If you teach lessons on different meats or you teach about shopping and consumer skills or you teach both, this Talking Points: Cost per Serving vs Price per Pound activity may be a good option for you. This activity could easily be incorporated as a stand alone lesson or an extension activity or even a sub plan when you know you will be out, but want students to have a meaningful assignment.

Set

• Begin by showing students the slide deck prompt titled “Which is the Better Deal?” (see attachments)
• Discuss the answer which is to think about the cost per serving instead of the cost per pound.
• To further illustrate this concept, read the article titled, “Think Cost-Per-Serving, Not Price-Per-Pound to Cut Cost, Reduce Waste” individually or together as a class.

Materials

• iPads or Laptops
• Projector & Screen

Activities

• After reading the article, assign students the corresponding questions. Note: my examples are based on different options of chicken. However, this could easily be adapted to other meats.
• When students get to problems #5-#9, they may refer to the linked charts within the article if necessary as they calculate their answers.
• Before students rank the BEST and LEAST value meat options, you may want to be sure their calculations are correct as well their thought process on the number of meals per meat selection.
• After discussing the calculations, have students rank the meat options and answer prompts #12-13 and then discuss their answers. It’s important to understand that families with growing teens or young adults may require bigger portions than those with young children. The same can be true if older members of your family live within your household.
• For prompt #14, students will create a Google Slide presentation showcasing their leftover meals. These can be shared as a class in order to give students many ideas on how to use their leftover chicken so as to not waste any food.
• Finally, students complete the final prompt sharing their 3 key takeaways of what they’ve learned that may be helpful in the future for meal planning and shopping.

Attachments

• Which is the Better Deal? Intro Activity (please make a copy)
• Article: Think Cost Per Serving, Not Price Per Pound to Cut Cost, Reduce Waste
• Cost Per Serving Article Questions (PDF)
• Cost Per Serving Article Key (PDF)

Photo by Kevin Malik