A Tale of Two Puddings

A few days ago we found ourselves in the grocery store for fresh produce.  While we were there we decided to look around for low cost/high flavor options to add to our SNAP diet.  We ran across instant pudding on sale for $0.97.  We were excited about adding a low cost dessert item to the mix.  The total cost of the pudding was $1.29 after adding two cups of milk.  It made four servings so we could have a small treat for the low cost of $0.32.  It was a good thing.  Or so we thought.

Lori began to think about what it took to make pudding at home.  In addition to the milk, it would require flour, sugar and eggs.  None of which were very high cost items.  She got out her pudding recipe and priced each ingredient and learned that making pudding at home was $1.10.  Not only was it cheaper to make the pudding at home, the recipe would make 8 servings!  She then decided to calculate the cost of a vanilla cream pie.   An entire pie - crust, meringue and filling would cost only $2.13.  If the pie was sliced in to 8 servings the cost per slice would be $0.27.  That is still cheaper than the cost of ½ cup of instant pudding.

Lori felt a little suckered.  She had fallen for the idea that the purchased pudding mix would be a good value because it was on sale.  She hadn’t done her homework and vowed not to waste money like that again. 

John, on the other hand, didn’t feel as strongly about the extra cost of the pudding.  He still felt like it was a nice low cost treat.  He pointed out that not everyone had the ability to make pudding from scratch.  Although the ingredients are simple,  easily found and afforded, there is a certain knack to getting the mixture to the right temperature to get it to set properly.  Then there is the whole issue of meringue.  He just didn’t feel like just anyone, SNAP recipient or not could make pudding.  He felt like in the spirit of the challenge, that the purchased instant pudding was just fine.

Lori made a pie. 

John ate it.