I have found that at times convenience foods are worth buying and having to save time or to cut cooking time. With the work I have put into re-organising my kitchen comes the ability to make some changes even with my limited cooking resources. I am trying to balance cheap meals, some easier meals and healthy meals so this is taking some thought and planning. 

 What convenience foods do you find worth the price? What do you select when you are trying to make healthier choices?

 My convenience foods are mostly the prepackaged stuff. Yogurt tubes, fruit juice etc Cheese strings for the kids. Great for car trips. Pre-shredded cheese (usually $6 per 300-400gms here on sale. only buy on sale).  Spaghetti sauce,  french fries,  Burgers, frozen fish sticks, canned beans, frozen veggies, frozen pizzas, Kraft dinner,  pizza pops, burritos etc. For homestay students and hubby's lunches - prepacked goodies like rice crispies squares, wagon wheels, cookies. All stuff that you can make from scratch but I rarely do :) I buy usually everything on sale only and keep a stock handy. I try to buy the healthiest versions. I have resources the cheapest places for most of the items.    At preschool, they are not allowed to bring any sweets etc. Just healthy food.   I try to buy healthy items, like 100% juice only, low fat burgers. Pizza pops etc are for hubbys lunches when I don't feel like making sandwiches.  I admit the Kraft dinner, frozen pizza, burgers, hotdogs are more for my husband. When I am not home or sick, he can make them for dinner since that is the limit of his cooking skills With two kids under 4 you all know you don't feel like cooking some days!

 Burritos with spaghetti sauce and cheese over them is an easy meal that my hubby and any homestay student no matter what country they are from like to eat.

 I think prepackaged foods go with lifestyle choices.  We use many of them at different times, not so much the cheese ones as hubby is lactose intolerant, but we use the rice a roni for meatballs and gravy, we use the frozen burritos, taquitos, family sized lasagna(cut into meal sized portions and frozen), mini meatloaves in gravy for individual lunches and dinners, precooked sausage patties, canned beans, boxed dry soup mixes, etc.  I love to have them on and even though I am a SAHW for ocassional use. 

It is true we are trying to get back to home processed foods and my own mixes but I doubt we will ever be free from convenience food items.  : ) 

 I have found (in my organic store) that prepared canned beans are cheaper per pound than dry beans (even in bulk)--this defies all logic, I know, but it's true.  My husband also requires a low-sodium diet, so I make concessions for him with regard to salsas, pasta sauce, the canned beans, and black olives.  Mayonnaise is another hard-to-replicate-without-tons-of-sodium food, so I buy eggless mayo that's low sodium.

I have big, nasty food allergies (wheat, gluten, dairy), so I buy canned coconut milk, pre-bagged rice flour (if I could find it in bulk, I'd buy it), and substitute calcium carbonate powder for baking soda (low sodium) when I bake.

Food allergies and ongoing health concerns sometimes make convenience foods a necessity because they cannot be replicated from scratch.  For this reason, I keep the shopping list short and stock up during sales.