I happen to like freshly squeezed orange juice. There is something about it that’s so refreshing and energizing, particularly on a warm day. The sugar seems to go to work right away, which is precisely why I rarely get it anymore. Oh, and it’s expensive to buy and takes some effort to make at home.
With that in mind, it’s only a rare treat for me to get fresh squeezed juice. It might have been around 6 months since the last time. This is why at the grocery store recently, a container of what looked like orange juice caught my eye. As it turns out it was actually tangerine juice. Close enough, I thought.
It wasn’t freshly squeezed on the spot, but I wanted to get it anyway. The packaging was nice, and it just looked good. That is, until I took one look at the price, and then had to do a second and third look to make sure my eyes weren’t deceiving me. The container which included just 8 ounces of juice was selling for $5.99. That’s right – 8 ounces of tangerine juice for $5.99.
Think about that – that’s almost $0.75 per ounce of juice. For many, that might be but a sip. For $0.75? Seriously? How could juice be that expensive. For $5.99, that 8 ounces of juice had better make me into a superhero or something!
Clearly, that’s probably expensive for more than just a few people, and we can count me in that group. Reducing food expenses is a goal of mine, or at least keeping these costs under control. Now, I’m not one to sacrifice health for money, but I think that there are healthy alternatives that are also cheaper than spending so much on a small container of fruit juice.
Example #1: Buying Whole Fruit.
I recently bought a bag of clementines for $4.99. Okay, clementines might not be the same thing as tangerines, but they are comparable enough to me. It’s not like we’re comparing apples to oranges here. Lame joke, I know 🙂
Anyway, this bag of citrus had at least 10 individual pieces of fruit in it. Probably more, but let’s say 10 to be conservative. This means each clementine cost no more than $0.50. Doing the math, we can see what the opportunity cost of the $5.99 juice is: 8 ounces of juice, or 10 whole clementines.
The choice for me is clear.
Example #2: Drinking water
Okay, so maybe we don’t want whole fruit instead of juice. As an alternative, perhaps we use another drink as an example: water. Clearly, drinking tap water saves money versus some other beverage options. I would think it would save money versus this juice option.
Let’s say that an 8 ounce glass of water costs $0.05 each to have at home. I don’t really know what the exact cost is, but it can’t be that much – at least where I live! So, just to be conservative in our comparison, we can overestimate the cost of water to be a nickel per glass. In that case, using that price assumption, we could have 120 glasses of water for the cost of one glass of juice.
Bottom Line: we can save a decent amount of money by thinking of opportunity costs of expensive purchases, including those from the grocery store!
My Questions for You:
Have you noticed any surprisingly expensive items at the grocery store?
Do you ever think of opportunity costs with your food or drink purchases, comparing to what else you can buy for that same amount of money?
Pre-cut veggies compared to whole vegetables. You’ll have to pay a pretty penny for this convenience! But I agree, paying for water is inexcusable.
Fresh squeezed juice is indeed tasty, but as you note, drinking a glass is sort of like pouring the sugar bowl into your mouth. Not a healthful practice! Glad you indulge rarely, that’s good advice. The whole fruit has sugar too of course, but also you get the fiber and more nutrients.
Moneycone is right on–in general, you can save tons of money by doing the cutting, slicing, etc yourself and buying the whole, unprocessed item. I’ve noticed a mammoth price difference between a whole pineapple and plastic box of fresh pineapple chunks. Same with whole and sliced mushrooms. You gotta be pretty lazy to buy the chunks or slices.
Pre-cut fruit and veggies command quite a premium! I can see how people with really hectic schedules and a lot of disposable income could find it worth buying pre-cut. For most others, not sure. Also, I know what you mean about the sugar influx from juice. Not something to do in excess, and whole fresh fruit has a lot of benefits. Of course fresh juice can be delicious!
Water cost less then a cent per gallon where I live. Bottled water is crazy. If you want to get fancy then splurge on a really nice water bottle you can reuse.
True, a nice water bottle will cost more up front but can be a better deal than bottled water very quickly
Produce is just getting more expensive period. A naval orange cost $1.50.. That’s pretty dang expensive to me.
As for juice, it taste much better fresh squeezed at home. $6 for 8 oz is ridiculous. There’s better be some rum, ice, and a little umbrella at that price.
LOL! I also think fresh squeezed is a step above.
We see produce going up quite a bit here as well, which is much of the reason why we garden so much. Sure, it takes time, but it’s so worth it and we know where it comes from. Like RB40 said, at the $6 it better have something good in it. 😉
Yeah, I thought $6 was a lot. Good point on gardening, by the way.
How about watering down your orange juice? I do that often – it is delicious and saves $$$
Getting already cut onion and vegetables and even things like skinless chicken. You pay a premium to get those things at the grocery store. If you don’t pay attention you just throw it in the basket and end up with a huge bill with nothing really to show for it. 8 oz of juice for that price? You cant get a gallon of gas cheaper then that.
We did. Those freshly cut veggies and yes, fruits, are amazingly expensive. I wonder how much can we save if we go directly to the source or some to some wet market.
I don’t drink juice or eat meat, (or drink pop or eat seafood or eat cereal or highly processed foods, simply because I don’t like it) but, I do notice the prices on berries around here. they are insane!
Grocery prices around here have been going up for awhile, but I noticed a big jump in the last few weeks.
Regarding opportunity cost, I have actually noticed I have been willing to pay more at the grocery store lately because it is so much cheaper than eating out. I still try to minimize how much I spend at the store, but I have been willing to spend a little more because the alternative is much more expensive.