Food for Thought

I wrote last week about the food bank. We get some of our food through local food drives. The majority, we obtain from RoadRunner Food Bank. RoadRunner is the central clearing house for food banks throughout New Mexico.

Commodities; generally produce, bread and frozen foods are at no charge. For the rest, we pay by the pound. Whether it is a pound of canned food (including the weight of the can) or a pound of food in a plastic bag, the cost is the same.

That means that some items can be effertively unit priced.

One such item is the packaged macaroni and cheese. Yes, the stuff you boil, add margarine and milk to, and stir. The unit price is around thirty cents per box when we buy it from RoadRunner.

Wednesday morning, in the local paper, the local grocery was selling their store brand of macaroni and cheese for twenty-five cents per box. Four for one dollar!! This definately undercuts the RoadRunner food bank cost.

Wednesday mornings, I play golf with several other ladies. We only play nine holes, we take no more than two hours to play, then we relax and chat after. IF (and it isn't often) we play for money, we each put in two dollars.

I'll admit to manipulating the situation Wednesday. After we came in, I managed to get the conversation to turn to the latest economic figures. I pulled out the add from the paper, and explained how the food bank is normally only able to get the mac and cheese at three for a dollar. ALL of the ladies present took out the two dollars we had not bet on the game and gave them to the lady who is the buyer for the local food bank. Twelve dollars will be 48 boxes of mac and cheese. Yes, that will only be enough for one day, but since we haven't had any for a while, it is a start.

What food is a "loss leader" (selling at below what it costs) at your local market. How much are you capable of buying without hurting your budget?

Take it to your local food bank.