Putting Your Money Were Your Mouth Is · 9:44pm Jan 20th, 2022
I’ve mentioned in the past that I like to cook for myself on the weekends. I usually make large meals that will last several days. You’d be amazed how long food can last, especially if you’ve got a vacuum sealer like I do. Aside from that, I enjoy cooking.
This past weekend was different. I just wasn’t feeling it, and none of the recipes I looked at interested me. I had to do something though, as I didn’t expect my current reserves to last the whole week. More like two days. Then I got an idea.
I’ve been trying to count calories these last few months. It’s not always an easy task, especially when dealing with leftovers I didn’t make myself (my dad doesn’t measure anything in his meals (and yet somehow they’re always delicious (it’s a gift))). I’m a small guy with a small build, so I need a lot less than your average homo sapien lest I gain a lot of weight. Making my own meals… complicates the self-monitoring process.
But what if I knew what my calorie intake was with each meal? What if I just bought the pre-made stuff and ate that for a week? Could that be a solution when I wasn’t up to cooking? Of course, we all know the typical claims: cooking for yourself is cheaper, and probably healthier too. But I didn’t see anything wrong with experimenting, so that’s what I did. I bought enough ready-made meals to last a week, two meals a day. I was doing low-calorie options most of the time so I grabbed some snacks to make up any significant deficits (something I was happy to do since I’ve been denying myself in that regard for the past year).
Now, before you health nuts out there start breaking your keyboards about how calories isn’t the only factor in a healthy diet: I know that. I’m simply focusing on calories here to keep the conversation simple.
Anyway, we get to the point of this blog. When I cook for myself, the ingredients can run between $20 and $50 depending on the specific meal. I’ve gotten used to that.
My grocery bill on Saturday was an eye-popping $100.
…
Learn to cook for yourselves, people. That’s really all I’m trying to get at.
My gf and I get an EveryPlate box every week. 5 meals for 2 people for $60 (about $44 US) a week (although it feels more like 5 meals for 3 people cos we always have leftovers). I think it's worth it to not have to do shopping ourselves or think about what to make. We get varied healthy meals and recipe cards that we've actually started accumulating too.
Buying ready-made meals definitely hurts the pocket more, and they just aren't as nice. Convenience has quite the hefty tax.
For me, I almost always go prepared despite the price because the time I save by not cooking is worth far more to me than the extra monetary cost.
I've always enjoyed cooking, so I already have a decent amount of spices, sauces, etc. Getting the ingredients usually piles up to the 60s or 70s but that usually lasts me a couple of weeks.
Cooking is a great skill to have too. I've got Carnitas going in my slow cooker right now, actually! Yum! Also, it's a lot of fun. It's quite satisfying to make something new and untried and, success or failure, try it out!
It being a lot cheaper is also quite a nice factor. A third of the pork I've got cooking right now was the cost of a light pre-made lunch. And with all the shortages right now, it's never been a better time to learn how to make something for yourself!
Now, handling weight when you love your cooking ... that's a different story. $95 for a three-month rec center membership isn't bad, though.
lmao I just uber eats 90% of my food
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My parents tried a similar service for a while, and I think it ran them something along the lines of $60 a week? Not sure, exactly. They liked it because it got them to try ingredient combinations they'd never thought of before and they enjoyed most of the food, but once they accumulated so many recipes they discontinued the service. My dad, being a highly social creature, enjoys shopping and is able to find most of the ingredients on his own, so he saw no reason to keep getting them delivered.
I like to go shopping. I like being able to select my food and trying out different brands. And I don't see how choosing what to cook should be a chore; I view it sorta like window shopping. You remind me of my cousin and her family, literally ordering everything they could possibly need or want from the internet. Nothing wrong with that – Luna forbid I lecture someone on being an introverted homebody.
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I used to think like that. Then I realized how much of my time is wasted playing video games and I'm like "Seriously, me, you can afford the time."
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I've got a pretty well-stocked spice cabinet at this point. My ingredient hunts usually are the result of things that either can't be stored for long or I simply don't have the room for. My kitchen counter is packed nearly full with small appliances and the like (yet another reason I'm trying to move out). My parents keep buying me these appliances with extremely specific uses that I almost never need but take up more space, like the electric pot that exists specifically to boil water quickly or an electric can opener that's six times the size of my perfectly functional handheld one.
But the food does last. I once made a batch of chili that, when vacuum sealed and frozen, lasted me a whopping three months, and it might have lasted longer if I hadn't eaten all of it.
Also: Did you just recommend... exercise? *arches back and hisses* Away, foul creature! I'll not be poisoned by your dark promises!
Actually, I'm hoping to buy a rowing machine once this whole "buying a house" thing is over and done with. I figure if I'm going to start exercising properly, why not use something that will affect my whole body?
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I do hope you're talking groceries! I know from experience that the fees from such services can as much as double the price of the product.
5629792 my recent appliance purchase that I loved was my air fryer. Really useful XD
I don't have a vacuum sealer though. I've been thinking about it, do you really recommend that? Do you know a good brand?
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I've considered getting an air fryer. Main reason I don't is simply the lack of space to put it! Maybe when I've moved into a house...
If you've got a problem with food going bad before you can eat all of it and don't like throwing food out (makes me feel guilty), then yes, a vacuum sealer is a great product. It's also great if you're like my parents and buy/grow things that you know you won't eat soon; they've got a whole freezer they keep stocked with meats and veggies for the purpose of long-term ingredients storage.
I live entirely on my own and make meals meant to keep me fed for a while. I use my vacuum sealer a lot.
I've got a Food Saver. Had it for... two years? I think? So far it's worked great, although its design makes sealing bags full of wet foods (soups, stews, etc) tricky if not outright messy. It's an external sealer, which means it sucks the air out of the bag. My parents have a much larger chamber sealer (not sure what brand) which has a much easier time dealing with liquids and is said to be commonly used for things that aren't food, but which is also more expensive. My parents' sealer is definitely the better all-around product, but if money's an issue there's nothing wrong with the external ones.
I also bought some Tupperware-style containers that work with my vacuum sealer. The sizes are frustratingly limited (only tall, not long, so things like, say, enchiladas are out), but they're reusable, which is a lot more than I can say for the bags. I can also use the containers for my soups, stews, etc. without having to deal with the potential mess. The bags are dirt cheap, but the machine has trouble re-sealing them once opened for some reason, so I prefer the containers. You do need to have an extension to use my sealer with the containers, but mine came with the extension by default.
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How dare you say that about my hobby LOL. It's so fuuuuun.
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Oh, I won't deny it's fun. If you saw my average playing time on Steam...
But even as I play them, I have to acknowledge that my time would be better spent doing a great many other things.
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Well it's not even that we don't like going shopping. We used to go every week and did enjoy selecting different meals and getting veggies from the local grocer. It's just that lately, to quote Galdalf: "It's a dangerous business, going out your door."
Air fryers are really neat, but if you get one, I'd suggest one of the large ones, possibly the swinging/oven door types.
I say that because I have one of the more common egg shaped ones with the pull out container, and while it's quite nice, it is somewhat space limited, and a bit of a pain to clean. I think they have some that double as a toaster oven, so maybe swap that out if you already have a toaster?
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The problem with getting a larger one is that I already don't have a lot of space to work with, even storage space. I'm facing the reality that I'm probably going to have to significantly reorganize my entire apartment soon. Still, good to know!
Also, good to know that unknowable servants of the Elder Things still like to cook. Really "humanizes" them.
The American Woman's Cook Book is the only cook book thou shalt ever need, or at least I've ever needed. It cover everything, unlike so many cook books out there, it is a complete tome from meal prep to table edict.
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Bah! 'Tis not the Pirate's Pantry. I scoff at your yank publications!
Although I might want to check it out. Just to, uh, scope out the competition. Yeah, that's it.
Cooking from groceries does save a huge ton of money, and I spend maybe at most an hour per day? Which isn't that much more time than going to a restaurant or buying a meal kit. $100 a week is actually pretty common for me, but maybe because I buy boujee ingredients? Still, you can eat very very well for the fraction of the cost of restaurant meal.
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I use the cookbook that every Asian person uses: mother
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I am reminded of my dad. When he wakes up in the morning the first question he wants an answer to is "What am I cooking tonight?" (although sometimes he asks after dinner the day before!). He goes shopping almost daily, because he likes shopping for food and there's always that one thing he's missing. I never consider myself a foodie because he defines the term for me.
I tend to only cook one meal a week, preferably on Saturday or Sunday. But it's always a big meal, the kind that will last as leftovers for a week or more. If I do that every weekend and alternate which leftovers I eat, I can have them last much longer. As much as I like cooking, it's not something I tend to want to do on a daily basis.
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Well, perhaps I misrepresented myself--sometimes I cook daily, but other times I make enough leftovers to last two or three days. Weeklong meal prep was popular among my peers back in college, but I could never cook a big enough portion to last that long. And if I fuck up that one dish, I basically fuck up my whole week's worth of food, and that's a whole lotta pressure for me.
Shopping for groceries every day seems like a lot though, unless the store is like five minutes walk away or something.