The Sausage Theorem

Save money by buying ready meals

Introduction


No, this post is not a culinary column, but rather an observation on the impact of our financial decisions in everyday life. This article was inspired by the well-known book by Pierre-Yves McSween: Do you really need it ? : one question to free you [1].
For background, my partner and I spent the last weekend at a friends' house with their two adorable children, ages three and one, respectively.
As usual, we were all gathered in the kitchen with a glass of wine a few minutes after our arrival. As a passionate cook, I couldn't help but notice a gorgeous new box that held a sausage-making machine! What a fantastic idea! Why hadn't I considered that earlier? I could make my own sausages with the spices I prefer and probably for a much lower cost if I had such a machine.
I began looking into getting one of these tiny wonders as soon as we returned. I eventually discovered that my stand mixer had extra accessories, such as a meat grinder[2] that cost $149 (taxes included) and the ability to make my own sausages, which was incredibly affordable!
Note: this is not an advertisement for this brand; the point is to show what the accessory I am referring to. I do not make any profit by posting this link.

The grocery list


The other day, when I was grocery shopping, I began to pay closer attention to the ingredients and the overall weight of the sausages I usually purchase... merely to provide me with a starting point for my shopping list..

 Based on my observations, a package containing 4 standard sausages weighs approximately 1 pound, or ¼ pound each.

I intend to use what I have at home because we all have a well-stocked spice drawer and it will help us save money on future sausage purchases.

A pork shoulder, a sausage casing tube, and spices are required for our base, according to the many sausage recipes[5] I could find. You can add white wine, fresh garlic, and a small amount of cheese or bacon to this.

Anyway, let's start with the essentials, so this is my shopping list:

Please take note that the prices are estimates based on what I could find at the time of writing. At the time of reading this post, prices might have changed.
Grocery list
- Sausage casings
 - Bone-in pork shoulder roast
 - Spices
If a basic sausage weighs ¼ pound, how much would it cost me to make it myself?.
Now let's get the math started:
Sausage casings
25lb 20lb x 1 4 lb = $0.3125 / Sausage
Bone-in pork shoulder roast
$12.76 3lb x 1 4 lb = $1.0633 / Sausage

A simple homemade sausage would ultimately cost me the following, just in raw materials:

$1.38

Let's compare this price to what a store-bought package of sausages would cost. I did some research and found a deal for 4 sausages at $8.99 (total weight 1 pound, so similar to my sausages). which provides us with a sausage at roughly:

$2.25

So I would save $0.87 on ingredients only if I made my own sausages.

The utensil


Now let's factor in our new accessory.
By saving $0.87 on each sausage, we could:
Price of my accessory Economy per sausage = $149 $0,87 = 172 Sausages

Therefore, it would take 172 sausages for my new purchase to break even.
Our family usually consumes 10 sausages per meal, 4 times a year; therefore, in order to break even, we would require roughly:

4 years and 4 months

The Extras


Please take note that I left out the following to make the calculations easier:
  • the amount of time spent (As they say, time is money!)
  • the electricity (an extra cost)
  • the inflation; it is assumed that both basic and processed goods (such as sausages) will experience the same rate of inflation.
  • the obsolescence of my appliance
  • and the small extras (bacon, cheese, white wine, etc.) that I would undoubtedly add to my sausages.


The social aspect, family activities, our children's food education, flavor discovery, and—above all—the acknowledgment of our farmers, breeders, and all other participants in our processing and distribution chain were all aspects of this process that I overlooked.

Conclusion


In the end, I decided not to purchase this kitchen accessory because the potential profit seemed so small, if not nonexistent, in comparison to sampling the various sausage varieties I could find at the supermarket.

Additionally, it will likely take me a great deal of trial and error to find the ideal recipe—something that our lovely Quebec businesses already do for us.

Last but not least, the durability of our appliances honestly worries me a little. I had the chance to read on a few blogs, and based on what I could see, a stand mixer has a lifespan of roughly five years; in other words, this was another factor that influenced my choice.

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References


Books:


  • [1] McSween, Pierre-Yves: Do you really need it ? : one question to free you financially; ISBN: 9780735273658; Toronto [Ont.] : Random House of Canada, [2018]; 316 pages.


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