The $2 box of pasta that changed how I meal plan

Last week I pulled out a box of store brand spaghetti I bought 3 years ago for like $2 and it reminded me how cheap cooking used to be. I remember making a big pot of spaghetti with canned sauce and a cheap bag of frozen meatballs for under $10 back in 2019 when I lived over on Oak Street in Denver. Now that same meal costs me almost double and I gotta plan each ingredient around sales. Anybody else notice their go to cheap meals creeping up in price over the last few years?

3 comments

3 Comments

michael_green442d agoMost Upvoted

A buck fifty for weeks of pasta sounds like it IS still cheap.

valc912d ago

Wait, @michael_green44 are we really calling a box of pasta "weeks of food" now? A standard 16oz box has maybe 8 servings if you're stretching it with sauce and veggies. I grab the store brand too and yeah it's around $1.50 but that's up from like a buck or less in 2019. So a 50% jump in one category isn't exactly nothing. And if you're adding meatballs and sauce, that's another $4-5 just for a few meals. The difference adds up quick when you're buying for a whole household.

roberts.leo2d ago

...and honestly I don't think it's THAT serious, man. Like yeah prices went up but you're acting like a box of pasta is now a luxury good. I still grab the store brand stuff for 1.50 at my local grocery and it lasts me weeks. The difference between 2019 and now is maybe a dollar or two per meal if you're paying attention to what you buy. Frozen meatballs and canned sauce haven't exactly turned into filet mignon. I think people just like to complain about inflation without actually checking their receipts sometimes.