the cost of a piece of lemon pound cake at the big buck coffee stand.    We figure we made 212.00 an hour!