Price and Preparedness

Okay. Remember last week I talked about doing a grocery list of ingredients? Here's my list of disclaimers:

1. Items selected would be what I would normally buy. As in, store brands for some items but brands I would normally buy like Kraft cheese.

2. Not all ingredients are priced. Spices are assumed to be already in the cabinet. There are ingredients that I was unable to determine.

3. Individual items were purchased in most cases. One potato instead of a 5 lb bag of potatoes. However, it must be stated that purchasing the larger quantities only saves money if you actually use them.

4. It must be acknowledged that a few ingredients will have enough remaining to be used in another meal. However, I believe that number is balanced out by the spices and unknowns.

5. There were a few ingredients that I didn't price as I would logically use another, already purchased ingredient instead. For example, instead of buying both sliced American and sliced swiss, I only priced the American. Instead of three different kinds of sandwich bread, just one.

6. However, in many cases, like buying one type of pasta instead of three, the variety was priced. Reasoning being part of the advantage of DTG is the variety.

7. Taxes have not been incorporated but it must be mentioned that I believe DTG charges less tax than the grocery store.

8. Ingredients only have been priced, not time or labor. If I estimate a half hour to fix lunch and an hour for dinner (the bare minimum), 9 hours a week would be spent on food preparation. With minimum wage at $6.55, that equates to a minimum value of $58.95. I left this amount off as I am, without a doubt, worth more than minimum wage! And that' just preparing time. I haven't considered the time actually spent at the grocery store, the time spent planning, or the time spent getting frustrated with my husband who, when asked what he wants for dinner, shrugs and says "I don't care". Argh. Of course you care. If I put wet cardboard on a plate in front of you, would you eat it? I don't think so! Hmmm, should I calculate how much money in marriage counseling DTG is saving me?

9. And of course, I wasn't able to put a specific amount for the impulse buying. I'm a sucker for new items. If it's new, I've got to try it. If I'm hungry, I buy more than I need. Without a doubt, keeping out of the grocery store saves me money!

I think that's all the disclaimers. I may think of a couple other things I thought of as I was "shopping" but the results are:

For my meal plan: 1600 Calories, 6 Day, Lunch & Dinner - $102.99
Purchased groceries for this week of meals - $110.88

Detailed listing follows if you care to see the specifics:
I apologize for the big space. Couldn't remove it for some reason.

So my conclusion would be DTG is actually more cost effective than cooking the meals myself. Which I kind of knew already. But being the math person that I am, it's nice to have a logical, calculated proof. Again, this is only about ingredients. There's really no price I can put on the extra time I have to spend with my children or the absolute relief of having dinner made after a tiring day. Oooh, wait. Have to restate that. Ready . . .

Getting DTG meals - $102.99
Not having to stress about cooking dinner - priceless

Asparagus	2.50
Broccoli	2 @ .99 = 1.98
Baby carrots	1.33
Tomatoes	1.33
Celery	1.33
Cauliflower	2.50
Potatoes	0.59
Apple	0.99
Red Pepper	2.00
Grapefruit	1.00
Oranges	0.89
Zucchini	1.25
Carrots	0.99
Black Beans	1.29
Pearl Onions	2.29
Mushrooms	1.00
Corn	1.25
Mandarin Oranges	1.35
Spinach	1.00
Chickpeas	1.29
Pineapple	0.99
Lentils	0.85
Applesauce	2.19
Pita Bread	2.89
Dinner Rolls(3)	3.49
Hoagie Sandwich Roll (4)	3.99
Shredded mozzarella cheese	3.99
Sliced cheese	3.99
Cheddar cheese	3.99
String cheese	3.99
Pesto sauce	3.29
Marinara sauce	2.99
Alfredo sauce	2.50
Rice	2.99
Shell pasta	1.00
Rotini pasta	1.00
Fettuccini pasta	1.00
Brownie mix	2.29
Chocolate pudding	1.20
Ground turkey (2 servings)	5.69
Chicken breast (5 servings)	2.5lb @ 4.99 = 12.48
Shrimp	6.59
Tilapia	4.99
Turkey lunchmeat	0.79
Milk	1.59