Frugal Food - Cost Analysis of a Lasagna

Yesterday I came across a great article about 20 Healthy Foods for a Dollar on Yahoo.

It was a good inspiration to figure out how much I spend when I cook. I really love making food, and eating out is too expensive for me right now. So after a trip to the Farmer's Market, I decided to figure out how much money I was saving by making my own Lasagna.

Ingredients:

Ricotta Cheese - $1.00
Canned Tomatoes - $0.80
Garlic - $0.05
Sundried Tomatoes - $0.15
Orange Pepper - $1.18
Mozzarella Cheese - $2.00
Portabella Mushroom - $1.00
Zucchini - $0.81
Lasagna - $.30
One Egg - $0.20

Spices from my Cabinet

Total - $7.49

Cost per Serving - $1.49

It took me about five minutes to prep everything, which included making my own very basic tomato sauce out of canned tomatoes, garlic, sun-dried tomatoes and oregano. I just pureed it together in a blender. I mixed the ricotta with the egg and some basil, and then layered the vegetables, lasagna noodles, mozzarella, ricotta and sauce in two layers. Then I put it in the oven for 30 minutes at 375 degrees.

I'm really pleased with how inexpensive this was. I always felt that is was cheaper to cook, but I've never sat down with a grocery receipt in my hand and really looked at it. The only thing I would change would be using red pepper instead of orange, which is all they had at the market. It would probably have lowered the cost by a few cents.

I think there are some things that I do make that are probably less cost effective, like when I make pesto with store bought basil, pine nuts, and really good parmesan cheese. It's definitely a lot more pricey for what I can do with it, unless I just use it as a pasta sauce.

I think it's a good idea to work out what you're really spending when you cook and to check to make sure that you are getting the best value for money when selecting ingredients. Could you substitute one kind of squash for a cheaper one? Is Watermelon a better value than Cantaloupe?

So what is the cost per serving for your favorite home recipe?

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Asking the Readers : How Many Blogs?

I'm asking you, the reader, for your opinion on something.

Is it better to have different blogs for different topics, or just one blog that is varied. I write on a few different subjects here at EHitRD, and I've always wondered if that is the best way to do things.
So, should I have a separate blog for my personal things, another for reviews, another for financial articles and so on? Or is it okay if my blog is a combination of different types of articles?

What subject matter do you like to read on this blog?

What is your favorite post of mine so far that demonstrates what you like to read the best?

I look forward to reading your comments!

Planning for Accidents

Jim over at My Debt Blog is having a rough July too. His wife was also in an accident and is suffering from the financial after effects that can occur. 

One of the worst feelings about all of this, is that I could have avoided some of the financial predicaments that I am in, as well as a few other key issues that came up from nearly dying. Having learned things the hard way, I plan to prepare for the future better by planning for another accident. 

1. Self-Insure Your Vehicle

Check out the Blue Book Value of your vehicle and put enough money in a savings account to cover the value of it if it were totaled. This is especially important if you have Liability Only insurance. In the event of an accident that is your fault, you need to be able to repair your vehicle or get a new one as soon as possible. 

2. Set Aside Your Deductible

In another account, set aside your Health Insurance Deductible and Emergency Room Copay. For me, this is about $600 and it does vary from company to company and plan to plan. This will lead to less financial stress in a time when you would already have a huge amount of emotional stress.

3. Create an Emergency Fund

 I cannot stress enough how important an Emergency Fund is. In this situation, if you are injured and cannot work, when your sick leave runs out you would need a back up plan. My accident put me out of work for seven days and I didn't even have any broken bones. Healing from things takes time and you need to give yourself that time, instead of worrying about how to pay the bills.

4. Keep Emergency Contact Information On You

If you have a purse or a waller, keep a little card with your drivers license that lists your emergency contact person, include a phone number and an address. When I got taken into hospital I was unconscious and they couldn't contact my husband until I woke up and gave them the details. They had found my ID in my wallet, so they knew who I was, but they had no idea who to call for me. Remember to update this information if your emergency person moves. 

5. Make a Will or Living Trust

Having your legal ducks in a row is important to the future of your loved ones. If you have specific wishes, make them known. It is also important to have a firm idea about whether you would or would not like to be left in a vegetative state, whether you want to be buried or cremated, who gets the family jewels and who benefits from your estate. It seems morbid to a degree, but it's not just about taking stress of you in these situations... it's about taking it off your loved ones too.

For the Financial steps, I would recommend using ING Savings Accounts (click here for a referral and a sign up bonus) as they have a good interest rate and the ability to create separately labelled accounts. You can then take this interest and put it towards something else like paying down debt or saving for a vacation. 

If I had done even two of these steps, the last two weeks would have been much less of a nightmare. Learn from my mistakes and prepare for life to throw curve-balls at you!

The Finer Things

I was going through my Google Reader checking out some old posts, and I came across one from Daily Money Hack that pointed to this article about the Top Ten Wines for less than $10.

I enjoy wine very much and would love to learn more about it. I like the idea of wine and how it can be manipulated and changed depending on who is responsible for creating it. I think it's great how wine can be paired with food to enhance a meal, or just sipped quietly on a lazy evening with friends. Wine is a finer thing, something that I don't need but the experience of can enrich my emotional well-being.

Wine is my reward item. When I'm really struggling financially, I am still allowed to buy an occasional bottle of wine. This gives me something to look forward to and to feel more like I'm not working hard for nothing. I might buy perhaps one a month, so this list is a great resource for me!

So tell me, what is your reward item?

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My Blueberry Nights

I'm lucky enough to be friends with a really good Film Critic, Thomas Spurlin. He writes for DVD Talk, and he recently reviewed one of my favorite movies so far this year, My Blueberry Nights.

It's a lovely and unexpected film. Norah Jones plays a woman down on her luck who decides to travel around America going where the wind takes her and meeting some fascinating people along the way. These people are played by the likes of Natalie Portman, Rachel Weisz and Jude Law. Norah Jones carries the movie very well, with the other actors just accenting her work nicely. It's not really a romance or a chick flick, it's not too dramatic, and it won't drastically change your life. But it is a really lovely couple of hours of entertainment, and leaves you feeling nice and whole at the end of it.

I have a very diverse taste in films. I tend to like films that either challenge me intellectually or show a little heart. This is one of those films that I really would love more people to see, so if you get the opportunity, I would recommend taking it.

Making Plans to Snowball My Debt

A long time ago I had a really firm debt plan. I knew how much I owed everywhere and I knew what all of my minimums were. I had a plan to get out of debt and I was consistently working out it. Then, for some odd reason that I can't explain, I got off track. 

Now that I'm going to have to start insuring a car again, I need to get back on track. I need to have a much firmer plan. Being on bedrest really does enable you to have the time to formulate a plan. 

I am going to try and Snowball my debt. This worked once before so I'm going to try it again. 

I have the following minimum payments:

Banana Republic - $20

American Express - $15

Bank of America - $98

Prosper - $101.01

This is a total of $234.01. In order to afford all of my minimums and car insurance, I need to reduce this to no more than $125 pretty much immediately, or I need to be making more money.

 

I'm going to pay my minimums and throw everything else onto the Banana Republic card. The BoA card minimum will decrease by about $5 to $9 whenever I make a payment, which I will also apply to the Banana card. Then I will take care of the Amex, then the BoA, then Prosper. 

The balance on my BoA card is higher than my Prosper loan, but my Prosper loan is fixed and has lower interest, so I think I should worry about that last.

I'm going to try and get a second job on the weekends and any money I make from that will go to debt reduction and the car insurance. I'm hoping that I'll only have to hold a weekend job for 6 - 9 months to get this taken care of. 

I've been letting all of this slip and I now realize the answer is hard work and getting this all taken care of as quickly as possible.

So what do you think? Is this a good plan or am I kidding myself?