Does it matter?

Yes it does; you might strain by typing //sarcasm, all the time. ~ :P

'MURICA*

'Murica was funny but people like you are using it at awful times. It's like saying today I ate breakfast. 'Murica

Don't forget that they are not so innocent as everyone believes!

#4, it's not impossible, but what it takes to please them may disgust you ;)

#15, you don't mean.. Listen to their childhood stories?! That's terrible! May god help us in these dark hours.

Nachos.

Impossible to please people in general.

62 - Gotta agree with you there...

Not at all, if you do it right... my meals usually cost about $1.50 or less a serving... unless you live off ramen or banquet meals, frozen is not cheaper. my roommate used to spend $8 a night on frozen pizza.

35, which either means that your roommate eats the most expensive frozen pizza imaginable or that he needs 10 of them to get full. Where I'm from you can get 3 frozen pizzas, cheapest version, for 2.59€. (2 of them are usually more than enough to sate one's appetite.) And generally speaking, if you try to make fresh and healthy food, then you'll have to pay more than if you were to get unhealthy stuff. It pretty much goes in this order, price-wise: Selfmade unhealthy << finished product unhealthy < selfmade healthy << finished product healthy There are some exceptions in the middle section, but for the most part this is how it works.

If you buy fresh food in large quantities, it's cheaper. For example, 1 pound of chicken for $3 versus 1 frozen meal for $3 which probably weighs less than a pound after it's cooked, and you can make at least 2 entrees with 1 pound of chicken.

It's cheaper than a complete frozen meal, yes. Not when compared to buying the frozen stuff in parts, though. When I go shopping, I can choose between 1 pound of fresh chicken or a combo of 1 pound of frozen chicken nuggets, 1 pound of spaghetti and 2 pounds of french fries. Exception is only when the fresh stuff is on sale.

Agree with 7 and 46. I love cooking my own food but rarely do other than simple pasta dishes because fresh ingredients are so damned expensive. And you need all the little things that go with it if you want to make it properly. Certain herbs, vegetables, nuts, sauces/sauce ingredients, etc. Compared to frozen meals that I can get on offer for 2 for £3-5. And that's including pizzas.

You can't simply look at the cost of a single frozen meal vs the cost of a package of fresh food. You have to look at the price/ lb. If you start looking at the cost of your frozen food by the pound versus fresh food by the pound, you'll find that you've been way overpaying for your frozen food in terms of pounds. It costs more for for manufacturers to raise animals/ crops, slaughter or harvest them, (or buy the meat or vegetables) cook, portion, then package and freeze the food, than to simply slaughter or harvest the food and then package it. The reason pre-prepared food is cheaper is because you're getting less food with the purchase. If you buy 1 lb of frozen food and 1 lb of fresh food, you've probably paid more for the pound of frozen food vs fresh. Of course, I'm speaking in general terms. There are obviously exceptions, for example hot dogs and ramen noodles. I usually pay about $100 for my groceries, but they last me up to 2 months, because I buy fresh then freeze it. If I bought my food cooked and frozen it would probably only last me a month, if that.

he buys Digornos which he corrected me, at the store he buys them at they are $6.75.... still... again, I can make homemade meals for way less than that. Frozen Lasagnas? $6. making it at home? $4...

Here in San Diego, I buy fresh chicken breast for $1.99/lb, potatoes for $1/5lb, onions for $0.69/lb, carrots for $0.59/lb, and the cheap price list goes on. This leads to 1/2 lb of chicken and various veg cooked healthily costing little over $2 per meal.

Also yes if you shop for one meal it is more expensive. But if you buy 5lbs of ground beef for $8, a head of lettuce for a 50 cents, some pasta for less than a buck, and some tomato sauce for $1 for less than $10 you can make spaghetti w/meat sauce and a side salad, taco salads, sloppy joes another night and repeat one of those meals once... Only thing you need is a few spices which most people have laying around. or you buy once and they last at least 3-4 months but I guess since OP lives off frozen meals they may not actually have such. Buying fresh food is cheaper if you use more than one cookbook and find recipes that use similar ingredients is taco salads and spaghetti. totally different but similar base ingredients.

If you have acquired the taste of the better food you just can't go back to the cheaper stuff. So sorry but making an entire meal, using quality products would be much more than $3 to make. You don't just use a pound of chicken to make a meal, you need to use other items to give it flavor and with a side entree it'll run you a good amount of cash

61, No, the average person probably would only eat about 1/4 lb or 1/3 lb of chicken with a single meal, then save the rest for another meal. Then they'd eat rice or vegetables or pasta with it which would cost less than a dollar for a single meal portion. No matter how you cut it, frozen food generally costs more per pound than fresh. Go to the grocery store and look on the price tabs yourself. Next to the price of the product it shows you the price per pound/ ounce. Buying fresh food may cost more up front, but it saves you money in the long run.

-63 I work at a grocery store. Trust me you can get a frozen meal for so much cheaper than fresh stuff. Unless you eat tiny portions. Myself I eat fresher items because they are more healthy and have a better taste but if I want something really cheap, I can find a frozen dinner for about $2 for a meal

Don't mind me just a short comment passing through...

65, Well, I guess you must know about some really shitty frozen food brands that I don't, or be referring to those cardboard "banquet" meals. I've found that any frozen food that's actually edible is more expensive per pound than fresh food. I'm guessing that OP was buying decent frozen food, thus the savings when she started buying fresh and making the effort to cook.

Honestly I'd love to get food for as cheap as you guys say you do. I live inland, in a small town so the price is higher than other places

71, Perhaps your location does have something to do with it. Certain fresh foods are cheaper in certain areas than in others because of climate compatibility for crops and livestock and the cost of delivering the products over long distances.

I tried cheap frozen food once; a cheeseburger to be precise. It tasted of cardboard and plastic. It was so traumatising I nicknamed it the 'therapy burger'. When money's tight, I live off canned soup and toast, at least that tastes like food.

#16, are you repressing the memory of the rubbery texture of the microwaved bun? Sorry to bring it up, but that is the only way to face your trauma.

Never gonna heat you up, Never gonna freeze you down, Never gonna turn around and make dessert food.