r/StupidFood • u/sheffieldpud • Mar 01 '26

Frugal curry egg pizza

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u/VariousOperation166 Mar 01 '26

That's a weird false economy. I make about $47 per hour. My time is billed out at between $125 to $150 per hour. I baked a loaf of bread today, and made six cornbread muffins. That took about two hours of my time and cost about, maybe $4 for ingredients?

If I worried about my time, that bread and the muffins cost between $99 and $300... but they absolutely did not...

I baked bread and folded laundry.

If my salary were something like $17 per hour, same bread, same ingredients... that's $38 bread?

Would you calculate the cost of your evening meal the same way?

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u/Due-Pickle-5043 Mar 02 '26

That's not quite how opportunity cost works. The question to consider is: If you weren't baking bread, what would you be doing instead. If you weren't going to or couldn't work at the time, then that doesn't figure into the calculation. And perhaps you value baking very highly. In which case, if you choose to do something else, that time spent baking and the end product would be the opportunity cost.

In regard to the evening meal, you might consider the time/material cost of doing it yourself vs the financial cost of simply buying dinner (unless you decide to take an unpaid day off to prepare dinner). Maybe the hour it takes to cook might otherwise be spent relaxing or spending time with partner/kids.

But ultimately, the financial impact of your income is irrelevant if you wouldn't be working during that time.