[speakeasy]

I just made myself breakfast here. A few eggs, bacon, tea, fruit, yogurt and french toast. Between cooking, eating and cleaning up I'd say about an hour went by. As an independent contractor, I bill my clients $50/hr. So as an opportunity cost, that breakfast cost me $50 if you want to look at it that way. And that's not including the money I spent on the food and the time and gas to drive to the supermarket and back. I could've gone to IHOP or Denny's and gotten the same breakfast or close to it for under $7-10.

Conventional wisdom says that cooking your own meals is most economical, but I'm not so sure about that. I'm leaning towards the idea that if you are a bachelor, it's more cost effective to eat out. And I think it's more time-effective too because you spend less time walking around supermarkets and there's no clean up afterward. It might become more effective to cook if you are cooking for a family. If you have 2 or 3 kids, then you have the economies of scale benefit. It doesn't take anymore time to cook spaghetti for 4 people than it does for 1, and if you buy in family sizes, you are saving money. So then it probably makes sense.

The main advantage to cooking for yourself is for health reasons. You know exactly what's going into your food and you control the ingredients.

I'm lucky to live within close walking/biking distance of many international cuisine restaurants. One of my favorite things is riding my bike down the street to my favorite kebab shop and sitting right out there on the sidewalk eating when it's a nice day out.

[james]

In DC Metro Area - cook

Everything is too expensive, I spend about $50-$100 just for breakfast and/or lunch a week to eat downtown.

[duncanidaho]

I prefer going over to a relatives house and eat the food they cook. It's healthy, it's cheap, and I like their cooking.

[Peoloom]

depends on what you cook, I guess. I spend an hour at the grocery store each week, but I eat lean cuisines or pasta for dinner every night. Both of those take only about 5-10 minutes to cook and are extremely cheap.

[Roosh]

I like knowing with some certainty what's going in my food. I'm generally distrustful of the food chain and packaged foods like sausage, microwavable snacks, or anything containing partially hydrogenated oil and corn syrup. In a low end restaurant you're rolling the dice with the food they serve you and to make it taste better they load it with unhealthy amounts of butter, salt, or oil. I make omelettes that i consider healthy because of the tiny amount of butter i use.

Also, short of completely growing my own food, I do get more satisfaction from preparing my meals than i would buying it. That can't be measured with a monetary cost-benefit analysis. I do have a basil plant and plucking the little leaves to put into dishes makes me very happy for some odd reason.

[Tug]

This is the best $30 I have ever spent. Poached egg sandwiches every morning with maybe 30 seconds of work. There's a larger version that does four slices and two eggs at the same time as well.

[zorgon]

I'm with Roosh, I don't entirely trust food I didn't prepare myself. As far as time goes, yeah, it takes a while to prepare food, and it doesn't help that I live by myself, but I'll just cook enough that it'll last me a week easily. You have to be OK with eating the same thing as yesterday (and the day before), but then you can just warm it up in 2 mins and you're all set. Yesterday after getting back from a business trip where I ate too much greasy food, I cooked myself a nice big pot of vegetable soup that I'll be eating for the rest of the week.

Restaurant eating doesn't necessarily save time when you consider travel time, waiting to order, waiting for the check, etc. Fast food can save time, but unless I'm traveling I avoid it, and even then I look for something like Subway where I can get something that isn't full of grease.

Anyway, there are plenty of fast, simple, cheap options. Fruit takes no time to prepare. Worried about it spoiling? Get canned fruit, I like pineapple (but avoid the stuff where they use syrup rather than fruit juice). Throw in some yogurt (buy the big containers, not the tiny ones, it'll last a few weeks just fine) and you've got breakfast.

[Roosh]

Fast Food Nation is a good book to read about the modern food chain

[surfallday]

i think it depends on what makes you happier. Most ppl get lots of satisfaction from dining out, but once you get in the habit of cooking it may be more rewarding and less appealing to eat out/take out, so personally i suggest do both. learn to cook either way so you can make a choice.

[Trotter]

I think it all comes down to how long your mouth stays open.

When I was completely single it was cheaper for me to eat out because I only ate one meal a day. Usually, it was a drive thru special of some sort. A Big Mac meal, or KFC, would run me about $10 bucks a trip. Sometimes I would get a little extra something, but I wasn't a glutenous fool. Or I would order a large pizza and feast on it for two days. And also snacks really isn't my kind of thing. I would think the average bachelor would eat 2-3 times a day.

When I started grocery shopping I was spending about $400/mth. But maybe because I wasn't so much interested in Hot Pockets than I was preparing to entice ladies. Actually, come to think of it... I have no clue.

[duncanidaho]

(08-24-2008 11:57 PM)surfallday Wrote:  

"... learn to cook either way so you can make a choice."

In one of the "extras" in the DVD for "Once Upon A Time In Mexico," Robert Rodriguez has a 10 minute cooking school short on how to cook Puerco Pibil. I like what he says about cooking, "...Not knowing how to cook, is like not knowing how to f*ck, and you gotta eat for the rest of your life..,"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gO8EiScBE...com/304137

(I tried spelling f*ck with the proper vowel, and the f word got changed to "caress." Interesting.)

[broken]

(08-25-2008 03:02 AM)Trotter Wrote:  

I think it all comes down to how long your mouth stays open.

When I was completely single it was cheaper for me to eat out because I only ate one meal a day. Usually, it was a drive thru special of some sort. A Big Mac meal, or KFC, would run me about $10 bucks a trip. Sometimes I would get a little extra something, but I wasn't a glutenous fool. Or I would order a large pizza and feast on it for two days. And also snacks really isn't my kind of thing. I would think the average bachelor would eat 2-3 times a day.

When I started grocery shopping I was spending about $400/mth. But maybe because I wasn't so much interested in Hot Pockets than I was preparing to entice ladies. Actually, come to think of it... I have no clue.

I've tried both, and I can only make either signficantly cheaper, if I eat the same kinds of foods over and over again.

But I like variety.

[Roosh]

If you don't mind tuna helper you can eat for $1.50 a lunch if you split a box into two portions. I ate tuna helper almost daily for lunch for almost 4 years

[dr.twitch]

i think its a hassle for most people because they are not organized. There is no efficiency. They don't know what they want, they don't have the food on hand, the food needs to be prepared, then they have to fiddle with cooking and cleaning.

I shop twice a week. One big shop, one small top up. I cut up most of my vegtables the moment i get home. I package food, etc. Then i have about 10 meals i eat through most of the week. Which i prepare, in bulk, ahead of time. All the meat gets frozen in the marinade i intend to eat it in. I cook 3-4 meals in a pop. Then its just a matter of pulling the chopped veg out of the ziplock bag when i want it. Frozen bags of fibrous veg are a whole level of awesomeness in their own right. its 8:30pm here in aus. Ive got several servings of chicken and steak defrosting, a fridge full of hardboiled eggs, 4 salads with fruit waiting for meat, one container with eggs and cheese in it for breakfast. some frozen veg on the sink waiting for me to stir fry the chicken. I think i am averaging about $5 au a meal.

This saves me lots of time and effort. Lots of thinking about what i am going to eat. Trips out, etc. Plus i get to control what i eat. Then i just through some in the cold bag and take it too uni and store it in my locker. nuke it if i need too.

By the calorie i think that fast food is cheaper. But there is more to nutrition then calories. I spend about the same amount of money as i would if i ate out. But i eat so much better. Plus dont get as fat.

Its a skill that requires you to learn how to cook, shop, prepare food, identify challenges, anticipating problems. You get out what you put in. I find it funny that people claim the biggest reason that they dont eat healthy is that they dont have time. Yet the average time spent staring at media (tv/inet/consoles) increases every year. I am sure its a linear relationship.

[Roosh]

Also a lot of people say "I don't know how to cook."

Yes, everyone else was born with this ability.

[Trotter]

Cooking isn't hard really. You follow the recipe and if you don't like it try a different recipe.

[dr.twitch]

(09-02-2008 12:50 PM)Trotter Wrote:  

Cooking isn't hard really. You follow the recipe and if you don't like it try a different recipe.

Yeah, after awhile you start noticing familiar patterns, then you can just wing it.

[Bernie]

(09-04-2008 05:50 AM)dr.twitch Wrote:  

(09-02-2008 12:50 PM)Trotter Wrote:  

Cooking isn't hard really. You follow the recipe and if you don't like it try a different recipe.

Yeah, after awhile you start noticing familiar patterns, then you can just wing it.

Cooks Illustrated is a great magazine. Their recipes are designed to simplify favorite/fancy recipes without giving up taste.

You can pick it up at Barnes and Noble or Williams-Sonoma.

They give VERY explicit instructions. Instead of saying "brown the meat" and the novice having to wonder how brown? For how long? over what temperature?, Cooks Illustrated will say "brown meat for 3 mins on high heat, flip over and brown 3 more minutes."

They also have photos AND they explain the science behind the cooking, which is pretty neat. In one article, they explained why sometimes you get that outer layer of green around the yolk of a hard boiled egg.

[Basil Ransom]

I'm a lazy college student with barely any cooking experience (pasta, eggs).

I've been eating out for every meal this year 'til recently, but I want to save money, so I bought sandwich bread, deli meat and cheese, and now I can easily make tasty meals for half the price of going out (a 1/4 lb deli meat + 2 slices of bread, a slice of cheese, brown mustard and mayonnaise amounts to less than 2 bucks)*. The only real prep time is optional: toasting bread and cutting up onions and lettuce. Next time I go I'm going to look for precut lettuce and onions, and maybe some capers. Even if you make a huge sandwhich, I can't see the cost going over $4.

Prices at my supermarket, not sure if they're representative: ~$4.50 a lb for deli meats and cheese sold by at the butcher's counter, $2 or $3 for a loaf of sandwich bread.

Any other ideas for cheap tasty, easy meals?

[Trotter]

Ramen noodles.

Depending on the grocery store it can be about 4-12 packages for a buck. That really got me through some tough times. Of course, you can spice up the Ramen in different ways to make it into a more interesting meal. Sometimes I like to add some ingredients like peppers, or some kind of a cheap sausage type product like Jimmy Deans. I've even managed to convert one in a gumbo style meal. One meal would probably be about $0.75. But that greatly depends on how cheaply you can get the Ramen.

I also recommend to do your food shopping at Target. Yep, Target. My options between grocery stores are Harris Teeter, Safeway, and Target. Target hands down has the overall chepeast prices on the same foods. I love the Chunky ready-to-eat soups. Harris Teeter is always the most expensive and it runs anywhere from $2.50 to $3.25 a can. Safeway is usually about .20 cheaper on average than Harris Teeter. At Target I can get the same soup for $1.82. And it's not just on the soups but all of their food items are generally much cheaper. They don't carry produce or meants, but you can find an array of dried, frozen, and canned stuff there.

Target also has some pretty outrageous deals such as I bought two boxes of chicken nuggets for $5 that normally retails for about $3.50 each. I bought a Red Barron pizza at half price, and a bag of Ruffles that was over a buck off I think. Sales for Safeway and HT generally means a few pennies off the list price which basically amounts to nothing if you're shopping for one.

Also, cook in bulk. Pulled pork, shrimp gumbo, chilli are stuff that can be made very cheaply. Pulled pork you can make for about $7-10 with a crock pot and it can last a very long time meal wise. For one person you probably could get about 10 meals out of it. Eat it straight, as a sandwich or whatever is your fancy.

[Tyler]

There is a state of mind that transcends time and money to me. I get it sometimes when I do something like cook a meal for myself or occasionally a few friends as well. I guess maybe it's the feeling that I spontaneously created such a thing that, most of the time, tastes really good and has my own style or flare added in.

Matter of fact, now that I think of it, my life recently has consisted of thinking of the things ahead of me that I set out to do as small goals or conquests and subliminally feeling my way through them like water finds its way through the cracks. Everything from brushing my teeth to taking the scuffs off the walls in my new apartment. It helped me through a time where I wasn't really getting a whole lot of fulfillment out of life, just kinda going through the motions.

Plus, I think that a place only feels like home to me if I can occasionally smell a faint scent of Worchestershire sauce or the smell that you get after a morning of frying eggs on a skillet and etc. etc.

[WhaddupBoosh]

Cook for yourself definitely. Once you start doing the research about the nature of our food supply you soon realize that everything is designed to make you as sick as possible. The amount of omega 6 fats, high fructose corn syrup, preservatives, carcinogens and other compounds is absolutely staggering. If you tried, you could not come up with a way of eating more likely to make you sick and fat than the standard american diet. I usually cook my food in bulk, it takes about 1.5 hours to cook for the week. If I am having friends over I cook more complicated recipes but usually it is similar to the following:

Breakfast: eggs, hardboiled or fried, cooked for the entire week.

Lunch: meat or fish on a giant salad

Dinner: Rice, beans, meat, vegetables.

[Veloce]

Definitely better to cook. I wouldn't eat at IHOP or Denny's if someone paid me. Not because of snobbery (I love diner breakfasts) but because health is a major concern of mine and Roosh is correct that chain restaurants typically use highly processed everything.

These days when I cook it's rarely multiple components. When I get home from the gym I'll make myself a 4 egg omelette and that's it. Not eating bread, I don't need bacon or freshly squeezed OJ. I'll do breakfasts like those every once in a while if I've got a girl over but it's the exception rather than the rule.

The more you cook, the more efficiently you cook. This means clean as you go. Granted I do this for a living, but Speak I could make your breakfast and have the whole thing cooked and cleaned up in 15 minutes. I move fast, and I usually eat fast too. Cooking is such an ingrained part of my day that I do it like I brush my teeth or put on my shoes. Quickly and without fuss. This takes some time as a cook, to get that comfortable with how food behaves, but I'd say a few months of regular practice can get you there easily enough. Once you get comfortable with how food behaves it's easier to multitask too.

[OGNorCal707]

I don't cook, although I'm sure I'd be great at it and everything I have spent the time to make turned out really well. As a single guy I agree with the OP's post about the benefits of eating out, although sure there are major drawbacks. Overall I'd say cooking for yourself in the long run will probably prove to be cheaper, but there is the obvious time spent prepping, cooking, cleaning, etc.

As a single guy the only way I really see it being worth it is if you cook large meals and are cool with eating leftovers of that meal a couple times afterwards. Also, you want to buy just enough ingredients or ingredients that you can use and combine to make other meals. One thing that I hated was buying a bunch of stuff for one meal, not using it for other meals, and then having vegetables and stuff go bad on me.

I spend way to much money on eating out, but one thing I do like which saves me some loot is buying a bunch of pre-made meals from my favorite local organic grocery store's deli. I can buy enough food to have 2-4 dinners throughout the week and while it's not cheap, it's certainly not as expensive as eating out at a restaurant. One thing I am guilty of which a lot of guys wouldn't condone is eating frozen meals. I got to tip my hat to Trader Joes because they do have some really dank frozen pizzas and Indian meals that are almost comparable to restaurant quality (depending on where you live) and they are reasonably priced too.

[megatron]

Pork Chops Slathered in Montreal Steak Seasoning cooked in a Crockpot FTW.