The price of convenience – or fleecing at the till?
Since the pandemic, major Canadian grocery store chains have reported record earnings and increasing profits. At the same time, many consumers are struggling to put food on the table and have to scale down their purchases.
The Facts
- The aisle space dedicated to convenience foods is steadily increasing
- Grocers are maximising the revenue from in-store prepared foods
- The price of convenience can be eye-watering
Customers entering a grocery store are greeted by aisle after aisle of convenience foods, and the options are literally endless. But does it make sense to pay $7 for a single small baked potato, when a 10-pound bag of Russet potatoes may be cheaper than that? Or paying $15 for a pound of potato skins, when that money could buy an entire kilogram of ground beef with much better nutrition?
The cost of a product depends on many factors. One of those is labour. Minimum-wage workers transform simple products into more complex ones. They make sandwiches, put together snack packs, turn a basic potato into a stuffed one ready to heat, prepare meal salads, stock salad bars, roast chickens, and prepare complete meals for instant dinners from the hot-food counter.
Convenience or temptation?
On the surface, stores offer customers convenience. But considering some of the prices, it looks like a way to fleece anybody who falls for the allure of a quick lunch or dinner. .
The convenience is undeniable. Ready-to-eat snacks and meals come to the rescue on busy days. Chopped vegetables and marinated meats speed up home-cooking. For affluent customers this is a way to avoid eating out or ordering in. Everything is displayed beautifully, tapping into a desire for ‘healthy’ home-cooking. And much of it is indeed healthy!
With clever marketing and product presentation the temptation is high to reach for something that price-wise makes absolutely no sense.
Should ‘the poor’ despair?
Where does the lavish display of opulence leave cash-strapped customers though? Often, ‘poor’ people are not less busy than affluent ones. On the contrary. For someone juggling several jobs to make ends meet it may be even more difficult to carve out time for meal preparation.
Should those customers leave the store feeling defeated and deprived, confirmed in the belief that life is becoming unaffordable? Or should they instead count themselves lucky that they can’t afford to be ‘fleeced’ at the till? Fortunately, with a bit of planning there are ways to prepare convenience food at home, at a fraction of the store price.
Here are some suggestions to create convenience right in the kitchen:
- Meal salads: Chop a big batch of veggies once, then make meal salads for lunch or dinner throughout the week
- Baked potatoes: Bake once and serve them on several days with different toppings
- Mashed potatoes: Cook a big pot once, serve differently: as a side with gravy, as colcannon, or as Shepherd’s pie
- Broccoli & Cheese: Cook once, freeze portions to be served as sides in the future
- Soup: Cook a big pot, freeze portions
- Chili: Cook a big pot, serve several times: as Chili with corn chips or over rice, with rice as burrito filling, or as a topping for baked potatoes
- Loaded bowls: Batch-cook the starches, then top with different vegetables and proteins throughout the week
- Eggs: Boil a dozen for use in bowls and meal salads
- Pizza: Prepare a large batch of pizza dough, then roll out and top with tomato sauce and cheese. Freeze, then add additional toppings just before baking
- Sandwiches: Prepare tuna, egg, or chicken salad in the evening for quick lunch-sandwich prep the next morning
- Sushi: Watch a video to learn how to make inexpensive sushi from rice, nori, and cucumber. Stock soy sauce and maybe also wasabi and pickled ginger for an authentic experience.
- Savoury quiche or pie: Bake one or two large ones and enjoy slices throughout the week
- Snack packs: Prep snack packs once and keep in the fridge for use throughout the week (cheese cubes, salami slices or peperoni sticks, nuts, olives, crackers)