On 2025-04-10, Ed P <esp@snet.n> wrote:

Why would I care? If I was running a bakery, maybe I would but as a
home cook/baker, never tried to cost a meal. If I want cake, I make it
and don't pay attention to price of ingredients.

In the next few days I'm going to make by favorite cake. It takes five
eggs and a cup of butter. Should I consult with my banker first?

we have a weekly budget and work within that. most of the time.
have exactly zero desire to drill down into costs further than
that. though i am still gainfully employeed. if i were retired
and on fixed income, i may pay closer attention.


am trying a new recipe this weekend on Sunday;

Ayam Bakar - Indonesian Grilled Chicken <https://kravingsfoodadventures.com/indonesian-grilled-chicken-ayam-bakar>

ingredients we needed;
sweet soy sauce (kecap manis) - got two bottles at Asian store
galangal - 1 pkg frozen at Asian store
tamarind paste - 1 block at Asian store
kaffir lime leaves - 2 frozen pkgs at Asian store
white peppercorns - bottle at Asian store

that store has the best kimchee and pickled radish (they make it
there) i've ever had so i grabbed a 1 qt container of each while
i was there, too.

total: $50

also needed;
tumeric - large bottle at Wegmans
lemongrass - 2 tubes of paste at Wegmans
shishito peppers - 1 pkg at Wegmans
macadamia nuts - 16 fl oz size container of them at Wegmans

total $24

i'm going to check one more store for lemongrass, if they don't
have it, i fall back to the paste. we never used it and
something tells me the texture of the lemongrass will do more
for the recipe than the paste.

everything else we have including plenty of chicken thighs in
the freeze.

at first glance it looks expensive for a single meal. ok, 2-3
meals using 6 chicken thighs. but we'll be going down an
Indonesian cooking rabbit hole throughout summer so this is just
the beginning. we'll stay stocked up on items which don't perish
quickly.

i didn't even know how much i spent while sourcing the ingredients.
i wasn't paying attention as i didn't care what it cost. i didn't
know exactly until i looked it up to write this post. doesn't matter.
good home cooked food is priceless. :)

--
SDF Public Access UNIX System - https://sdf.org

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On 2025-04-11, flood of sins <fos@sdf.org> wrote:

On 2025-04-10, Ed P <esp@snet.n> wrote:

Why would I care? If I was running a bakery, maybe I would but as a
home cook/baker, never tried to cost a meal. If I want cake, I make it
and don't pay attention to price of ingredients.

In the next few days I'm going to make by favorite cake. It takes five
eggs and a cup of butter. Should I consult with my banker first?

we have a weekly budget and work within that. most of the time.
have exactly zero desire to drill down into costs further than
that. though i am still gainfully employeed. if i were retired
and on fixed income, i may pay closer attention.

I'm retired and pay very little attention. We've never had a
budget for anything. I just got back from the grocery store.
Last week was perhaps $150. This week was $285. (I stocked
up (pandemic-style) on paper goods and soap products.) There
were a few items they didn't have, so I'll drop by the fancy
grocery store this afternoon.

--
Cindy Hamilton

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On 4/11/2025 10:41 AM, flood of sins wrote:

On 2025-04-10, Ed P <esp@snet.n> wrote:

Why would I care? If I was running a bakery, maybe I would but as a
home cook/baker, never tried to cost a meal. If I want cake, I make it
and don't pay attention to price of ingredients.

In the next few days I'm going to make by favorite cake. It takes five
eggs and a cup of butter. Should I consult with my banker first?

we have a weekly budget and work within that. most of the time.
have exactly zero desire to drill down into costs further than
that. though i am still gainfully employeed. if i were retired
and on fixed income, i may pay closer attention.

Never budgeted food. I've been retired eight years now. I buy what I
want to eat. Some of the good stuff is a bit pricey but I want to enjoy
my life.

I don't drink coffee but my late wife enjoyed it. You'd be shocked at
some of the prices I paid to get her the best from a few sources. .

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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On 2025-04-11 11:54 a.m., Ed P wrote:

On 4/11/2025 10:41 AM, flood of sins wrote:

we have a weekly budget and work within that. most of the time.
have exactly zero desire to drill down into costs further than
that. though i am still gainfully employeed. if i were retired
and on fixed income, i may pay closer attention.

Never budgeted food.  I've been retired eight years now.  I buy what I
want to eat.  Some of the good stuff is a bit pricey but I want to enjoy
my life.

I don't drink coffee but my late wife enjoyed it.  You'd be shocked at
some of the prices I paid to get her the best from a few sources.  .

I can say that we are comfortable enough that we don't have to worry
much about food prices, but that doesn't stop me from exercising some frugality. I tend to shop at places that have the best prices for the
things we usually get. We have almost always got our meat from butchers
rather than grocery store meat counters because it is better and
cheaper. We have a splurge dinner at least once a week. We usually have
fresh fruit and vegetables and almost never have prepared foods.

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On Fri, 11 Apr 2025 13:30:59 -0400, Dave Smith
<adavid.smith@sympatico.ca> wrote:

On 2025-04-11 11:54 a.m., Ed P wrote:

On 4/11/2025 10:41 AM, flood of sins wrote:

we have a weekly budget and work within that. most of the time.
have exactly zero desire to drill down into costs further than
that. though i am still gainfully employeed. if i were retired
and on fixed income, i may pay closer attention.

Never budgeted food.  I've been retired eight years now.  I buy what I
want to eat.  Some of the good stuff is a bit pricey but I want to enjoy
my life.

I don't drink coffee but my late wife enjoyed it.  You'd be shocked at
some of the prices I paid to get her the best from a few sources.  .

I can say that we are comfortable enough that we don't have to worry
much about food prices, but that doesn't stop me from exercising some >frugality.

Exercise away, old chap!

--
Bruce
<https://i.postimg.cc/5NvHwfF0/trumpputin.jpg>

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Dave Smith wrote:

I can say that we are comfortable enough that we don't have to worry
much about food prices

Do you charge for your autographs, officer Dave?

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Andy Trujillo wrote:

Dave Smith wrote:

I can say that we are comfortable enough that we don't have to worry
much about food prices

Do you charge for your autographs, officer Dave?

You can probably get a free autograph if you hang around the pickle ball
courts long enough.

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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On 2025-04-11, flood of sins <fos@sdf.org> wrote:

am trying a new recipe this weekend on Sunday;

Ayam Bakar - Indonesian Grilled Chicken
<https://kravingsfoodadventures.com/indonesian-grilled-chicken-ayam-bakar>

i had so much fun making and eating this i forgot to take a
photo. had it with hand mashed potatoes and steamed asparagus. i
wanted rice, she wanted potatoes. when we were don't she said i
was right, it'd be better with rice. next time.

recipe is a very nice balance of umami, sweet, sour and citrus.
most of the ingredients we never used before. tamarind. where
have you been all my life? that's going to become a staple
around the bbq at my house. :)


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SDF Public Access UNIX System - https://sdf.org

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