Are These Foods Worth the Cost of Convenience?

Are These Foods Worth the Cost of Convenience? 

Pre-Formed Hamburger Patties = NO

At my local grocery store they often have pre-formed patties that cost 8 for $7. The patties usually weigh in at ¼ pound, making them cost $3.50 per pound. I often purchase my ground beef when it is on sale for $1.99 per pound, making it a whole $1.51 less expensive per pound if I take the extra 5 minutes to form my own patties. In other words it cost me $4 to purchase the same amount of meat as the pre-formed patties which cost $7, $3 savings!

Pre-made salad mix = YES

My local grocery store sells pre-made romaine salad mix for $3.74

If I were to chop up the veggies myself for this salad mix I would have to buy: Romaine lettuce $1.48, carrots $.82 and red cabbage $2.18 = $4.48. When all is said and done I do believe if I buy the individual vegetables it would cost less per ounce, but that would be more salad than I would need because it goes bad faster than I can eat it. I’ve decided it is worth the cost of convenience for pre-chopped salad mix because I don’t have to buy too much at once and I don’t have to spend so much time chopping vegetables. For your own situation you might want to take into account how much salad you go through a week to see which option with be more worth it.

Rotisserie Chicken = YES

This is an instance where the convenience of a pre-cooked chicken is actually less expensive than a raw whole chicken, and honestly I don’t know why I don’t take advantage of Costco’s rotisserie chicken more often, except maybe the parking. Very rarely does one one of my grocers have whole chickens on sale for less than $4, but even then I’m not sure it is not worth having to cook it.

Obviously everyone’s situation is different depending on the time and money in their own lives, but these items have inspired me to investigate deeper on whether or not I’m paying too much for the convenience factor. Do you have items that are worth the extra cost? Or know of items that definitely are not? Let me know in the comments :)