Mark Bittman, NYT columnist, blogger and author of my all time favorite general kitchen guide How to Cook Everything, dedicated some of his energy to combating the perception that fast food is "cheaper" than cooking stuff at home with his $5 Challenge.
My recent cooking bender has led me to a few realizations- firstly, that you can easily make terrific tasting, superior food on a 'fast food' budget. Secondly, I don't think it's price that primarily drives the national obsession with fast food, it's the convenience. Basically, comparing the price of a fast food option with just the ingredients of a home cooked alternative isn't a fair fight.
So, last night I made pizzas, two of them. And they tasted fantastic, measurably better than any other local option in our coastal commuter hamlet. It was cheaper too, considering only the ingredients. We don't do traditional pizza dough, we use a modified version of the Frugal Pedophile's focaccia recipe, par bake the dough on cookie sheets then add the toppings and finish it off.
Last night I made one plain cheese pizza for the kids and one sauteed wild mushroom, prociutto & basil pie for the growed ups. Price rundown, $10 for a block of mozzerella which I used 3/4ths of, so $8. $4 for the mushrooms, $2.00 for the proscutto (bought 5oz of Boar's Head from the deli counter for $4, used 3 slices chopped- $2 is rounding up). $3 for a 28oz can of tomato sauce. Discounting the cost of pantry staples like flour, garlic & spices, $17. Let's round up to $20.
I'm not sure of the cost per serving breakdown, but it fed three adults, two kids & provided a late night snack for two other adults that dropped in while generating a fair amount of leftovers, aka today's lunch.
The square footage was equivalent to a couple of larges from Round Table, the best of our local options. Cost for delivery would be $17.99 each, plus tip, so figure $40 total.
So I made two superior pizzas for half the price of ordering out. Win, right? Hurrah Bittman!
Hold up a minute.
Let us pause and consider the hidden cost, aka LABOR.
I started cooking when the gals took Fuss to the gym with them, around 1pm.
I worked more or less nonstop until they got back around 4:30, cleaning, slicing & sauteeing the mushrooms, making the pizza sauce, making the dough (thank you Kitchenaid!), shredding the cheese. Nothing complicated, but they all take time. I cleaned as I went, so when everyone arrived home the kitchen was spotless, the dough was rising & the toppings were all ready to go.
Now, none of this was a hardship.
I'm one of those rare people who enjoys prep work more than actually cooking, which may be why my favorite cuisine to cook is Mexican, with its surplus of chopping, shredding and pounding.
But when you consider cost you have to include labor, 3.5 hours for my pizzas. To equal Round Table's pricing, I'd have to "pay" myself a sub minimum wage of $5.71. And I'm not even including shopping time, commuting to and from the store, etc.
Again, I like to cook. I enjoyed making the pizzas, an emotion I doubt is shared by the local Round Table employees. You're paying Round Table for the pizza, sure. But you're also paying them to prep everything, cook it for you and then take care of the cleanup. When you include labor, suddenly Round Table's pricing is much more competitive.
I still declare myself the winner- my pizzas were fantastic, and I enjoyed every minute of their construction. But folk should keep in mind that there are other factors to consider when contemplating America's love affair with fast food.
No comments:
Post a Comment