The cost of a pasta dinner? (CostCo, deal, spice, used)
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I can't. I have all the ingredients here, no idea what I paid for them when I bought them.
I make my own sauce, using canned tomato sauce, but how much did I pay for that Tablespoon of dried basil? I think I paid $1.29 for the mid size can of tomato sauce
I use oriental rice noodles for spaghetti and I think a one pound package of those is about $1.60. I buy beef 80 pounds at a time and grind my own, so the burger for the sauce costs about $2.60 a pound, but I notice that if I bought it yesterday, it would have cost $2.80, again, bought 80 pounds at a time.
Onions, I get in a 10 pound bag and paid 38 cents a pound for the last bag I bought. How much does the onion weigh that I use in the sauce?
Oh! Got it. I have three 6 inch planters of basil that cost $3.99 each and that's just about right for one meal of pesto. So, $12 for basil, another $12 for pine nuts, Maybe $4-$5 for olive oil, and $1.60 for the noodles, a buck for fresh garlic, and se
btwveral dollars for the Parmesan. $35 for pesto for 2 people? But a bit cheaper because I won't buy pine nuts anymore because the only ones I can find come from China. I'm going to try pesto with pistachios becasue they also have a bit of resin taste to them.
I would think about the same, I usually have most of the ingredients on hand so was pretty much listing cost from memory.
btw: a good pesto can be made using pecans as well. I stopped using pine nuts when they just got out of site price wise. I didn't care where they came from.
If I start factoring in overhead such as my time making pasta, purchasing quality ingredients from beef (apparently pasta dinner translates to spaghetti Bolognese here) to herbs - it can be cheaper to grill a steak.
For us pasta dinner is either Sugo (meat sauce) or alio I olio I pepperocini or paglia e fieno (hay and straw).
Here's mine. But I am sure there would be leftovers. I like the sauce really meaty.
1lb pasta $1
2lbs ground beef $5(I buy 40lbs at a time from Zaycon Foods)
Mushrooms, green pepper, onion, olive oil $1
Spices .50
Pepperoni $1
Cheapest jar of spaghetti sauce $2
1 lb. Pasta - $1.00
Italian Sausage - $2.00 (I don't use the whole package)
Tomato Sauce, Paste, and Juice - $7.00 TOPS
Fresh grated parm - $1.00
Onions/Garlic - $1.50
Spices - $.50
That's that add up to - $13.00? And I'm guessing high on the prices.
That will make enough for two dinners for us each (if not more), plus a TON of sauce to freeze - maybe six more meals worth (3 each).
One meal I refuse to buy when dining out is any type of pasta dish (save for veal Parmesan). It is so cheap to make at home and the mark-up is ridiculous.
Boxed pasta $0.79
Jar/can pasta sauce $1.00
Now I buy the better quality/tasting brand so typically $1.50 box of pasta and $2.50 jar of sauce. If I want meatballs I buy a huge bag frozen for $5. Feeds 5-6.
If I dined out it would easily be $10-$12 per person per plate!
I would think about the same, I usually have most of the ingredients on hand so was pretty much listing cost from memory.
btw: a good pesto can be made using pecans as well. I stopped using pine nuts when they just got out of site price wise. I didn't care where they came from.
I always make pesto using almonds. I grow several basil plants every summer and freeze basil in an ice cube tray. (I did freak out one son when he looked in the freezer and saw nice little green cubes in a baggie...)
As for my "pasta" - one zucchini is 50 cents when I buy, but free from the garden right now. A jar of pasta sauce on sale is $1.99. Sausage about $4. Spices I grow, so I pinch some off the plant. Cheese about $3. So $9 for a LOT of food. (I eat keto, so no grain based pasta for me).
So I was making the grocery list and got thinking what does a pasta dinner cost these days?
I usually post on the thread: what 's for dinner tonight, and thought I often post the spaghetti.
Tartar minced beef 230 gr euro 3.50
spaghetti (egg pasta) pack 500 gr euro 1.47
1 zucchini (in summer price) euro 0.49
Pasta tomato/basil sauce jar 600 gr euro 2.81
Total price dinner euro 8.27 at todays exchange rate usd 9.25
(dinner is for 3 persons)
Pasta $1
Italian sausage $4
1 can tomato sauce .79
1can tomato past .59
1 can diced tomatoes .79
1 can mushrooms .79
1 onion .50
Dinner for 4 people = $7.67 if you add garlic bread $11.67
I had a light dinner last night of sauteed mushrooms with angel hair pasta:
1lb. angel hair pasta - $1.00
8 oz. can mushrooms - $1.25
1/2 stick butter - $0.38 ($3.00 for 1 lb. package)
Total - $2.63
I made a side of fideos the other day and here's the breakdown of that:
7 oz. bag vermicelli - $0.33
8 oz. can tomato sauce - $0.33
1/16th large white onion - $0.04
Total - $0.70
I'm planning to make spaghetti with meatballs soon. Pretty much everything I will need I bought on sale at the usual lowest sale prices that come out every other week to once every 4-6 weeks:
1lb. spaghetti - $0.49 (American Beauty brand on sale)
24 oz. jar spaghetti sauce - $1.29 (Prego brand on sale plus coupon)
1lb. 85% lean ground beef - $2.49 (on sale)
1/4lb. cheddar cheese - $0.75 (2lb block for $5.98 at Walmart)
Total - $5.02
I usually get 4-5 servings out of my spaghetti. With each serving I will also have toasted bread with butter, so that adds only about 39 cents ($1 for 24-slice loaf of bread ÷ 5 slices = 20 cents + 19 cents for 1/4 stick of butter)
All of these dishes of course involve the usual salt, black pepper, cooking oil and water.
This is exactly why I refuse to order pasta from a restaurant, unless it's something truly special or involves cheeses I wont buy..
a little off subject but I feel the same about Asian food. it just keeps going up in price and doesn't even have much meat or many pricey ingredients in it.
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