Can You Make It For Less?

A study of the cost of preparing five different food items. The actual value of making things yourself is determined.

As our lives get busier we look for shortcuts to save us time anywhere we can. This is especially true at the grocery store where you can now buy almost anything ready-made, saving you the inconvenience of doing it yourself. But at what cost? 

This week I have chosen to look at five different items I normally buy at the grocery store. Instead of buying them I made them myself at home. I wanted to know if it is worthwhile to make them myself or to continue purchasing them at the grocery store. Here are the surprising results.

Pasta Sauce

My husband eats lots of pasta so I end up buying 2 to 3 jars of pasta sauce a week. This time I used a slow cooker to make enough sauce to last a week. For simplicity sake I used canned tomatoes, but in the future I am going to try and make pasta sauce again using fresh tomatoes. The recipe I used is my own creation.

• 2 cans of diced tomatoes
• 1 can of tomato sauce
• 1 can of tomato paste
• 1 tbsp garlic powder
• 1 bunch fresh basil
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp pepper

1. Mix ingredients together in slow cooker and cook on low for 6-7 hours.

Original Item Cost: $2.99 for 700 mL
Ingredients Cost: $5.17 for 2100 mL
Prep Time: 15 minutes

In order to measure the actual savings I am going to add the cost of the ingredients plus labour at minimum wage (currently $10.25). Part of the prep time is allocated for dishes. So to make one jar (700 mL) of my own pasta sauce it cost me $2.57. While this is cheaper than buying the store-bought kind, it's not as big a savings as I was expecting. However, since I buy 2-3 jars of sauce a week it could add up to almost $1.26 in savings a week overall.

Total Savings: $0.42 for one 700 mL jar


Granola Bars

I like to buy granola bars for work because they're a great snack. However, I don't like all the sugar in them, so making my own is great. I followed a recipe I got from All Recipes, except I cut back on the sugar and added a couple of extra toppings. Since Valentine's Day has passed I picked up some Toblerone for 50% off and used that in these granola bars. I also added almonds and coconut for extra flavouring. If you make this yourself you can obviously add whatever you want.

• 4 1/2 cups rolled oats
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2/3 cup butter, softened
• 1/2 honey or maple syrup
• 1/3 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/2 cup slivered almonds (optional)
• 1 Toblerone bar (optional)
• 1/2 cup sweeted coconut shavings (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 325F (165C). Line a 9 x 13 inch pan with parchment paper.
2. In a large bowl combine oats, flour, baking soda, vanilla, butter, honey, and brown sugar. Stir in your additional ingredients, ie. chocolate, coconut, almonds, etc...
3. Press the mixture into the prepared pan. Bake at 325F/ 165C for 18 to 22 minutes or until golden brown. Let cool for 10 minutes then cut into bars. They will be very soft at this point, but will harden. Let bars cool completely in pan before removing. 

Original item cost: $3.13 for 6 bars, 176 grams
Ingredients cost: $6.00 for 18 bars, 528 grams
Prep Time: 20 minutes

Including labour costs each one of my granola bars costs $0.44. This cost could either go up or down depending on what ingredients you include. Maple syrup, for example is more expensive than honey. I also included almonds, coconut, and toblerone. If you included just one extra topping instead of three, you could possibly save money.

Total Savings: $0.49 for 6 bars.

Salad Dressing

I like having lots of different types of salad dressings on hand because I like the variety. I found a recipe for a Raspberry Vinaigrette from AllRecipes.com that sounded yummy so I decided to try it out. I made a couple of slight adaptations, so here is the recipe I followed.

• 2/3 olive oil
• 2/3 cup raspberry balsamic vinegar
• 1 tbsp white sugar
• 2 tsp Dijon mustard
• 1 tsp dried oregano
• 1/2 tsp ground black pepper

1. Combine all ingredients together. Shake well.

Original item cost: $2.29 for 475 mL
Ingredients cost: $2.25 for 475 mL
Prep Time: 5 minutes

When you add up the cost of the ingredients and the labour for making this dressing, you realize there is almost no difference between making your own and buying. I would therefore say that unless you really want to, buying salad dressing is the more cost effective and easy way to acquire it. If you also buy it on sale, you will save even more.

Total Savings: -$0.47

Wings

Wings are one of my guilty pleasures, I really love buying the Buffalo Blue Cheese ones from M&Ms Meat Shops. Making my own is a great opportunity to try a new flavour out though. Many of the recipes I found involved little more than adding a pre-made BBQ sauce to raw wings, but I wanted more of a challenge than that. So I found a recipe for Slow Cooker Sticky Wings from Tracey's Culinary Adventures that looked easy to do. I made a couple of slight adaptations to make it a bit hotter, so here is the recipe I followed.

• 1/4 brown sugar
• 1/2 cup soy sauce
• 1 tbsp ginger
• 1 tbsp garlic powder
• 1 tsp cayenne pepper
• 1/4 cup water
• 1 can tomato paste
• 1/4 cup ketchup
• 1 tbsp hot sauce
• 1 tsp cayenne chili powder
• 1 tsp chili powder
• 5 lbs chicken wings, split

1. Combine all the ingredients except the wings together in a bowl. Mix until combined.
2. Add chicken to slow cooker.
3. Cover chicken in sauce.
4. Cook on high for 3-4 hours.
5. Place wings on baking tray and bake at 350C for 30 minutes to make crispy. (I also added some tapioca starch to the sauce leftover in the slow cooker to thicken it up. I marinated that sauce on the wings)

Original item cost: $15.99 for 2 lbs 
Ingredients cost: $21.00 for 5 lbs 
Prep Time: 10 minutes

The actual cost per pound of wings including labour is $4.71. The cost savings appear to be quite good for wings. However, in calculating the original item cost I used an expensive brand, not the cheapest available. If I had used the cheapest available to compare then the difference between my homemade wings and the store-bought wings would diminish. The reason I used a more expensive brand is because that is the one I typically buy. So for me it can be more cost effective to make my own wings, but if I got cheaper wings or the more expensive brand on sale, that might not be the case.

Total Savings: $5.03 per 2 pounds.

French Fries

My hubby and I love having fries on hand for late-night snack cravings. Making your own fries is ridiculously easy. It's so easy you hardly need a recipe but here is what I did.

• 2 lbs potatoes, preferably Yukon Gold
• 1 tbsp canola oil
• 1 tsp salt

1. Wash potatoes. Peel if desired.
2. Cut potatoes into 1/4 inch thick strips. They should look like french fries. You can cut them thinner or thicken depending on what you like.
3. Cover with canola oil and salt.
4. Cook for 30 minutes at 400C or until done.

Original item cost: $3.27 for 900 grams
Ingredients cost: $1.00 for 900 grams
Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cost with labour for fries is $2.06. However, the potatoes could have been purchased cheaper as you know from my Farmers' Market post. This would have brought to cost down even more.

Total Savings: $1.21 for one 900 gram bag.

Overall Savings

When you look at the sum total of all the costs including ingredients and labour you realize that it's not that much cheaper to make these 5 items yourself. While 4 of the 5 items were cheaper, the savings were minimal. When calculating the original item cost, I used name brand products. If I were to chose to store brand products the cost of the item would obviously be less. 

If your time is also worth more than the minimum wage I have calculated for labour costs, then the savings go down even more. To me this was very surprising. I went into this experiment thinking I was mastering a new way to save tons of money. However, if you're willing to work for "free" because your job is to save money, then you will save more money. Just to show that, here is a table comparing the costs of the items I made with labour and without:

ITEM	ORIGINAL ITEM COST	COST WITHOUT LABOUR	COST WITH LABOUR
Pasta Sauce	$2.99/ 700 mL	$1.72/ 700 mL	$2.57/ 700 mL
Granola Bars	$3.13/ 176 g	$2.00/ 176 g	$2.64/ 176 g
Salad Dressing	$2.29/ 475 mL	$2.25/ 475 mL	$2.76/ 475 mL
Wings	$15.99/ 2 lb	$8.40/ 2 lb	$9.42/ 2 lb
French Fries	$3.27/ 900 g	$1.00/ 900 g	$1.21/ 900 g

You can see that with the exception of salad dressing, the savings is more substantial if you exclude the labour costs. When considering whether to make your own food, it's important to ask yourself "How much is my time worth?". Then you can truly evaluate the real cost of making it.

There is, however, another benefit to making things yourself: You can control what goes into them, meaning you can make it as healthy or unhealthy as you want. Eating healthier can hopefully prolong your life, and that is priceless.