Is it really the "cost per serving" if you didn't factor time, transportation, energy used to cook, kitchen light, refrigeration before and reheats, water, trash sewer. Ect ect. Example, if I took the price of gas and it took me to go to the store and divided it by items I brought home that would raise each price per meal up just a tiny amount, but it's still an amount.
Why don't people include price of gas or electricity ect when factoring in how much food costs.
byu/GetReelFishingPro inFrugal
Posted by GetReelFishingPro
14 Comments
Transportation cost is already factored in the monthly budget.
At some point, you have to say enpugh is enough.
If you go to 2 stores, how do you allocate the gas?
Because that would be an insane thing to do
Tedious and overcomplicated.
That’s a very pedantic question.. how would anyone calculate an additional cost per serving for the reader that means anything significant?
Im sure a lot of people do. But there’s a lot of transportation thar makes that kind of price counting overly complex or negligible entirely. Biking/walking is basically free except for time, and monthly bus passes or cards are usually unlimited for a 1 time price. Kind of hard to math out.
Because it’s a rounding error. It’s too small of a percentage of the whole to be worth the brainpower to track it. The juice just ain’t worth the the squeeze.
I definitely cook differently in the winter. I’ll braise a roast in the winter. Maybe bake bacon at the same time. 100% of the heat is in the house compared to the furnace losing heat out the chimney. Summer is more for grilling
You should also consider how quickly you wear through your socks and shoes in each step required to navigate your kitchen while cooking the dish. obviously
It’d be a bit like tracking absorbed calories vs actual calories for food intake, if you want to get to the nitty gritty you can do it, but if your goal is stay in a deficit or just in general be healthier it’s just a lot of extra effort.
Because for most people they are incalculable and very minimal. And they aren’t helpful for the most part. Food prices are a bit more standard than things like electric and gas for the car.
I might live 30 minutes from the nearest grocery and you might live 5 minutes, you might drive a tiny car while I drive a big suv; overall those costs aren’t helpful for saving money.
https://preview.redd.it/hks4z8qfaswg1.jpeg?width=659&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=7dadc9592d46d3d819bb49ffefee31d9ec8f499a
As in, as an argument for going out to eat? Because these are less than rounding errors.
As in, to be pedantic about how much food costs? Only if you have pure curiosity…
1) These things aren’t food
2) It doesn’t produce any actionable information unless you live far far away from some grocery store, in which case sheer inconvenience will make you think about shopping efficiently.
It’s not that deep.
I plan grocery trips with other errands. I go to the gym 5-6 days a week and the grocery store is on the way so it’s not a factor. I have a gas stove and we are talking $15 a month to heat my house and cook.
It’s perfectly ok to not factor these insignificant costs into your food budget. Unless you live hours from the nearest store.