Man, I did the same thing with those precooked burger patties at Costco and it was night and day. A pack of 12 cooked patties ran me about $14 while the same weight in raw ground beef was closer to $18 once I factored in the propane and the mess. I also started buying the cooked shrimp for shrimp salad because raw shrimp at my store is nuts and I always overcook it anyway. The one thing I won't do precooked is ribs. Every rack I've bought tasted like it sat under a heat lamp for a week, so I stick to making those myself on the weekend. Your notebook idea is smart, I just keep a running list in my phone notes and check it before I head to the store.

Went to a free resume workshop at the community center in my town and it was honestly a game changer. The guy running it was a retired hiring manager and he made me do the same thing, numbers on every bullet. Turns out saying I "handled inventory" means nothing, but saying I tracked 200 parts a week and cut shortages by 30 percent got me real looks. He also made me delete my whole objective and put a short summary at the top instead. The big thing I learned was to just show what I actually did, not what I hoped to do. Two callbacks in nine days beats six months of silence every time, so keep hitting up any free local thing you can find.