PSA: A 5 lb bag of store brand rice is cheaper per serving than a box of pasta now

I was doing my weekly meal planning last night and actually crunched the numbers. At my local Aldi, a 5 lb bag of jasmine rice is $3.89. That works out to about 17 cents per cooked cup. My usual box of generic penne? $1.49 for a pound, which is around 37 cents per cooked cup. Over the course of a month, that difference adds up to like $12 on just two pasta dishes a week. I don't know why I never did the math before. Has anyone else noticed other staples that are secretly way cheaper per serving?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_drew6d ago

Jumped on this myself last month. Swapped out pasta for rice in almost everything, even soups. I found a 10 pound bag of basmati at a restaurant supply store for $7.50. That's like 8 cents a cup cooked. Pasta is just painful to buy now at that price point. Also started buying dried beans in bulk instead of canned, saves a ton too.

the_rose5d ago

Honestly @the_drew, is it really that serious? Pasta went up maybe a buck or two, not like it's gold now. Rice is fine and all, but you're acting like pasta vanished from the shelves. Dried beans take forever to cook and taste like nothing unless you add a ton of salt and spices anyway. I still grab a box of generic spaghetti for $1.50 and call it a day. Maybe I'm just not the type to stress over a few cents per meal, you know? Do you actually notice the difference in your weekly budget or is this more about the principle of it?