Re: Junk food review
- From: "Paul M. Cook" <pmcook@xxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 24 Jun 2009 15:15:49 -0700
"Ray" <chigarayREMOVE@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:q78545tlhvn3s25di925401je7an81mrqn@xxxxxxxxxx
On Wed, 24 Jun 2009 13:48:15 -0700, "Paul M. Cook" <pmcook@xxxxxxx>
wrote:
"Ray" <chigarayREMOVE@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
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On Wed, 24 Jun 2009 10:33:37 -0700, "Paul M. Cook" <pmcook@xxxxxxx>
wrote:
"Ray" <chigarayREMOVE@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:12n445tqqa2k0me8cmkn8d809qtq9io61h@xxxxxxxxxx
On Wed, 24 Jun 2009 08:53:37 -0700, Miss Elaine Eos
<Misc@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
In article <h1sj0a$kdm$1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
"Paul M. Cook" <pmcook@xxxxxxx> wrote:
"Ray" <chigarayREMOVE@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:mqc345ld44lep3lafqv01jkj6mqn186b0j@xxxxxxxxxx
Stopped in at the local Wally World earlier tonight to pick up a
few
items and came across some potato chips that caught my eye. Herr's
Fire Roasted Sweet Corn flavored potato chips. $2.50 for a 10 oz.
bag,
so why not?
That's a lot for 1 potato cut into slices. I can make 10 pounds for
about
that price.
If your time has no value, and you don't count the cost of the cooking
materials (not insubstantial), packaging and delivery, then sure.
Tell you what: I'll give you TWICE that much -- $5! -- if you make me
10
lbs of [decent, edible] Sweet Corn flavored potato chips and get them
to
me.
Thanks! :)
LOL.
OK, let's break this down, laughing boy:
cooking materials
pot - got one - check
Chinese strainer - ditto
paper towels - ditto
ice water - ditto
peeler - ditto
knife - ditto
2 quarts oil - 5 bucks, reuse 6 times or so - check
OK, so let's assume we can get 7, 10 pound batches before we have to
pitch
the oil. I am assuming you won't be using it to deep fry trout or cow
brains, just potatoes.
total cost for the first 10 pounds, 2.99 plus oil 5 bucks, so figure 8
bucks
rounded.
total cost per pound: 80 cents for the first 10 pounds. 30 cents a
pound
for each 10 pounds after that.
OK, hard to factor in the fuel cost. The number of Kcal to raise 2
quarts
of oil to 350F and maintain it for 5 minutes I would think would be
about
.3765 cents per batch in total energy cost depending on if you have a
gas
or
electric stove. Salt I am going to say a total of about a 7 teaspoons,
so
add maybe .10 cents overall for 70 pounds. I could factor in the cost
of
freezing the ice for the ice water but I am pressed for time.
So add another $3.80 rounded for the whole 70 pounds in energy costs
assuming the national average. That should be close enough for this
exercise.
total cost for 70 pounds of chips: 33 cents a pound
Advantage - very fresh, tasty, and delicious. Win. Chumps pay 3 bucks
for
a
fricking 10 ounce bag of potato chips. Corn flavored?? - you want
corn -
eat corn.
Math and cooking aren't your strong points, either.
Paul
And if you grew the spuds yourself, you could save even more.
Indeed.
I buy a bag of chips, eat them and get on with more important things.
Meanwhile you have spent hours peeling, slicing, chilling, frying,
draining, salting...all to save a couple bucks.
Hours? Try minutes. I have a food processor so I can slice a tater in
like
3 seconds. Ice bath is a couple minutes, dry them off, then into the
fryer.
Show me where you said "food processor" in your initail cost work-up.
Knife, yes...food processor, no. Try slicing 10 lbs of taters with a
knife and let me know how long it took you.
What, you don't have one? How about a mandolin? Those are really fast,
too.
But you forgot to factor in labor.
I don't pay myself squat, keeps the price down. And if I don't like it I
can quit.
Time to do all that stuff? Call it an hour start to finish with prep
and cleanup included for one 10-lb batch. Using household sized
cooking implements, you'd be hard pressed to bring the project in
under less time than that. Even if you think yourself and your time
only worth minimum wage, that's over 50 bucks added to the total.
1 hour for 50 bucks? You know those things cook in like 40 seconds,
right?
So, you plan to cook all 70 lbs in one batch?
No. They'd go stale. I factored in 7 heat cycles for the oil.
If it takes, as I said...an hour start to finish, all prep and cleanup
included to cook one 10 lb batch of chips, then it will take how many
hours to fry seven 10 lb batches?
The national minimum wage is over $6 an hour and soon to go up over
$7. As I understand it, it is already higher in CA, so if you want to
use those figures to calculate your actual cost, feel free.
7 hrs x $6.55 per hour = $45.85. Add the cost of the spuds, oil, salt,
paper towels ( I doubt one roll will last for the whole 70 lbs) and
your cost to table begins to skyrocket.
So your 33 cents a pound now averages out to around 8 bucks a pound.
This is an example of starting with a number and working backwards. If you
weren't making your own chips you'd be off doing something else and I dare
so something not so fruitful. Idle hands, and all. Do you pay yourself
to
eat those chips?
No, because that is not work. Peeling potatoes in large quantities is
so unpleasant a task that the military has used it as punishment for
many, many decades.
You don't have a potato peeler like I do. It's an abrassive cloth that will
peel a tater in seconds. You just wrap it around he spud, and rub. Like a
spud eraser.
Anyway, at least *I* buy American taters, American oil and therefore I
protect American jobs. You send your money out of the country never to
return again.
And all for a snack. tst tsk tsk
Paul
.
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- Re: Junk food review
- From: Miss Elaine Eos
- Re: Junk food review
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