Festive Friday: The added cost of convenience foods

By Alice Wadley staff writer

Festive Friday was held on May 8. The topic was the high cost of convenience foods. Convenience foods became prevalent in World War II. Bisquick® started in the 1930s. In 1948, Pillsbury® started making cake mixes. Tang® was invented in 1957 and was not well received by the public in general. When NASA was looking for a drink for the astronauts to take into space with them they chose Tang. After this Tang® was marketed as the “drink of the astronauts”. This marketing made Tang® a favorite among children during the space race.
Convenience foods are defined as foods prepared or processed by a food manufacturer or retailer to make them last longer than fresh foods, or to make them easier to use.
We use convenience foods for a variety of reasons. We are busy and they save time and require less preparation. They are easy to make, especially for inexperienced cooks. They reduce, planning, buying and storing of ingredients. They usually keep for an extended period of time. There are fewer leftovers. They are faster to cook and easier to clean up.
Technology and industry has advanced convenience foods. It has made our foods cheap, convenient and quick for consumers. What have we given up for convenience foods. Families make less things from scratch. Homemade foods have less chemicals and preservatives than convenience foods.
There are three level of convenience. Basic, which are canned, frozen, and dried foods. These include, mashed potatoes, frozen orange juice and canned vegetables. Complex, which contain several or more ingredients with more time saving processing and often cost more than homemade. These include, cake frosting, frozen waffles and frozen entrees. Manufactured items cannot be made at home. They are relatively expensive because of production and technology. These include canned soda, instant breakfast and ready to eat cereal.
Numerous things effect the cost of convenience foods: research, preparation, processing methods, packaging, labor, management, shipping and marketing. Companies put millions of dollars into advertising each year to get you to buy their products. They often include cartoon characters on cold cereal boxes to make it more appealing to children. Only $.08 of every dollar is spent on the food. The remaining amount is spend on labor, transportation, and mostly on advertising.
Cost is another consideration when it comes to purchasing convenience foods. A bag of shredded cheese is approximately $8, while a two pound block of cheese on sale is $5. You can shred it yourself and save $3. A bag of shredded lettuce is more expensive than purchasing a head of lettuce. If you are looking to save money the do it yourself method is less expensive.
Some convenience foods do cost less. Mass production has made them less expensive. It is cheaper to buy frozen orange juice as opposed to squeezing your own orange juice. There is less spoilage and waste with packaged convenience items.
There are disadvantages to convenience foods. They include, less meat than you would include in homemade items. Longer cooking times because the food may need to thaw out. It is harder to control the salt, sugar and fat in convenience foods. Convenience foods have large amounts of salt and sugar to make them taste better. The cost per serving is higher. The serving sizes may not be big enough to feed your family. Often a serving size is just half a cup of food. The flavor is not as good as homemade. There are added preservatives, color enhancers and unknown additives. If you look at most convenience food items, the ingredient list is long and contains ingredients you may not want your family to eat. Convenience foods increase our waste in landfills, often due to the packaging we throw away.
There are also disadvantages to homemade food as well. The ingredients may be more expensive to make it. It is less expensive to buy a loaf of bread than it is to buy all of the ingredients to make a loaf of bread. You can do a cost comparison to see how much it costs for a homemade item and how much it costs for a convenience item.
You can save money by making a list and sticking to it. Avoid impulse buying. Shop only once a week or less often. Use coupons when possible. Shop at discount stores. Avoid overpriced convenience foods. Learn to mix and match convenience foods with homemade foods. Buy in store brands as opposed to name brands.