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2020 Goals: I Will No Longer Employ Any Servants

Yes, that’s right! My next 2020 goal is that I will no longer employ any servants. I can hear the question now. American Dreamer you use a servant? You must be very rich! 

Nope, I am not rich. I would bet that all of you have  employed servants at one time or another.

If you have purchased any kind of convenience food, you are paying for a servant. When you purchase, cut up fruits and vegetables, you are paying for someone or a company to do that for you. Their pay is included in the price you pay and the price is not cheap. Fire those servants and do the cutting yourself! Save that money!


When you purchase any TV type dinner that is just heat and eat, you are paying for the company to make it for you.


When you purchase many things like frozen pizzas, bread, rolls, cinnamon buns in a refrigerated can, cupcakes, cakes, brownies, or cookies at the bakery,  things like Spanish rice packets, mashed potatoes in a box or packet, macaroni and cheese in a box, and a myriad of other prepared meals, you are paying for that.

If you buy spaghetti sauce, spaghettios, ravioli in a can, you are paying for a company to make that.

When I buy Fresh Express salads or salad kits, I am paying a premium for someone else to make them.


Salad dressings is another big one. They are easily made at home. Why pay someone to make them for you? 

Frozen packages like green beans in butter sauce or broccoli with cheese sauce cost you more money than making them yourselves. Why pay a servant to make them for you! Frozen cakes, pies, and many other desserts you are paying for someone  to make for you.

Frozen vegetables with just the vegetable in them are fine. They were frozen at their peak so are cost efficient especially when they are out of season. But you don’t need cheese, butter, or cream sauces on them. If you want sauce on them, make them yourself. 

Buy what ever vegetables are in season for the best prices. But I do check to see which is cheaper per pound, frozen or fresh, and that is what I purchase.  

Snacks, like junk food, you are paying a huge premium for. Have you ever figured out what you are paying per pound for those items? It would blow your mind. I would rather buy meat or poultry than pay the exorbitant prices for junk food. I can make celery and carrot sticks with dip, cheese and meat trays, cut up fruit, pop my own popcorn, etc. for snacks.  

I have been guilty of paying for servants for years. in 2020, I am not going to pay for servants for things that I can make myself. 

We will be sticking to basic ingredients that we can make other things from. Will it be easy? Nope. I will have to think about every purchase I make and the cheapest way to make it.

Certain things like SF  products that I can’t make, like the SF syrups that we use in our coffee would be impossible. But most things I can do myself.

There will be another exception. My grandchildren love ice cream so I will buy that. To make it from scratch would not save us any money. I can buy it cheaply with coupons or at Aldi.


Will we use up what we have already purchased that we can eat that is in our stockpile? Of course, not to would be a waste of money. 

So those things that we pay a hefty price for will be gone from our shopping! 99% of the servants that we pay for will be banished from our shopping. 

Will we go out to dinner once in a while? Sure. But we don’t go out very often. Just a few times a year and the money for that comes from our entertainment budget. Not from our grocery budget.

Fortunately, we have never purchased food from places like Home Chef. I think they are the biggest waste of money there is. You are really paying a huge premium for them to prepare that package for you and you still have to cook it.

Do you pay for servants that you could fire? 

18 replies on “2020 Goals: I Will No Longer Employ Any Servants”

I will buy a cookie at the bakery. We don't exercise self-control so a batch of cookies is devoured in no time. I will also buy sourdough bread, maybe 1/month? I don't have a starter anymore-it's hard to keep when it's not used regularly. I don't buy boxed or bagged foods. The only cans I buy are tuna, tomato paste (I made some from my garden this year for the first time), coconut milk. I buy frozen veggies for when I'm out of fresh or it's just the dregs of winter.

I know you can do it! Have fun in your kitchen 🙂

I do well with most things. I've tried the bagged salad kit, & I don't get enough veggies without the lazy approach, so it's a current tradeoff. We make lots of our own food, so I'm okay to have a few outliers, given they are a small portion of our overall food bill.

I love the salad kits too. But unlike you, I don't work outside the home so we can make our own salads. We all have different priorities and that's ok.

Because it is just me, and I cannot stand at the stove for very long, I will continue to buy spaghetti sauce bogo. We only use about one jar every two weeks. Otherwise, I do not buy prepared food often. But, you are absolutely correct about paying others to work for us.

Spaghetti sauce in a jar is not expensive. But homemade tastes so much better. We each have our limitations and do things differently. I am just letting people know what my goal is.

I bought riced cauliflower today, frozen and thought, boy, am I getting to lazy to cut up cauliflower? I am using it for Christmas dinner as cheesy cauliflower. I do agree though with your post. I try not to use to many servants. Today I am canning bone broth because it just tastes better than the stuff we bought from Costco. Nannie

Hi Nannie,

I know about buying the riced cauliflower. I will be making my own if fresh cauliflower prices come down. $4.00 for a head is ridiculous. I love homemade bone broth.

I wish I could be home full time to do this again. I am working FT and helping my Farmer during the farming months. I love to cook from scratch. We do eat out more than we should but that is our entertainment. We don't go to movies or do sports or hunt/fish/shop. I don't like when Dh buys bakery cookies but he does it to save me time (he says.) Most of our meals are homemade from scratch .
I try very hard to shop the outer aisles of the grocery store and rarely buy prepackaged meals, etc.

Hi AD, this is Chris. Thoughtful post today, and gives a lot to think about. I think I am pretty good about making things from scratch, but not all. I usually have oatmeal for breakfast, but today had Wheat Chex. I don't make my own peanut butter, but we did make freezer jam earlier in the year for granddaughter's pb and j. Just a couple examples of "prepared" foods we use. I agree with you about getting the plain frozen veggies so you can doctor them up yourself. I mostly shop the perimeter of the store also, like a lot of your readers.

You were in my head as I was putting together my grocery list. No frozen dinners and I bought lettuce and a tomato instead of a bagged salad. 🙂

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