I don’t home cook

[Jjustsancs]

I know not everyone will agree with me
I am not rich I am far from it. This year I dropped the guilt. This isn’t AIBU

once you count what your time and energy is worth and the fact you could be doing something else cooking and doing the dishes, meal planning and buying all the ingredients - and all the waste that goes in the bin when a takeaway is inevitably ordered because you’re tired and want something tasty - it’s cheaper and easier to just buy something ready made or easy food in the first place. You can get everything ready made now including sandwiches, soup, and family dinners like big lasagnes.

Sorry but you lost me when you said you hardly ever eat fresh vegetables.

Cooking is a faff, no doubt about it. But home cooking tastes better, is healthier and (unless you are willing to eat absolute shite) costs less than ready meals or takeaways.

I do like the look of Stocked, it looks like stuff I’d batch cook myself. Not tried it though but would if I had less time.

The occasional ready meal is ok but I couldn’t have them every day. M&S lasagne is nice but only once in a while. It’s also a lot of UPF.

Now if I could afford to employ a chef that would be bliss.

Needing to stick to a budget focuses the mind

Never a truer word written, @meadowfresh. When you've not got much money and certainly none to waste, it becomes much much harder to justify takeaways or ready meals.

I value my time just as much as you, OP, and would bloody love not to spend every night cooking a meal (single parent) but I just don't have the money to spend at least £20 a day on food as there is three of us, both DC teenagers.

Money does, as will always be the case, provide opportunities which are out of reach for those of us without it!

It’s much cheaper to cook and a lot healthier too. Can’t be convinced otherwise. It doesn’t take ages either.

But home cooked food is generally much better tasting, certainly fresher. And is your life so busy that you can’t spare an hour to cook? You obviously have time to scroll on your phone.
But get suit yourself, I personally don’t throw anything away from a takeaway, it certainly is not cheaper to buy ready made (cakes and bread being the exception), not for anything decent anyway. I dint really like to cook, but will as I get to chose quality ingredients and can cook just about anything, and cook just the right amount.
I think posting this in the cost of living section like it’s some sort of hack is simply untrue - unless all those ‘hours’ you’ve saved by not cooking has been used to earn money and not, you know, used to watch tv or post on SM.

Marks and Spencer’s ready meals also generally don’t have anything apart from the expected ingredients in.

In fact, a significant proportion of ready meals in the uk just have ingredients in them, you just have to read the label and not pre judge

If you value time you should value health, I completely empathise with the ease of more convenient foods but they come at a price. The inconvenient truth is that a lot of those foods are subpar healthwise.

Generally, when I’m cooking there isn’t something else I’d rather be doing. Even if tired, I find it meditative and soothing. I don’t need to meal plan, I buy what’s seasonal and, even ordering from several different sources most weeks, I could do it all the shopping in less than twenty minutes if necessary.

And meals don’t all require laborious cooking; I barely see my hob or oven in summer, and can have an omelette on the table in five minutes.

I daresay it is possible to eat more cheaply buying lower quality ready meals than fresh, maybe organic produce, but I wouldn’t enjoy it.

i dont either op(no dc) i was never taught tried myself kept mucking uip so i dont bother anymore

This I agree with. Fresh vegetables and fibre especially are a non-negotiable for me. You can choose convenience for a while without noticing any ill effects, but the lack of focus on your health will catch up with you eventually, and by then it will be too late.

(I had piles in pregnancy and I will never, ever, allow myself to experience pain like it again if I can help it - shitting glass would have been preferable.)

So I just cooked this .. chicken cut up .. (less than 3 minutes) . £2.96.. Greek style yogurt (70p) .. Harissa sauce £4.50 (lasts 7 meals so 68 p .. 1/4 cucumber and 70 p of coriander and mint (enough left over for two more meals) .. mix the yogurt in with the 2 tsp of harissa.. encompass the chicken..!put in fridge for 15 mins.. stir fry . 12 mins .. in the mean time boil a kettle and add 6fl ounces to boring couscous… squeeze in a lime (15p) salt pepper and serve with big dollop of yoghurt… they will be BEGGING YOU FOR MORE

@Beekmanif I do a load of cooking I might do a big bolognaise, soup, chilli, gammon etc and then freeze 3/4 emails. For those days I can’t be bothered or am working late I defrost a couple.

I made this tonight with leftover shredded chicken from my Mumsnet Roast Chicken yesterday: https://simplehomeedit.com/recipe/one-pan-chicken-and-broccoli-lasagne/

I estimate it cost me around £8, so £2 per portion.

Honestly, I’m not a particularly good cook but your way just sounds so depressing, though I’m not sure I can articulate why. It just seems soulless.

I COULD buy sandwiches, ready meals etc, but I can make it myself cheaper and tastier and healthier.

Luckily I enjoy cooking, and on lazy days a jacket potato or carbonara or defrosting something I've batch cooked doesn't take longer than a ready meal.

It really isn't OP. As previous posters have said, you are often paying a high price for the convenience food that you are buying. It has implications on your health (UPFs) and on your wallet. There are a myriad of quick snacks and meals that cost very little time and money. Not everything has to be made from scratch and can still be nutritiously balanced, quick and delicious. You just have to be willing to explore what they are. Some people dislike meal prepping and batch cooking but the satisfaction of knowing precisely what is in the meal you have prepared because you have made it (whilst saving money) is most likely why there has been a resurgence in batch cooking/meal prep.
Everything in moderation.

Yes, you can get it all ready made, but it's mostly horrible bland shite and full of crap. I cook because I want to eat really nice food, all the time. And I never batch cook, I would find it utterly miserable to reheat little plastic boxes from the freezer. There are loads of meals which only take half an hour.

I prepare restaurant quality food when I can be bothered. The rest of the time it’s quick and easy chicken or salmon with vegetables and/or salad - plus a small amount of easy carbs such as pasta, rice or lentils.

Way tastier than the rubbish OP is consuming…. And can be prepared in the time it takes to order and collect/wait for take-away.

Also worth pointing out that you have only one body - and it pays to look after it. UPF - especially if consumed without vegetables - are full of things of zero nutritional value. You may think you’re fine now but you won’t be twenty, thirty years from now.

Not to mention the cost… 😱

We actually looked at my friend who doesn’t cook’s Uber Eats/Deliveroo data once. He’d spent almost £4000 in a year and ordered something on average every 2 days 😂 He had a spree of ordering every day for 10 days one June.

I’ve tried to teach him to cook but he just says he can’t be arsed.

I am obsessed with fibre but the fibre I eat has very little to do with any cooking- punnets of raspberries, baked potato with beans, all bran, kiwis, carrots and humus, microwave brown rice. Yum yum. Not many foods are high fibre and cooking makes no difference to it really.

I also find home made soups and stews are like magic when it comes to fighting off cold and flu bugs. All the goodness is cooked in and they are really easy. We have slow cooker meals a couple of times a week which only take ten minutes in the morning to prepare.

Soup can’t fight off your flu bug 😂 probably makes you feel a bit better to have something warm and cozy to eat though

I love a takeaway but obviously home cooking is cheaper. Really strange to say otherwise.

I don't cook a lot at all. I'm on my own and hate cooking. I just do super quick stuff basically and have a takeout of some kind every few weeks.
Jkt pot tuna/ beans cheese &salad
Stir fry noodle soup using an itsu ramen broth, a bag of stri fry mix and some frozen gyoza
Pasta pesto with broccoli and spinach
Piece of salmon with veg.
Always have a oven chips with fishcake/fish finger day .
Will batch cook a soup every couple of months, same for Bolognese and curry but it's minimal.

My diet is definitely not ideal but its what I can manage and must be a lot cheaper than takeaway etc.

Some people like cooking. Some people don't. I'm sure you can eat perfectly healthily without cooking these days. Supermarkets are full of ready prepped salads, cooked chicken, poached salmon etc.