There are days that I miss college: there was always food available, whether at the cafeteria or at various student events, and I didn’t have to make any of it. After I got out of college, I had a habit of going out to eat quite a bit, just because I wasn’t used to cooking for myself. But that sort of habit gets expensive, fast.
I set out to establish a new habit. I started cooking the majority of my food at home. I told myself I would allow a little leeway for the days I just didn’t have time, but for the most part I was going to cook all my meals. I started out in the frozen food aisle, but soon realized that was almost as expensive as eating out.
I got serious about cooking from scratch. I worked hard to change my eating habits. And, pretty soon, I noticed a few effects: I was enjoying it, and started doing even more at home. Now, I even bake my own bread from scratch. I’ve also started eating healthier and feeling better about what I eat. And my food budget is way down. I still go out to eat about twice a week, with friends or occasions — but those meals literally make up half of my food budget.
Switching over to home cooking is surprisingly easy, if you’re serious about cutting your food costs. It’s still possible, even if you don’t feel comfortable in the kitchen. Sandwiches, box mixes and such are easy to prepare and cost significantly less than a meal out.
If you want to be truly adventurous, it might be time to learn to cook. I’d suggest against investing in expensive equipment or cookbooks until you’re really sure you want to take your cooking to that level, but there are plenty of instructional materials available online: recipes, videos and introductions to cooking are good places to start. As for equipment, I’ve gotten a surprising amount of my cooking gear at Wal-Mart and other stores selling cheap goods. There are some items I’m slowly changing over to higher quality models, but for things like mixing bowls, I’m probably never going to switch from the cheap kind.
The first step to cooking regularly is simply planning to do it. If you don’t think about cooking ahead of time, you’ll never start. That’s because you won’t pick up the ingredients you need at the grocery store and won’t be able to start cooking. So take some time, before you go grocery shopping, to think about what you want to eat for the next week. List out how many lunches you need to brown bag and your ideas for dinner time. Write down what you need to make everything on your list, from the bread and peanut butter for your sandwiches to the brownie mix for your desert.
Especially when you first start out, I recommend sticking to non-perishable meal items whenever possible. Frozen chicken is ideal. It takes time to change your habit to cooking at home, and if you rush out and buy a bunch of produce, odds are that at least some of it will end up in your trash. You should still buy fruits and veggies, of course, but consider limiting your purchases, at least for your first few weeks.
