I'm sure most of you already know this, but for those who don't - learn to cook! It will save you money and help you be healthy! I've been learning to cook and it's been an awesome change to my life!
Talked myself out of being lazy the other night - instead of pressing yes on the amazing (-ly expensive and fattening) Indian meal I was about to order, I dragged my ass off the couch and started cooking.
---- Skip this if you aren't interested in cooking babble ----
Had veggies on hand (cauliflower, carrots, zucchini, onion) and tossed those with some oil, garlic, cumin, paprika, salt, pepper, tumeric and spread them on a baking tray. Topped with a tiny sprinkle of bread crumbs when it was nearly done - worked great as a replacement pakora for 1/10 of the calories. Still had the bite size feeling and some crunch.
Sauteed potatoes in some stock I had made last week from veg ends and chicken bones. Added in some spinach that was getting slimy, a dash of cream, curry powder, garlic, salt and pepper to make a pseudo sag aloo.
Used the other half of the cauliflower, plus carrots, frozen peas, corn and more homemade stock (just grabbed it from the freezer and tossed it in), let all that simmer then dumped in a ton of curry powder, cumin, tumeric, paprika, garlic, garlic salt, pepper and a dash of cream to make something that tasted REALLY close to a korma.
Rice cooker with some basmati and done!
Total cost ended up being around $5 and I got about 10 meals out of it. Took me 45 minutes. I like comparing my time spent vs money spent - had I done takeout, I'd have spent $50 minimum, and I'd have gotten around 4-5 meals, so my time was worth more than $50 (closer to $100, since I made double the servings).
It's HARDER to do this - it takes effort and motivation - which is why I think it's important to celebrate the times I make the smarter/cheaper/healthier choice (hence posting about it). I'm slowly training myself to make that choice instinctively....while also learning how to cook pretty decently. Practice really does make perfect, and the more you cook, the easier it becomes.
I suggest starting with basic recipes about foundations (sauces, curries, roasting, soup, etc) and incorporating in new recipes every now and then. You will surprise yourself with how you can extrapolate the stuff you learn from a new recipe into creative riffs and experimentation. I didn't follow any recipe for my Indian-esque feast, but I was able to replicate taste and textures cheaply and healthily through techniques I've learned.
Learning how to cook facilitates buying in bulk for discounts, teaches you to make use of clearance items like close-to-off veg, helps you stretch expensive ingredients like meat, lets you prep leftovers for lunch, and just saves you so much money because you can just make the stuff you usually buy. Why buy a jar of pasta sauce with gross preservatives when you can make fresh sauce yourself for cheap?
If time is an issue, you can look into things like slow-cookers or learn good flavor combos for tasty raw options - a bangarang grapefruit and avocado salad with olive oil + citrus drizzle takes less than 5 minutes to make, but how decadent does it taste?!
If learning is the issue, find fun ways to learn. I got that salad above from an episode of Queer Eye that was playing as I browsed Reddit. Try out TV shows or sub to /r/gifrecipes, take a cooking class, challenge yourself with wacky stuff you find online. I made an Instagram for my cooking and posted stuff there and on Reddit for a few months, and the upvote endorphins motivated me to keep going and figuring out more.
Anyways, I encourage everyone to learn to cook! I'm improving and loving it and we save so much money because of it! I'd love to hear cheap recipes or links to subs for low-cost cooking.
April 02, 2019 at 07:45AM
