Potatoes are a cheapskate’s best friend. They are oh so cheap, oh so versatile, oh so filling. You can make potatoes into french fries, potato chips, hash browns, baked potatoes, mashed potatoes, potato salad, potato soup. Potatoes can be had for $1 per 5-10 pounds when they’re on sale. That’s just $.10-$.20 per pound. What other food can you buy that cheaply?
Raw potatoes are a great value - but processed potato products are a huge rip. Did you know that you can make potato chips, french fries, and hash browns at home very easily? You can! And with that in mind, why pay prices like those listed below? (These are the actual current prices at my local grocery store.)
Potato chips: $3.49 for 10 oz. ($5.58/pound!)
French fries: $2.99 for 32 oz. ($1.50/pound!)
Hash browns: $2.49 for 12 oz. ($3.32/pound!)
It is so ridiculously easy to make any of these products out of raw potatoes.
To make potato chips, heat up a pan of oil, slice the potatoes as thinly as you can and fry until golden brown.
To make french fries, do the same, but cut the potatoes so that they look like what french fries are supposed to look like (that is, whichever variety is your favorite).
To make hash browns, heat about three tablespoons of oil for each pound of potatoes, grate the potatoes, squeeze out the extra moisture, and fry until golden brown.
Next time, before you pick up some processed potato product at the grocery store, consider the amount you can save per pound by making that product yourself at home. Convenience products will kill your finances, and this is just one example! Take a few minutes, do things the inconvenient way, and save some cash!
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May 29th, 2008 - 3:21 pm
We’ve actually been making our own french fries lately. Just cut them up, throw some olive oil and seasoning on them and throw them in the oven at 500 degrees for about 10-15 minutes and turn them once. They are actually really tasty, much cheaper, and much better for you than fried french fries (although technically I guess they wouldn’t be french fries since they aren’t fried!)
May 30th, 2008 - 4:03 am
Another one is Potato Buds. Ugh!
Lisa
May 30th, 2008 - 3:17 pm
June 11th, 2008 - 6:08 pm
But…when you cook the potato, did you factor in the cost of electricity, (extra A/C if it is summer and you are cooking in the kitchen), the cost of water, dishwasher, cleanup after cooking, etc., etc., etc., Just buy the doggone things already cooked and save yourself money and time! Unless you cook it out on the back yard spit, and handwash the dishes in the creek, don’t keep the butter in a refrigerator which eats electricity, etc., etc., you aren’t saving a dime. I STOPPED cooking at home, and buy most things already cooked at whole foods, and I have saved money on electricity, water, and gas. Maybe extreme to you, but what you are talking about sounds extreme to me. My way is much easier, so I have time to live.
June 11th, 2008 - 9:39 pm
By the way, I do appreciate the concept that “money is time.” If you make a high enough hourly wage, then perhaps it isn’t worth it to you to cook, especially if you don’t enjoy it. I actually do enjoy cooking and don’t see it as time wasted. Cooking from scratch saves lots of money.