
How Much Money Do You Save by Cooking at Home? - pauljaworski
https://priceonomics.com/how-much-money-do-you-save-by-cooking-at-home/
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syspec
This looks like an advertisement for Wellio.

The linked article, links to a Wellio page with the same content verbatim.
[http://www.getwellio.com/ranking-least-nutritious-meal-
dolla...](http://www.getwellio.com/ranking-least-nutritious-meal-dollar-2/)

The information may be useful still, but it should presented as long form
advertising

~~~
justboxing
> but it should presented as long form advertising

Yes. I think these are usually tagged or labelled as "Sponsored Posts".

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dgudkov
>However you can easily make these meals at home.

As someone who cooks a lot at home I call this an overstatement. Cooking a
restaurant quality food is anything but easy for a non-professional cook. It
took me months if not years to learn how to not overcook meat, and yet I still
can't achieve the same level of juiciness and softness I see in meat cooked in
restaurants.

You will also need to invest in good quality kitchenware if you're going to
cook at home.

The article also completely ignores the other costs of cooking at home such as
utilities, food waste, and your time which used not just for cooking, but also
for shopping groceries.

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poloniculmov
Sous vide machine + better meat will help you get juicy, reproducible steaks.

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jackconnor
"Beef Wellington" price per meal is $4.53, their first example. This is not
even close to anything realistic, even just for the beef and not including the
spices/sauces/etc that one would need.

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jstandard
I stopped reading after seeing the pricing tables. I really question their
data source and calculation quality with items like this:

Chicken Tacos Restaurant Price: 18.94 Cook at Home Cost: 1.14

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rdlecler1
They’re failing to factor in time it takes to shop, cook, clean, food waste,
and they barely mention nutritional diversity. As a frequent meal kit
subscriber I get great food that I can cook quickly, I get diversity, faster
cleanup, little to no food waste, and I don’t have to take on the additional
cognitive load of “what are we going to cook tonight” which is actually a main
reason you might go and eat out.

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kbuck
I think this analysis is a little flawed. I can understand their argument
against factoring in opportunity cost as this will vary widely from person-to-
person (and is pretty easy to consider on your own), but they also don't
factor in waste or cost of the tools necessary to prepare food.

For example, the article mentions that they used the cost for only 1/2 of an
onion if the recipe called for only 1/2 an onion, but what happens to the
other 1/2? Depending on how often you cook at home, how often you go out of
your way to use existing ingredients, and how much time you spend meal-
planning, you'll either manage to use the rest of the onion (which is pretty
easy for something as common as onions), or it will go to waste. Personally,
since I'm typically just cooking for 1, most of these end up going to waste
unless I want to be eating the same thing for several days in a row.

This analysis would be more useful and interesting if it came with multiple
"waste factors" for the remaining ingredients, from "completely used" (which
is what this article assumes) to "completely wasted". It'd also be more useful
if it factored in the amortized cost of maintaining a kitchen that's stocked
well-enough with tools and spices to regularly prepare a variety of recipes.

For me personally, the difference in cost is much closer than this article. I
will typically use all of the "main" ingredient, but additional (yet
expensive) ingredients, such as spices, cheeses, etc. often go bad before I
have a chance to use them again. I've also spent a significant amount of money
acquiring the kitchenware required to cook at home. I typically don't eat
extravagantly when I eat out; most meals are ~$15-$17 (incl. tax and tip). For
some meals, I buy pre-made food at the grocery store (e.g. salads, wraps) that
also come MUCH closer, if not cheaper, than preparing it at home would cost me
if waste is included. Some of these can be very close to restaurant quality.

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pmoriarty
_" For example, the article mentions that they used the cost for only 1/2 of
an onion if the recipe called for only 1/2 an onion, but what happens to the
other 1/2? Depending on how often you cook at home, how often you go out of
your way to use existing ingredients, and how much time you spend meal-
planning, you'll either manage to use the rest of the onion (which is pretty
easy for something as common as onions), or it will go to waste. Personally,
since I'm typically just cooking for 1, most of these end up going to waste
unless I want to be eating the same thing for several days in a row."_

You can freeze a lot of fresh food for later use. That's what I use with a lot
of the fruits and vegetables I buy, and then use them in smoothies. Cookies
can be frozen. Bread can be frozen.

Often I'll save time and effort by buying frozen fruits and veggies. They're
often fresher than "fresh" produce, as they're usually frozen immediately
after they're picked rather than sitting around unfrozen in transport and then
on the store shelf who knows how long before you buy them.

For example, you can buy frozen, chopped onions, and save yourself the time,
hassle, and tears of chopping them yourself. I buy frozen fruits and berries,
and "triple washed" kale and throw it immediately in to the freezer for use in
smoothies. Lots of time saved and it's very economical. Nothing goes to waste.

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chiefalchemist
> "To be clear, this is an analysis of your costs and isn’t about looking at
> opportunity costs of time associated with cooking."

Pointless then. This is part / mostly what you pay for when ordering / eating
out. That is, you sit and relax while someone else's time is invested in your
meal.

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soreally
Great article. Hope the authors extend this comparison with more information
about how much time you spend to get those savings.

Restaurants are interesting because you're not really saving much time, but
you're converting shopping/cooking time into socializing time.

Delivery via uber-eats type services is nice to get good food without spending
time, but it isn't cheap.

Fast food is quick and cheap if you're already driving somewhere, but it isn't
healthy or high-quality.

So what is the optimal choice for saving time and money while still eating
well?

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Silhouette
_So what is the optimal choice for saving time and money while still eating
well?_

Personally, I'd say just developing everyday food shopping and kitchen skills
is a good start.

Learn to recognise good ingredients when you're shopping. Finding fruit and
vegetables at the right level of ripeness or choosing a good cut of meat will
improve your meal quality, reduce your waste, and save you time and money.
Buying very cheap cuts of meat or clearance produce is often a false economy,
as the quality is often so low that you'll waste much more and what you keep
will be less healthy and less tasty.

Knowing where to go shopping for the best ingredients is helpful too.
Independent local stores, farm shops or markets might have fresher and less
modified products than a big chain store or home delivery service, and you
might have more flexibility to get exactly the amount you want instead of a
pre-determined pack size. Sure, it takes some time to buy fresh ingredients in
person every few days, but probably only a few minutes.

Speaking of time, the amount I have saved over the years by knowing how to
prepare different fruits and vegetables efficiently must far outweigh the
relatively small amount I spent learning. (Seriously, if you don't know the
easy way to slice a bell pepper or dice an avocado, go to YouTube right now
and spend a few minutes finding out how professional chefs do this kind of
thing. You'll thank me later.)

It's also important to have the right tools, and this is about quality, not
quantity. Non-stick pans, good sharp knives and the right utensil for the job
can all be big time savers, as well as often being safer than inferior
alternatives. And get into the habit of always cleaning as you work, instead
of stacking up some huge pile of dirty cookware, utensils, knives and boards
to wash later.

Ultimately, it's hard to beat a decent home-made meal with good ingredients
for cost, and unless you're talking about a nice restaurant it's going to be
hard to beat it significantly on quality either, but you can certainly do a
lot to reduce the amount of time you have to spend making one.

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peterbraden
This assumes home cooking for 6 people each meal. The economics are very
different when cooking for less.

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mrtnmcc
They haven't heard of the $5 footlong?

