Cooking at home is an excellent way to save money. But if you’re accustomed to dining out for most meals, it can be a difficult transition. Fortunately, there’s plenty of help available on the web.
The Lazy Person’s Guide to Eating More Meals at Home is a good place to start:
If you read personal finance blogs long enough, you’re going to get the idea hammered into you that cooking for yourself rather than eating out all the time is a key part of getting your budget under control. But what if you’re lazy, and a crappy cook to boot? Then what? Well, I’m lazy, and I used to be a crappy cook [occasionally still am!]. But these days, almost 100% of our meals are cooked from scratch, by me. This did not happen overnight, that’s for sure. So, here’’s what worked for me.
The author advises that people making the transition from dining out to eating at home should:
- Start small — Pick one day a week to make meals at home, or two, or three. Start with easy recipes.
- Start with simple ingredients — Don’t make it complicated. Don’t be afraid to start with prepackaged foods. (One of my favorite meals has always been a can of chili. It always will be. I just bought a case of the stuff at Costco yesterday for 86-cents a can.)
- Find a good source of recipes — Borrow some cookbooks from the library or from a friend. Find one you like. Learn to cook from it. Copy out your favorite recipes.
- Use the Taco Bell approach — Learn to recombine a few basic ingredients into multiple tasty dishes.
I have friends who dine out for nearly every meal: breakfast, lunch, and dinner. I’m sure they have a good time and eat well, but this is an expensive habit. Some people don’t eat at home because they don’t know how to cook. It’s easy to learn, though. And cooking is a skill that you can use for the rest of your life.
AskMetafilter often fields questions about cooking at home. Here are some of my favorite:
- brilliant “dinner hacks”? “I am looking for unique ideas for making quick, easy, heathy, inexpensive dinners (in my case, for two) every night… or at least most nights. “
- What do you think is the cheapest, healthiest, tastiest, easiest meal to prepare?
- And for advanced cooks: How do you impress your dinner guests?
With just a little practice, you can learn to make tasty, nutritious meals quickly. And in time you will find that you’ve mastered a particular recipe or two and can take pride in serving delicious food to friends and family. (I make a killer clam chowder.)
Mark Bittman’s How to Cook Everything is a good choice for a beginning cook. Bittman keeps his recipes simple. He also does a fantastic job of explaining basic concepts so that the average reader can understand, for example, why you use one cut of beef for a roast and another for a steak.
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There’s also a direct correlation between eating meals out and eating home when it comes to obesity. Fat people eat out more often. People that eat home cooked meals tend to be thinner.
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I know that this is true in general, though personally it’s not. (I’m overweight despite not eating out often.)
There is a huge financial cost to being overweight, and that’s something I want to explore in the future at Get Rich Slowly. I have paid thousands of dollars in the past decade because I’ve allowed my health to slide, especially my weight. This ultimately caused an injury that required expensive knee surgery. But that’s not all: obesity has a negative physical *and* mental toll.
Little things like eating home cooked meals can have huge consequences in the long term.
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Money Saver: Cooking at home for non-chefs…
The Get Rich Slowly weblog does a nice roundup of resources for folks who want to eat out less to save some dough but who are all thumbs in the kitchen. I have friends who dine out for nearly every……
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I think most people are not lazy, they just like food that tastes good. They know that their food tastes bad, so they go out to eat. If you tell people that cooking at home is quick and easy, you are basically competing with McDonald’s. That’s their sales pitch — just get to a drive through and 30 seconds later you’ll have something deep fried in your lap. You will never beat fast food on quick and easy, but you can beat them on taste, so here’s my revised list of bullet points for cooking at home:
Start big – buy a big knife, a big 12″ saute pan that can go in the oven, a big cutting board and a big pot. A subscription to cooksillustrated.com is $4 a month, with a 14 day trial, so go there for advice on equipment. One weekend, take a friend to a local bistro-style restaurant, and order a variety of different things. When you get home, look up some of the dishes on cooksillustrated.com. Some of the recipes will go into great detail about all the possible variations and methods. Pick one of these, because it will tell you what’s important, what you can safely ignore, and what you can play around with. Then spend a whole day buying ingredients and cooking.
Start with ingredients that taste good – prepackaged food is one foot in the drive through.
Find a good source of recipes – ignore anything that promises quickness and ease, or that asks you to express yourself. If this list applies to you, we’ve already established that your way of expressing yourself is by spraying cheese out of a can.
Don’t use the Taco Bell approach – if you want to go to Taco Bell, go to Taco Bell. A good recipe with real ingredients never gets old.
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Bittman’s “How to Cook Everthing” was my gateway cookbook. It was my first (and is still my favorite) but is now accompanied by a full shelf of cookbooks. I can’t recommend Bittman enough. If you’re serious about learning to cook really good food, buy this book.
My favorite is “Suateed Pork Chops, Eight Ways” on p457. The best variation is probably the w/ mustard. I’ve impressed many a date with this one.
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@ MrTeacup:
Your suggestions are exactly why people tend to eat out. The article is suggesting that if you have to start out by eating prepared foods then fine, at least it’s a start. Hopefully over time the prepared foods can transform into scratch meals.
“ignore anything that promises quickness and ease” – virtually all of my favourites are quick and painless. If every meal you are preparing takes a lot of effort — chances are you are going to eat out instead.
If you want to break the eating out habit you have to find a handful of quick and easy fall back dishes (which are hopefully still healthy). My favourite fall back is asparagus (lightly sautéed in a little lemon juice) and scrambled eggs — takes 3 minutes to make and always tastes good. Is it the greatest dish you’ll ever taste? No, but it takes less effort than going to a diner or drive-thru — and more importantly it costs less.
The Taco Bell approach means:
Using the same set of ingredients to create many different dishes.
Spinach salad = Spinach quiche = Spinach omelette with only slight variations in ingredients.
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Hi.
Your advice is great. Cooking can be easy – but as with anything else, it’s easy to be overwhelmed.
Some points:
1. Always start with a game plan. This is really the hardest step.
Your game plan can be simple (1 meal for 2 people), but it works best if the plan covers the basic angles (1 fish meal for 2 people with a vegetable side dish). Two quick ways to make this easy:
* designate a meat (or protein source) a night.
* buy whatever’s in season and cook it up fresh whenever possible.
Monday: Pasta
Wednesday: Beef
2. Recipe sources. Cookbooks are great; but I prefer the internet. I can type into google: “recipe beef 30 min” and I get several hundred thousand hits for recipies that take 30 minutes (or less) to prepare with beef. A search on “recipe heart healthy 30 min” gives me almost as many heart healthy main dishes.
Get your recipies as an early part of the game plan. Once you have an idea of all the ingredients you need, write them down and take the list with you to shop.
3. Buy fresh.
Whenever possible buy the ingredient fresh or frozen rather than canned. The cheapest vegetables tend to be the ones in season, and also are the most healthy. The more of these you can squeeze into your meals, the better.
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Cooking for yourself is definately the best way to eat healthy. I hate eating out. It’s expensive, rarely healthy, and always too salty. Once you learn a few tips, it doesn’t take that long to throw a healthy meal together.
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I’m overweight. Not a lot, just a little. I’ve got about 15 pounds I need to get rid of, then I’ve got about 10 of what they call vanity pounds. My wife has been great with finding things for me to eat, which I like, which are healthy, or at least healthier than what I’d have normally eaten.
I like mexican food, burritos, quesadillas, etc. So, my wife finds these wraps with zero fat (not tortillas), and we buy zero fat refried beans (Taco Bell brand). Add to that some deli sliced turkey or chicken breast, some light shreaded cheese and a favorite salsa of choice (mine is a roasted pepper with corn).
I lay down my wrap. Put a dollop of refried beans on it, it it looks like it won’t be enough, then you’ve probably done it just right, otherwise you won’t be able to close the thing. Then, three slices of chicken breast, a heaping teaspoonful of salsa followed by a sprinkling of cheese. I fold over the wrap a bit, then fold in the sides, then fold the wrap the rest of the way. I then plunk the thing down (wrap opening side first) onto a fry-pan on medium heat for a few minutes. Then I flip the wrap over for a couple more minutes.
My wife adds spinach or lettuce or other veggies to hers.
They’re quick, easy, cheap and taste good.
Quesadillas are a little easier. Less toppings on half of the wrap, fold in half. cook. flip. cook. Cut (if you’re in no hurry). Eat.
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My problem is that I am not home very often. I go to school in Manhattan, live in Brooklyn, and in a typical day I leave my apartment around 9 in the morning and don’t come back until 9 or 10 at night. I try to prepare foods and bring them into the city in tupperware dishes to eat later, but it’s difficult and takes up a lot of space. I also take my laptop into the city in my backpack and I am wary about carrying in too much food in tupperware for fear that it will open up and get all over my computer en route.
Anyone else have this problem? Any good suggestions? I have a microwave at school so it’s not a problem to heat up some leftovers; but I don’t think there’s any way I can bring enough food in to last me 12 hours.
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I’ve never posted here before, but this is a subject about which I have thought and read and worked for a long time. So I apologize for the length of this post.
I have been cooking seriously for 21 years; when we got married, we divvied up household duties, and my wife was very frank about having neither the interest nor the skill in cooking. I had both. I have some thoughts on this subject that may be helpful. (They may not, as well. If so, my bad.)
I’m not sure about the Bittman book that’s recommended above; I’ve looked at it, and frankly I prefer the latest edition of Fannie Farmer, edited by Marion Cunningham. Of my nearly 200 cookbooks, it’s still the one I go to when I either need something simple, such as pancakes or waffles that don’t need to have the egg whites beaten separately, or when I’m going to cook a food I’ve never tried before. The instructions are very clear and basic. And Cunningham’s “The Supper Book” is a gem — simple, basic, delicious foods with short ingredient lists and easy cooking technique. (And — don’t laugh — her “Cooking With Children” is an EXCELLENT learning tool; five years after I bought it, my 12-year-old can make soup, bread, pizza, salad, cake . . .)
I subscribed to Cook’s Illustrated for years. I let it lapse some years back, because I got tired of it. I would NOT recommend it for beginners. Too often, it uses odd (they’d say “innovative”) methods for a given recipe (mashing lemons with a potato masher to make lemonade, for example). In the staff’s zeal for “the best” of the food’s type (and their pretentious nattering about “the best” is another reason I dropped ‘em), the recipes end up NOT teaching how to do the basics. And they are written in a fashion that assumes the reader has a basic understanding of an awful lot of cooking technique the beginner doesn’t need to know.
However you cook, get in the habit of buying the best ingredients. Cheap cookware can’t completely ruin great ingredients, but expensive cookware won’t make the worst ingredients taste good. Farmer’s markets and good butcher shops may be more expensive, but the food you get is terrific and keeps better. Which means less waste.
As to cookware, I’m going to say something that is considered heresy at Cook’s: You gotta have at least one, and probably two, good non-stick skillets. My 10-inch T-Fal is the best one I’ve found, and it’s quite affordable.
My, but I can go on about this. Any questions?
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[...] There’s a handy summary of some eating in guides at Get Rich Slowly that should be of use to every uni student out there – and even those no longer studying but who are trying to save those pennies. Lifehacker has the original story. [...]
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[...] Que cozinhar em casa é mais econômico que comer fora, isso não é novidade, mas por onde começar? O blog Getting Rich Slowly (dicas sobre como economizar dinheiro) tem um post com dicas e referências para aquelas pessoas que sempre quiseram aprender a cozinhar mas não sabem por onde começar. Algumas das dicas: [...]
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[...] eat at home and save money (tags: budget cooking) [...]
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[...] Get Rich Slowly » Learning to Eat More Meals at Home # Start small — Pick one day a week to make meals at home, or two, or three. Start with easy recipes. # Start with simple ingredients — Don’t make it complicated. Don’t be afraid to start with prepackaged foods. (One of my favorite meals has alway (tags: life_and_lifehacks) [...]
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[...] It’s difficult to know how much credence to lend this without reading the entire study. But do you really need another reason not to super-size? (And why are you eating in fast food restaurants, anyhow? Learn to eat more meals at home!) [...]
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[...] Learning to eat (and prepare) more meals at home is an excellent way to reduce your food budget and eat healthfully. Find a source of recipes that you trust and learn to prepare them. (Here’s a good online recipe page that features many cheap and healthy meals.) [...]
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[...] Get Rich Slowly » Learning to Eat More Meals at Home Some very good advice for those of us who eat out more that we should! (tags: cooking lifehacks) [...]
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[...] My wife and I love to eat. We also love to save money. Sometimes it’s difficult to reconcile these competing desires. I’ve written before about learning to eat more meals at home and how to find healthy food on an unhealthy budget. Recently, Bankrate posted an article called 10 Frugal Cooking Tips that Sizzle. Cooking can get expensive if you buy too many kitchen gadgets, make poor grocery choices or panic shop for each night’s supper. We spoke with chefs, caterers and cookbook authors for their insights on eating well without spending a lot. We share their onion pearls of wisdom with you. [...]
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[...] Eat More Meals at Home [...]
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My husband and I were given a subscription to “Cooking for Two” as a wedding gift, and we love it — it’s all recipes that are sized for two people (a few for one, occasionally one for four). No ads. Comes out quarterly.
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[...] Cook your own meals. This is a valuable skill, especially for young adults. If you can learn to eat well on a budget, you’ll be ahead of your peers. [...]
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[...] Popular Entries Healthy Food on an Unhealthy Budget27 Money Tips for College StudentsSurvey: What Does Money Mean to You?A List of Excellent Personal-Development SitesMy eBay Method: 13 Steps to Profitable AuctionsLearning to Eat More Meals at HomeHow I Finally Defeated DandruffWhich Financial Records to Keep (and How Long to Keep Them)Beggars on the Streets of San FranciscoHow to Opt-Out of Credit Card Offers FOREVER [...]
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[...] (For more on this topic read: Healthy food on an unhealthy budget and Learning to eat more meals at home.) [...]
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One of the things I do to save money and time is cook a large batch of something, then divide it up and freeze it for reheating later on. A lot of things can be frozen and reheated–soups, stews, lasagna, pasta sauce, etc.
I always have specific ingredients on hand for quick assembly of meals. In the cupboards I keep rice, pasta, canned beans, canned broth, canned tomatoes and tomato sauce, capers, oils, vinegars, a variety of spices and herbs, canned tuna, canned bamboo shoots, canned water chestnuts, and canned coconut milk.
In the fridge I keep various curry mixes, sun-dried tomatoes, homemade peanut butter, and other items that last a while.
In the freezer I keep ready-to-cook shrimp (bought in bags at the market), ready-to-cook meatballs (homemade, separated with wax paper), frozen berries, frozen peas, pine nuts, chicken breasts, pesto cubes (homemade, frozen in ice trays, then put into freezer bags), and ice-cube-sized chicken broth and beef broth (set in ice trays, then freezer bags). I also keep serving-size containers of soup and other items that I make.
Having all of this stuff around means that, in a pinch, I can make all sorts of dishes such as spaghetti and meatballs, penne shrimp with pesto and pine nuts, Asian stir-fried chicken with rice, Chicken satay, and Thai shrimp with peas, bamboo shoots, and coconut milk.
It takes a while for all of these ingredients to go bad, so it’s not like I have to eat these dishes every day. It’s just a good way to make good, simple food at home. And if you buy the ingredients in bulk or make your own items (peanut butter takes just a couple of minutes), you’ll save lots of money.
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[...] Learning to eat more meals at home [...]
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Paul and I have a little game we play at the dinner table. We like to figure out as closely as we can what our homecooked meal costs to prepare (in ingredients, not time or energy) and compare it to what a restaurant meal costs. Almost every time the homecooked meal is vastly cheaper than a comparable version we would find in a restaurant. We buy most of our food at a local grocery that sells a lot of local and organic foodstuffs. We also grow and preserve a lot of our own food and trade homegrown food with friends and family. This helps cut down our food costs. That said, we like to eat and we like to eat well, so we don’t eat cheaply. We rarely purchase pre-made foods or packaged foods, and nearly everything we make is from scratch. I have an aversion to purchasing meat, fowl, or fish when I don’t know where or who grew/caught it. I feel better about eating local and organic foods.
We also “dine” as a leisure time activity, which can be spendy. I enjoy a good meal out with all of the trappings, especially one shared with friends. The trick for us is trying to limit the number of times we do it in a month.
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I Don’t believe that people should eat healthily to loose weight… Why be limited to rabbits food and forced to eat food you don’t like? I believe you can eat what you want aslong as you burn of the excess fats etc. Its all about getting that perfect equilibrium of food and excercise.
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people shouldnt eat healthily to loose weight, people should eat healthily to stay healthy!! Im not saying just eating lettuce and carrots AT ALL! i lovelovelove food, but (as my mum has and will always say) everything in moderation. cheese is high in fat…but ur body needs fat to work..just not tons of it!
mixing good food and a healthy lifestyle should be fun..just like cooking
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If you’re interested in eating more organic foods, one of the things that you may have trouble getting past is the price tag. After all, organics tend to be a lot more expensive than chemically treated products. The best solution to that, especially if you have the space, is to grow your own organic vegetable garden.
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Wonderful post! if only more families started to eat dinner at home it would prevent child obesity in many children that are suffering from it. Great post. Thanks
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