How to Break Down Recipe Cost and Shop Efficiently
- Rose Robles
- Nov 20, 2018
- 4 min read
Updated: Nov 28, 2018
In this article, Jenn and I brainstorm to create a smoothie from the ingredients on hand as we break down the cost of each item used. Bonus: Smoothie recipe below!
If you've ever been a student, you know how hard it can be to eat healthy during the semester, especially during midterms and finals.
Students eat in terms of convenience and not of health. This not only impacts their health substantially, but it can impact their wallet, as well.
The other day, my friend (Jenn) and I were talking about how expensive it is to shop for fresh fruits and vegetables. Both Jenn and I are students and we’ve noticed how much harder it is to find affordable and healthy meals. Unhealthy, processed, and prepared foods are generally cheaper, while fresh fruits and vegetables, are noticeably more expensive.
McDonald's vs Chipotle
For example, the McDonald’s I used to visit off of Exit 51, off the 95-S, sells the Big Mac combo at $9.48. Despite what you may be thinking, no, I did not have this memorized! The young lady working the late shift at McDonalds, was polite enough to answer my call and tell me the price of a Big Mac combo at one in the morning.
In contrast, it’s healthier competition, Chipotle, sells its burrito (and only the burrito) at $9.80; add a side of chips and queso and a bottle of water, and you’re looking at a total of $15.95.
Being healthy and keeping a budget is not east task for a college student. In fact, besides keeping our sanity, it’s the two hardest things to do!
Jenn and I saw this as a challenge. We wanted to see if we could create something inexpensive, edible and somewhat healthy to consume. So, we gathered ingredients from our cabinets and refrigerators to make the concoction.
After much deliberation, the ingredients we had were a great combination to make a smoothie. Jenn, the health expert thought, “let’s make this even healthier by adding some Greek yogurt.” Neither of us had Greek yogurt, so we headed down to the closest store of convenience (Walmart) and purchased two cups of Great Value Greek yogurt that costed a gran total of $1.38.
While we were in Walmart, Jenn gave me a quick lesson about probiotics. She said, “Greek yogurt has probiotics to aid the digestive system.” To many this seems like common sense, but I obviously watched to many Activia commercials when I was young, because I thought that companies enriched yogurts with probiotics. Thanks Jenn for teaching me something I should of known years ago!
With our ingredients combined and only needing to purchase the Greek yogurt, Jen and I invested a total of .23 cents for each serving.
Below is the list of ingredients that we already had available to make our smoothie. Jen and I later visited the supermarket to see the cost of all the ingredients, to see if it was financially feasible to make this shake from scratch.
Here are the prices we found:
Spinach $3.49
Bananas $.49 (for 2)
Blue Diamond raw almonds $3.23 (6 oz)
McCormick ginger powder $.99 (0.13 oz packet)
Stop and Shop cinnamon $.99 (0.13 oz packet)
Red Delicious apples $1.49 (for 2)
Blue Diamond Almond Vanilla Milk $3.49
From these items, we gathered that we can make two complete batches of 3 servings. When we added the price of all of these products, it came out to $15.55. Divide the total by six servings and it would be $2.59 per person. That’s ok. Not as cheap as I would like, but it’s cheaper than driving to Jamba Juice and getting a five-dollar smoothie!
As always, I will continue looking for the best deal. On we went searching for lower prices.
The two most expensive things on this list of ingredients were spinach and almond milk. However, we found a way to cut down on these two ingredients; simply purchase fresh frozen spinach and unrefrigerated almond milk. Fresh frozen spinach tastes the same in shakes and since it’s frozen, it will keep for longer. Non-refrigerated milk (or boxed milk) will taste the same as refrigerated almond milk but it is cheaper.
Boxed almond milk is $1.99 and fresh frozen spinach is $1.99. When we add those two new prices up to the rest of the ingredients, it equals to $12.55. Divide that by six servings and you will get $2.09 per serving - a fifty-cents difference. Not bad at all!
We tried looking for cheaper almonds, but Blue Diamond almonds were the cheapest we could find.
An added bonus is that milk, spinach, almonds, ginger powder, and cinnamon powder are left over and can be used for other things. I personally like using the website Supercook.com when I have a plethora of ingredients with no recipe in mind. SuperCook is a website where you plug in all of your available ingredients and it displays recipes you’re your available ingredients! It’s amazing!
I also use my FoodSaver to preserve foods that wilt or expire quickly after opening. Check out my review on the FoodSaver! I have some funny stories about unfortunate events I had when I purchased my FoodSaver and I also cover clever ideas I discovered with my FoodSaver.
In all, I think that the price ranging from $12.55 to $15.55 is a good price to pay if you’re getting 6 healthy shakes out of it.
If you’re like me and you’re completely clueless about living healthy, check out Jenn’s blog! She has great information on her article about probiotics and has many other blogs articles on how to live a healthy and natural life with natural remedies! This article is specifically tied with her article, LINK A Delicious Dose of Probiotics - Smoothie Recipe & Tutorial. Here is the recipe we created!
Almond Probiotic Boost Smoothie Recipe
Almond Probiotic Boost Smoothie Recipe
Ingredients:
¾ cup plain non-fat Greek yogurt
1 medium apple, chopped
1 medium banana
¾ cup vanilla almond milk
5 almonds
¼ tsp cinnamon
¼ tsp ginger powder
½ cup spinach
3 ice cubes
Directions:
Blend all ingredients until smooth. To make the consistency less thick, add ¼ cup of water. Enjoy!
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