I may have lost some of my zeal for thrift and the environment lately. I don’t bake my own bread (anymore) or make my own cheese (ever). But as far as saving money on food and cutting back on packaging waste, there are some lines I will never cross. I may have given in on the individually packaged cheese sticks, but there are five prepackaged foods that just aren’t worth the expense or the plastic:

Bagged salad greens. Buy heads of lettuce at the store or grow your own. Triple wash everything. Yes, you will need a salad spinner. It will pay for itself in due time.

1 lb.  tub of organic baby lettuce at Whole Foods: $6

1 lb. head of organic red leaf lettuce: $2

Money saved: If you go through 1 lb. of lettuce a week, you’ll save $208 a year washing your own.

Packaging saved: One non-recyclable plastic tub and lid

 

Cinnamon sugar. Mix together ½ cup of sugar and a tablespoon of cinnamon and keep it in a spice jar.

India Tree cinnamon sugar (7 oz.): $8

Homemade cinnamon sugar with organic sugar and cinnamon (7 oz.): about $.65

Money saved: If you go through 14 oz. of cinnamon sugar a year (and we do!), you’ll save $14.70 a year by making your own.

Packaging saved: one glass or plastic jar with a lid every time you make a batch.

 

Microwave popcorn. Read our homemade popcorn post from way-back-when to learn our corn-popping secrets.

Microwave popcorn: $.30-.90 a bowl

Homemade popcorn: less than $.10 a bowl

Money saved: If you pop 208 bowls of  popcorn a year (a modest estimate for us), you’ll save up to $166.40.

Packaging saved: To quote ourselves: “If your family goes through one box of microwave popcorn (4 large bowls) each week, you’ll save a whopping 52 boxes of cardboard trash, 208 cellophane wrappings, and 208 paper bags by switching to homemade.”

 

Salad dressing. Once you stock up on good oils and vinegars (and a few herbs and mustards if you want to get fancy), you’re all set.

Whoa! This vinaigrette costs $34.74!

Bottle of Whole Foods balsamic vinaigrette (16 oz.): $4.69

Homemade vinaigrette (with olive oil and balsamic vinegar): $3.28

Money saved: You’ll save $8.46 a year by making your own vinaigrette if you go through six bottles.

Packaging saved: One liter bottle of olive oil plus a pint of balsamic will make about three bottles of vinaigrette. So in a year you’d keep two bottles from a landfill . . . which I’ll admit is not too significant.

 

Refrigerated cookie dough. It takes only three minutes (I timed it) to make homemade chocolate chip cookie dough.

Cougar Mountain chocolate chunk cookie dough (18 oz.): $4.39

Homemade cookie dough using organic sugar, flour, etc.: $3.75

Money saved: If you bake 24 batches a year, you’ll save  $15.36.

Packaging saved: a plastic tub. (To be fair, I did throw away a butter wrapper for the homemade version.)

 

Savings in Review

So how does it all add up? First I’ll note that I did all my price comparisons at Whole Foods. Now obviously you can find better deals elsewhere, but remember that prices are inflated on both the pre-packaged and DIY sides of the equation (i.e., I calculated the cost of homemade cookies using Whole Food’s ridiculous sugar prices). I estimated the amount I’d save in a year based on my family’s eating habits. Here are those savings again, broken down:

52 pounds of lettuce a year = $208 savings

14 oz. cinnamon sugar a year= $14.70 savings

208 bowls of popcorn a year= up to $166.40 savings

6 bottles of salad dressing a year=$8.46

24 batches of cookies a year=$15.36

Total saved: $412.92

Avoiding just five prepackaged foods amounted to saving more than a dollar a day. With $412.92 we could buy a salad spinner, a set of glass storage containers, and a dishwasher to help avoid more packaged foods in 2013. Yes!

All right, so the savings on salad dressing and cookie dough wasn’t as dramatic as I had hoped. But look at the savings in cinnamon sugar! What convenience foods are almost as convenient to make at home for you?