Critique: Analysis of the value of a can of ravioli!

Let me begin by saying that I like to eat beef ravioli. And of the choices out there on grocery shelves, a can of Chef Boyardee is one of the most tasty in my limited view. Each 425 gram can cost me $1.09 each when I purchased a couple of cans from a Country Mart store located in Forsyth MO. Now there are cheaper versions out there, but most are a poor second in the taste department. That said, let's take a deeper look at this particular brand.

Each regular sized 15 ounce or 425 gram can contains the following key nutritional ingredients per 1 cup or half can or 246 gram amount:

Calories  - 220      ( Cost per gram eaten equals 3 one hundredths of a cent)

Fat fr calories -  60

Total fat -  7 grams    (About 11% of your recommended daily intake)

Cholesterol -  10 mg   

Sodium -  750 mg    (Through the roof at 31% of your daily allowance)

Carbs -  31 grams

Protein -  7 grams

Most people I know don't eat ½ a can. They eat the whole thing all at one sitting! That also changes the dietary impact considerably as you'd get over half you daily allowance of salt in one meal! The better news was that you did get a decent shot of calories (think energy for your metabolic battery) in that one meal. And so, for about a buck in cost, that wasn't too bad a shot of food!

But wait! That ain't all! Remember that canned foods are also PROCESSED FOODS and that means that some really strange sounded ingredients get added to help preserve the contents. Let me see now... enzyme modified cheese, yeah that sounds safe. Then there's that xanthan gum for you know... Just remember! When you eat something, your body has to deal with that substance or substances on a molecular level! That's exactly why I like to eat fresh.. when I can afford it. And, did you know that you can easily make your own? Please check out this great article!

In today's economy, a can of CB ravioli does make sense, as long as you make to sure to balance it out with some fruit or a decent vegetable salad!

Grocery prices contine upward spiral!

It wasn't that long ago when a crisp twenty dollar bill would buy us more bags of groceries than a single person could carry. That was then. Today, you'd better arrive at the store with a wallet full of twenties in order to supply a family of four with enough food to keep them going from one week to the next!

Above, you can easily figure that it was the beer and meat that contributed a lot to the overall cost, (almost half) in fact.

Cost of food in April 2014!

Here was the cost of some select items found at a local grocery store in southwestern Missouri in mid April 2014:

Bell pepper .99 ea

Carrots .99 per lb

Celery 1.29 a bunch

Potatoes 2.99 for a 5lb bag

Onions 1.49 per lb

Lettuce .99 ea

Romaine 1.89 ea

Chicken 3.11 per lb

Hamburger 3.69 per lb

Pork chops 5.49 per lb

Steak 11.99 lb – KC Strip

Vegetables and meat are due to rise due to 1) the continuing drought, 2) rising oil prices which affects the cost of fertilizers and in the case of meat, the fact that cattle herds are at the lowest numbers since 1951! And, as in the title of song by Bachman Turner Overdrive, – you ain't seen nothing yet!

Notes: When compared to some of the cost of produce back in 2010, the prices have not risen all that much. Sadly, that is not the case with meat!