I had a, ahem, difference of opinion recently with a friend about why people don’t cook.  I was commenting about a recent trip to the grocery store where I saw a woman buy a large quantity of groceries but nothing that required cooking!  All she bought were frozen meals, deli meat and cheese, chips, hot bar, and diet soda.  Over $100 worth of the stuff too.  I just didn’t understand why, in general, we have come to a point where so many people don’t cook.  For me it’s fun, cost effective, and more nutritious than the alternative.  It’s also a great deal better for the environment.  My friend understood my position, but politely disagreed. (The nerve!)

My friend (who lives in NYC, is single, and travels around the city for his work) pointed out that:

• it’s inconvenient to grocery shop
• it’s not always cheaper
• cooking for one usually means leftovers

Here are my thoughts on the conversation.

Grocery shopping.  The grocery shopping point surprised me.  I enjoy grocery shopping, and don’t mind going multiple times a week if I need to pick something up.  However, I didn’t recognize that living in a large city without a car makes this a struggle.  For me it’s so quick to pop into a grocery store that sells reasonably priced food.  In the city, the closest places are small markets that sell food at a price that reflects the convenience.  This means that it’s much most cost effective to do one big shopping trip at a grocery store.  This means for my friend that a lot of the food he would buy would go bad before he got around to eating it. This is a problem that has never really happened to me since I cook every single day, and my style of cooking lends itself to incorporating whatever food I have on hand, but I can see the issue here.

I understand that if you don’t do meal planning in advance, don’t cook like I do, and don’t buy only what you know you are going to cook, you may end up with a lot of waste.   Let’s face it, meal planning requires a lot of forethought that doesn’t lend itself well to the lifestyle of a young person living alone with a job that requires you to be on the go during a lot of meal times.

However, I think there are ways to shop for food to have on hand to make even 1 or 2 dinners a week without wasting food.  It starts with making a list (it shouldn’t take long- you can jot things down in the parking lot or while on the subway) and then buying food that you know can last a week or two.  Carrots, onions, garlic, potatoes, apples, oranges, and bell peppers can all last quite a while and are easy to prepare.  Staple pantry items like pasta, rice, canned beans, tomato sauce, spices, grains, apple sauce, condiments, and baking supplies last even longer.  For those items that might go bad quickly in the fridge, opt for the frozen variety: berries, spinach, peas, corn, broccoli, and bread.*  Items that can’t be frozen or canned can often be bought in small quantities so you can get just the amount you want- this is great with items like lettuce or other fresh greens.

A well stocked pantry means its very easy to throw together a simple dinner in no time with very little advance thought required.  One of my favorite meals is whole wheat pasta (cooks in 10 minutes) topped with jarred marinara sauce combined with frozen spinach and canned chickpeas.  The entire meal should take less than 20 minutes including time needed to boil the water, and is super cheap and healthy.

If you’re left with odds and ends that are about to go bad and aren’t sure what to do with them, just google the ingredients you need to use up and I guarantee you will find a recipe that you can use them in!  Or, you will find a way to freeze or otherwise store them.

Cost of food.  I acknowledge that sometimes it can be cheaper to buy a meal than it is to cook.  I don’t come across this very often, but I know it happens.  To answer this question, I go to my point that eating at home means you know what is in your food and you control the ingredients.  Most of the cheap food I come across is just that- cheap.  I don’t like sacrificing my health to save a few bucks.  That being said- if you come across food that is indeed cheaper to buy prepared than it is to make it yourself, and the quality is the same as what you would make- I have no objection to you eating out!

Leftovers.  Leftovers suck for the most part, I admit.  I don’t like eating the same thing for a week straight and assume most others don’t love it either.  But making a large amount of one meal means you have to cook less frequently and I understand this is a bonus for those with limited time or desire to cook.  Here’s my answer: use your freezer!  You can freeze a lot of meals in individual portions to reheat and eat at a later time.  This means that the huge pan of lasagna you cooked over the weekend can be eaten for a dinner and a lunch during the week, then the leftovers frozen so that in 2 weeks when you don’t feel like cooking, you can defrost a piece.  Other meals that freeze well are soups, veggie burgers, rice dishes and casseroles.  Another strategy is to have a sandwich night.  Sandwiches are easy to prepare for one person and the ingredients for the sandwich can easily be frozen or eaten in other combinations throughout the week.  There’s no leftover involved other than the ingredients used to make them.  If you’re unsure what to do with the leftover ingredients just make a salad or wrap!  Or make a pressed/grilled sandwich.  The possibilities here are pretty endless and the results are portable (easy to bring alone with a piece of fruits or some carrots for a really tasty lunch).

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So there are my thoughts.  I get that a lot of people think it’s a pain to cook and takes more time.  I also get that a lot of people are trying to be healthier and save money.  I think cooking is worth sacrificing a bit of your time to cook your meals because the payoff is so huge.  You get the satisfaction of knowing you created something, you control the ingredients, and you can save some serious cash.

*I almost always freeze my bread since I rarely go through an entire loaf while it’s fresh.  You don’t even have to do anything special, the bag it comes in can go right into the freezer most of the time!

Tags: Cheap, Cooking