[shadowwolf007]

Yeah BA is way over-priced, but aside from a few of their completely nonsensically simple recipes I've never made anything comparable for $2 - $3 a person. The $5.50 mark sounds about right for me in the midwest and I'm buying pretty good quality ingredients still. I often splurge and go to $8 - $10 a person but that's totally excessive :)

I've cooked and bought groceries in NYC several times and while the prices are definitely competitive with some hunting, the 99c whole chicken I found was total garbage and basically was like water and salt.

My step-dad used to swear he couldn't tell a difference between the $1.99 special chicken and the regular stuff I bought that was $4 - 6.99. To me the $1.99 tastes like eating saline solution (I've had saline injections, it tasted like that to me). Maybe it's just a question of taste.