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.

OP if you care about your health at all read up in metabolic syndrome. It's among the fastest growing health issue in the whole of the UK. Increasing because of poor diet, obesity and stress. It not only limits life, it's hugely impacts on quality of life.
Very sadly children brought up with poor diets are going ro be hugely impacted.

Stocked food is ok. Some of them are actually pretty nice but they can all taste a bit samey. But the portion sizes are insanely small- we use a whole pack (8 blocks) for just me, DP and a toddler so it works out as very expensive when you then have to add the rice/spaghetti or whatever yourself. And that still isn't a particularly big portion.

I really enjoy cooking. It's my wind down time after work, & I love pottering about the kitchen with a glass of wine to hand.

I completely get that some people don't.

But I think I'd miss the treat factor of ordering a grotty but bloody delicious takeaway as an occasional 'oh fuck it, everyone's knackered, deliveroo curry it is' night. It'd take all the fun out of it if I was ordering crap all the time.

If I didn't like cooking, I'd probably do what my elderly mum does: she stocks the fridge with delicious deli food & basically tells people they're welcome to forage. I always eat rather well at her house, although by 3 days in I can't look another rotisserie chicken, olive, or grape in the face...

Yeah I think of quick as stir fry, omelette, chicken salad, stuff like that
lasagne, cottage pie, beef stew etc all slow cooked
i batch cook most Sundays and freeze as live alone

bbq pulled pork or ham in parsley sauce freezes well in bags flattened and reheats fine

I'm pretty much a non cook, but I did cook when I was younger - and a really good curry needs time, it's not a stirfry.

I am sure your cooking tastes good, in the sense that most people's midweek cooking does, but in the curry world you probably could buy in better.

I enjoy cooking but totally understand that some people don’t.

Personally I don’t enjoy cleaning or taking the bins out. But I still do it, because it needs to be done.

At least, with cooking, there is a chance one might come to tolerate it. Plus one can listen to music or podcasts while doing it - and the end result is mostly worth it.

I think a lot of people over estimate their cooking abilities, I cook mainly from scratch but I don't have the time/patience/expertise to make it taste great. Cooking from scratch is all good intentions but doesn't mean it tastes good.

You, meaning something kindly?! 😄😄

That surprises me. How often does your recycling bin need emptying? Ours generally takes 5-6 weeks to fill.

The stuff being sold in Bangladeshi and Nepalese restaurants in the UK is anything but good. Good pretending to be south asian in the UK is poor.

I like to cook and try new recipes but of course sometimes I stick a pizza in the oven or order a takeaway but no I do prefer my own cooking. Everytime we go out to eat now myself and my partner always say we could have made better for much cheaper at home.

But even if your cooking skills are only basic there are plenty of simple, quick recipes that produce infinitely healthier and tastier outcomes then some pop in the oven/microwave salt and fat laden UPF ready meal.

In recent years the whole midrange dining scene has really gone to the dogs as private equity have squeezed the life out of quality and standard of service while inflating costs. I love cooking and going out was often a treat where you got to eat something that you could not prepare at home, but these days I left thinking why am I paying over the odds for something average that I can make better at home.

In recent years the whole midrange dining scene has really gone to the dogs as private equity have squeezed the life out of quality and standard of service while inflating costs. I love cooking and going out was often a treat where you got to eat something that you could not prepare at home, but these days I left thinking why am I paying over the odds for something average that I can make better at home.----

If I want tasty I cook, if I want convenience I order. I love to cook and it is one thing I am good at but I appreciate like others it does take time and planning. I have been doing it for decades so when I would mention a quick meal to someone else they are like no too much hassle so I get what is quick and easy to one person who has been doing it for a long time and has all the spices and things to hand of an evening is far different to someone who cooks maybe twice a week and would have to actually go out of their way to get some of the ingredients. To me a takeaway is all about convenience but rarely about the taste.

You can eat whatever you like but I’d find that depressing. Most shop sandwiches are crap compared to what you can make at home. Ready meals are full of salt and gluey sauces.

I find meal planning, shopping and cooking a bit of a chore but for me it’s worth it for the flavour, cost, and lack of UPFs.

Making your own meals is not just about cost.

I want to eat healthy and simple meals and I know it is better to make them myself rather than to order take aways or to have ready made meals with a high sugar, salt and fat content.

What you eat impacts your health and well being. Don't you think your health matters?

No wonder we have so many overweight and unhealthy people in the UK...

I buy all my fruit and veg at the local market. It's cheap and has no wrapping, just gets tipped into my basket. I also grow a lot of it myself so no packaging there.

Meat from the butcher is in paper, milk also from the butcher is in a dispenser so you use your own bottles. Other stuff from the local scoop no/low packaging shop where you take your own containers.

I don't know why you think buying ingredients means more packaging.

I cook three meals a day from scratch and only put my recycling bin out once every couple of months.

I can’t be bothered to cook every day so I batch cook at home and freeze it. Works out cheaper than buying upf and I know what went in my food.

I disagree. It's easy to make really great tasting meals from good simple ingredients. Pasta, pesto, mushrooms with leaves, tomatoes and a hunk of good bread. Bloody lovely.

Inspired by another thread on here I recently bought a breadmaker.
Two minutes of throwing flour, yeast, sugar, salt, butter and water into the machine, switch it on and a few hours later you have a loaf of the best bread you'll ever taste. You don't even have to be there. A loaf costs about £1. Breadmaker will pay for itself in a few months and you never have to leave the house for bread again.

I would at least try to eat more fruit and vegetables if you do continue with the 'convenience food diet'. Your health will thank you!

Also, wondering how old you are? Younger people seem to be more resilient to a poor diet but when you hit your later years, your body can suddenly rebel.

Home cooking tastes so much better - you are missing out.

Do you cook anything from scratch OP? I’m guessing you live alone?
I mean you can hate cooking, but boiling a pan of water for pasta, chucking in some sauce, veg, cheese or whatever, is hardly taking a huge chunk of time? You can batch cook and portion off what you would eat, with no waste?

Aren’t you bored of eating takeaways?

Chinese curry is very, very easy to make. My uni student son even makes it because it’s so quick and easy.

All that oil is turning my stomach.

I find it much easier and cheaper to raw food prep, bag up and stick it in the freezer to put in the slow cooker. Its called dump and go cooking. No effort at all.

https://www.tamingtwins.com/slow-cooker-dump-bag-recipes/