“Ultraprocessed” has become a bad word in our food supply, but regulators are struggling with how to define the term to help consumers. Here’s why that’s so hard to do.
The internet is available and recipes are searchable. Cooking can be learned as an adult. As a child I learned how to cook on PBS by watching the frugal gourmet and Julia Childs. Cookbooks are a thing.
The time issue is why people are eating pre-made, processed foods.
Below is an example of what it takes for me to make a pizza from scratch in terms of ingredients and time.
Cost of store brand premade pizza: $6-8, 15 minutes cook time, versus Cost of homemade pizza:
$2.50 for half block of store brand mozzarella cheese (Pre-shredded cheese has additives in it to keep it from clumping.)
1/2 onion - $1.00
2 cloves garlic $0.25
4 ounces tomato paste $0.50
Dry basil, oregano, bay leaf, parsley, paprika $0.10
2 cups flour $0.30
Packet of yeast $0.30
Total cost of ingredients: $4.95 Ingredient wise, I’m saving $1-3.
Prep time/clean time: Making dough, chopping veg, making sauce, shredding cheese, bake time, and washing dishes, is 2.5 hours (My hourly wage is $28) so that’s a $70 cost in terms of time. That cost will be variable depending on a person’s hourly wage.
Making a pizza from scratch has a cost of $74.95 for me. Yeah that homemade pizza is cheaper ingredient wise, and has better ingredients without added sugar, salt, or preservatives, but I could buy 10-15 store brand pizzas by just working for 2.5 hours instead. For a person making $15 an hour, that labor is costing them $37.50, and they could buy 5-7 pizzas bu just working 2.5 hours.
We all get 24 hours in a day, but they are not equal. If you don’t live close to work, or have to rely on public transit, you could spend 4 hours of your day commuting, on top of an 8 hour work day. My eating habits improved when I had a 15 minute commute which gave me time to cook and clean.
The internet is available and recipes are searchable. Cooking can be learned as an adult. As a child I learned how to cook on PBS by watching the frugal gourmet and Julia Childs. Cookbooks are a thing.
The time issue is why people are eating pre-made, processed foods.
Below is an example of what it takes for me to make a pizza from scratch in terms of ingredients and time.
Cost of store brand premade pizza: $6-8, 15 minutes cook time, versus Cost of homemade pizza:
$2.50 for half block of store brand mozzarella cheese (Pre-shredded cheese has additives in it to keep it from clumping.)
1/2 onion - $1.00
2 cloves garlic $0.25
4 ounces tomato paste $0.50
Dry basil, oregano, bay leaf, parsley, paprika $0.10
2 cups flour $0.30
Packet of yeast $0.30
Total cost of ingredients: $4.95 Ingredient wise, I’m saving $1-3.
Prep time/clean time: Making dough, chopping veg, making sauce, shredding cheese, bake time, and washing dishes, is 2.5 hours (My hourly wage is $28) so that’s a $70 cost in terms of time. That cost will be variable depending on a person’s hourly wage.
Making a pizza from scratch has a cost of $74.95 for me. Yeah that homemade pizza is cheaper ingredient wise, and has better ingredients without added sugar, salt, or preservatives, but I could buy 10-15 store brand pizzas by just working for 2.5 hours instead. For a person making $15 an hour, that labor is costing them $37.50, and they could buy 5-7 pizzas bu just working 2.5 hours.
We all get 24 hours in a day, but they are not equal. If you don’t live close to work, or have to rely on public transit, you could spend 4 hours of your day commuting, on top of an 8 hour work day. My eating habits improved when I had a 15 minute commute which gave me time to cook and clean.