Got roasted on my grocery budget by a cashier in Tulsa

Guy behind me in line saw my total and said "man, you're paying for convenience, not food." Stung because he was right. I was buying all pre-cut veggies and bagged salads. Changed my habit to buying whole vegetables and chopping them myself on Sunday. Saves me about $35 a week now. Has anyone else gotten a wake-up call from a random stranger?

3 comments

3 Comments

betty_wells23d ago

You said the cashier said "you're paying for convenience, not food" and that stung. But I gotta gently push back on that $35 a week savings number. I used to do the same thing with pre-cut stuff, and when I actually sat down and tracked it, I was only saving about $15 to $20 a week. The real savings came from using up the whole vegetable before it went bad, not just from buying it whole. Are you counting the time you spend chopping too, or just the cash difference?

seth_singh2023d ago

Wow, you know what, I never really thought about it like that. I was dead set on the $35 number because that's what I rough-estimated in my head. But now that you mention it, I bet I was counting the pre-cut stuff I'd let rot in the back of the fridge. You're probably right, I got more out of using a whole head of cauliflower than I ever did from the bagged florets that would get slimy after three days. And honestly, I'm not sure my time is worth that much anyway, I usually just throw on a podcast and zone out. Thanks for the reality check, seriously, this is making me rethink my whole meal prep.

-1

avery_flores1723d ago

Ha, Betty well I guess I'm just out here doing bad math in public then! I mean seriously, who knew saving money required like actual tracking and not just vibes. You're probably right though, I bet half that "savings" was just me eating more veggies because I actually prepped them instead of letting them rot in a bag like a science experiment. And yeah my time is basically worthless on a Sunday afternoon, I'm just sitting there chopping onions crying like a fool while my cat judges me. So maybe I'll call it more like a $20 win with a side of free therapy from the podcast. At least the cashier didn't roast me for being bad at subtraction too.