The Price Of Preparing Food For Others...

[rawrlie]

yeah, i totally get the whole not hand-crafting stuff for work friends/people who won't appreciate it thing. i don't do a lot of cooking for others, but i definitely learned that lesson through crafting! although. in saying that. i did just make a cake this weekend for my dude that cost way too much for my current budget, but a. it was a recipe i wanted to make anyway, b. it was a part of his birthday present, and c. i got like half of the delicious results all to myself anyway. there's no way i'd make something like that for someone i didn't love/was shacked up with. there are too many uncontrollable variables and chances for disappointment and frustration.

but word! word word word on the benefits of having a well-stocked pantry. besides the cake, i have made a large portion of the baking recipes i've tried in the past few months using only or almost only stuff i've had in the cabinet. and my staples are pretty much just flour, baking powder and soda, sugar, vanilla, cinnamon, and salt. and sometimes yeast. you get that stuff once and it's in there forever. i only just ran out of a bag of sugar i bought in like, june. and i did a shit ton of baking in that time period. then it's really just a question of butter and eggs [or their substitutes] and you're golden. golden brown, even! get it? it's a baking joke. hilarious.
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yeah it's overwhelming, but what else can we do?
get jobs in offices and wake up for the morning commute?

[Figwit]

this is exactly why i've stopped baking anything for other people! i made my friend's 3 tier wedding cake and her mom (the real bridezilla) was like "waaah, remember when you'd make those cupcakes... they were so much better". yeah, boxed mix cupcakes.

i've also stopped knitting anything for anyone other than my husband or my baby. husband has to like it, and baby can't say no :)
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good, clean, fair.

small is possible.

[Ms. Nutkin]

i, too, stopped cooking for people. the only thing people ever raved about was my "manga" brownies (fancy boxed mix, powdered sugar stencil ~$8) and potato leek soup (what? $3-5 or something?) and nothing i truly put effort in ever got mentioned.


i can pull of a meal cheaply (winging curries, soups, pastas, quiches from scratch) but i can't make a birthday cake for less than $50 it seems. all of the add-ins, good ingredients are what really makes baking fun for me.
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You have the American dream! The American dream is to be born in the gutter and have nothing. Then to raise up and have all the money in the world, and stick it in your ears and go PLBTLBTLBLTLBTLBLT!

[Sleepyhouse]

Food costs are a bit of a problem between me and my BF. He is used to eating with his parents or buying food out (which is expensive too!) so he has no clue how much making a 'meal' for 2 people can cost- especially when one of those people eats enough for 2-3 people!

Recently I baked a pie for family. I used frozen berries and pre-made crust and it was still like $10 - which, yeah, I probably could have bought a pie for less than that, but...what can you do? I wanted to make something and the other things I wanted to do cost even more.


I've gotten really good at figuring out what I need to use up and cooking around those ingredients - It does help a lot. As does having a well stocked pantry.

[checkersumthing]

I think that one of the issues (beyond the fact that some people don't appreciate the effort) is that food prices are rising drastically. Sometimes I will go to the store to pick up a few items and then when it rings up at $30 I'm shocked and have to go over my bill to figure out why my bill was so high for just a few items. And then when I do look at each item, I see just how much everything costs, especially when not on sale. And not frivolous items either, store/no-name staples.

I have noticed that I am shifting my buying/eating habits quite a bit in response. Overall my food budget isn't changing much, but what I'm eating is. I rely more on (on sale) seasonal produce. I mostly buy my legumes dry instead of canned. I won't buy certain items unless they are onsale (pasta, canned legumes, baking supplies, tofu). If I eat out somewhere with large portions, I eat half and take the other half to go for lunch. There are some things I will not make at home anymore (like cheesecake), and instead would rather pay to have them in a restaurant because it costs me less overall. Sure, baking one probably comes out to cheaper per serving, but if I just want to enjoy a piece, its cheaper overall to go out and enjoy a piece just for me (plus, no dishes to clean up!).
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i live at the foot of a mountain: some of my adventures

[PurpleDoor]

[daysleeper]

[PurpleDoor]

Okay, between this and some of the posts over in grown-up venting, I think we need a spinoff thread, "why the #$^%#^ do guys always vacuum up the most expensive food in the house?"

[ShampooSally]

I have similar feelings about both making food for people/events and knitting for non-knitters. I've refined my "bringable" foods to be things that have a good response and aren't very expensive. That usually means sweet potato biscuits, whole berry cranberry sauce or something made out of what I already have a glut of, like green tomato casserole, giant mixed greens salad, apple crisp, or, if I have extra bread, this amazing onion soup for guests. Nothing with too much butter, chocolate or specialty ingredients!

And knitting for non-knitters or people who haven't fawned over something else I made is a quick path to burnout! No more!

My mantra with both of these things, though, is to use what I already have to avoid big cash outlay.

[ShampooSally]

Oh! And almost all dinner parties are potlucks. Everyone brings something, I'm not stressed about massive food prep and there will be SOMETHING for everyone.

[Nemesis]

[caropop]

When I make fancy things for potlucks or to bring to the office it's because I want to make something (either because it's an experiment or something I'm craving) and don't need to eat it all myself. People's appreciation is nice, but I guess I've gotten to the point where I'm not expecting it because it's more about me and doing something for my own self-gratification.
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country cookin' makes you good lookin'

it's a blog!

[tinyrock]

[daysleeper]

[PurpleDoor]

I live in California, and if you limit yourself to buying the "loss leaders" at the grocery store or seasonal produce, you can definitely keep your vegetable costs under $2/lb. Cabbage, carrots, and onions are consistently at or under $1/lb (not on sale), so those do form a sort of vegetable "core" for me. Fruit is a bit harder, but during the summer there are usually cheap stone fruits, and in the winter there's citrus.

I used to live in North Carolina, and was able to keep my produce costs consistently under $2/lb also, again you have to have a core of items that are consistently cheap and then keep an eye on the sales.

Dried legumes for me are usually $1-2/lb, sometimes split peas can be found for less. Pasta is only $1/lb if it's on sale, but it stores well so you can always stock up.


I am pretty impressed with the cheese prices Daysleeper posted, $4/lb is the cheapest you ever see cheese for around here (and that's the kind of blah storebrand block of medium cheddar, on sale or with a coupon). $5-7/lb is more typical for anything decent. I compensate for the price by using cheese more as a condiment than as a major component of a dish.