Meal pricing (1)

As I was just checking the state of our finances and matching up the bank account entries with the till receipts I was suddenly struck by question of costing up the recipes on a per meal or per portion basis and the overall cost of the campervan store cupboard. It would be interesting to see whether the concept of making meals from largely store cupboard as opposed to market-fresh ingredients is more expensive, and how this compares with eating say meat-and-two-veg type meals or convenience foods. Most of my virtual FB friends find that food is more expensive in France. Indeed, so much so that many of them go as far as to order from UK supermarkets ambient, fresh and even frozen food to be delivered via a third-party delivery service. There’s almost nothing that we miss from the UK that is not available here – at a price – even Patak sauces, notwithstanding the ecological arguments against.

So, before I consign the till receipts to the burning pile, I’ll try to price up the 33 ingredients list. These are prices from local supermarkets within 10 kilometres, so will necessarily be higher than say a large Carrefour in Limoges or a Lidl:

Item	Price €	Cost for campervan €[quantity]
1.       Olive oil	2.47 25cl	2.47
2.       Wine vinegar	0.95 25cl	0.95
3.       Black pepper and salt	Sel 1.36 125g  Poivre 2.29 28g	1.36 2.29
4.       Chilli flakes	1.60 40g	1.60
5.       Curry powder	1.54 42g	1.54
6.       Mustard	0.42 160g	0.42
7.       Stock cubes	1.00 = 15 cubes	0.53 [8]
8.       Capers	0.90 50g	0.90
9.       Olives	0.94 100g	0.94
10.   Nuts - pinenuts	3.07 50g	3.07
11.   Fruit box	4.45 500g	0.89 [100g]
12.   Jar red peppers in oil	1.95	1.95
13.   Paella or Tagine mix	1.63	1.63
14.   Pasta	0.79 500g	0.79
15.   Risotto rice	1.53 500g	0.76 [250g]
16.   Paella rice	1.99  500g	0.98 [250g]
17.   Boil in bag rice	0.96 4 x 125g = 0.24	0.48 [2]
18.   Boil in bag couscous	1.11 x 4 x 125g	0.55 [2]
19.   Tomato puree	1.02 x 4 tins = 0.26	0.52 [2]
20.   Chopped tomatoes	Good 0.48 or value 0.37	0.96 [2]
21.   Chopped mushrooms	1.87 x 3 = 0.62	0.62
22.   Potatoes 400g	0.75	0.75
23.   Peas	0.69	0.69
24.   Spinach	0.65	0.65
25.   Green beans	0.62	0.62
26.   Asparagus	1.69	1.69
27.   Pesto	1.71	1.71
28.   Haricot beans	0.71	0.71
29.   Red beans	0.73	0.73
30.   Chickpeas	0.80	0.80
31.   Ratatouille	0.99	0.99
32.   Flageolet beans	0.76	0.76
33.   25ml wine box	2.46 x 3 = 0.82	0.82

 

After getting over the shock of seeing how many times the words ‘chocolat noir’ appeared on the receipts, and the fact that the pets have lavish quantities of top quality food and treats, I was pleased to see that the total cost of stocking up the larder from scratch was €37.21. The next task is to price up a couple of recipes.