Save Money by Buying More?

Money Ning has an interesting post about saving money by buying more food at the grocery store. The example he gave is of buying a $13.49 bag of frozen precooked chicken wings. He pointed out that having the chicken wings at home makes it less likely that his family will eat out. It may not be the same as cooking a home-cooked meal, but if they're too busy, or as he frankly admits, too lazy, food is easy to come by - maybe even easier than eating out since the food is already in the house.

Money Ning got me thinking. I tend to think that I *should* cook from scratch because it's healthier and less expensive. When I do use prepared items, they are usually fresh (so we're not getting preservatives) or at least a healthy version in some way (organic chicken stock, for example). Now that I have two little boys, though, and especially now that Tyler's eating solids, I think that I will have to more seriously consider buying more prepared ingredients and taking more shortcuts in my cooking. But you can bet I'll be scrutinizing those labels to make sure we're still eating pretty healthfully.