Learning How To Cook Can Save Your Wallet And Your Waist

When I first moved out on my own I couldn’t cook frozen meals correctly.

It was really really bad, so my solution was very simple.

I would never cook.

I started going to restaurants every night for dinner or order delivery.

Very quickly I had spent all my money and even maxed out a credit card, so I had no choice but to go back home and try to learn to cook.

After years of cooking at home, I truly believe that cooking from home can save you thousands and really make a big difference not just in your health, but your financial health too.

Cooking At Home Saves Money

This is something people say all the time, but do the numbers actually add up?

Let’s take a really simple meal, and see if we can in fact make it better at home.

One of my favorite places is Cheddars because the food is good, get a good amount of food, and you won’t pay a lot.

There isn’t much I don’t like there, but let’s look at their dijon chicken and mushrooms, one of my favorites.

This will cost $14.49 right now, and I’m not drinking water I’ll probably get some tea or $2.99 bringing my total to $17.48, and then I’m going to leave at least a 20% tip, because I’ve worked as a server before and know they need tips, bringing the ultimate total to $20.98.

I may be able to get two meals out of this if I take leftovers home, essentially cutting the cost in half per meal, but for our lesson let's look at the total cost.

Now, let’s price out the ingredients.

Chicken $2.98 per pound at sams club

Mushrooms $2.03 for an 8oz container
Brocolli $3.09 for 12.6oz frozen bag

Potatoes $4.17 for 5-pound russets

Grey Poupon Dijon Mustard $4.41 per 10oz

Tea Bags $4.33 per 100 count

Total: $21.01

So, at first glance, you may say “see it’s more expensive to make it at home”. But, let's look at a few things.

First, yes the chicken would only be good for one meal, but look at everything else you’ll still have. You’ll have mushrooms, broccoli, and potatoes left over you can use for your next meal, unless you plan on eating 5 pounds of potatoes.

Next, I have enough tea I can have tea every day for a month.

Finally, planning out the rest of the meals for the week using the same ingredients for different things means this one meal paid for itself, and the others are “free”.

If you’re worried about getting tired of the meals, use the same ingredients to make something completely different.

Potatoes for instance, one night you have some great mashed potatoes, next, you have some home fries, and another night you have some air-fired french fries. Though it’s the same ingredient, you make something completely different with it.

Becoming A Good Cook Benefits

Learning how to cook takes time, practice, patience, and a willingness to fail. But it will be worth it if you stick it out.

You Like To Eat Your Food

I love chicken wings, and that sounds like a super simple thing to make on your own, that you can’t possibly mess up. Maybe I’m special, but the first time I tried to make chicken wings, they were bad.

My thought was, a little garlic powder is good, so a lot must be amazing.

After what seemed like hours of trying different ways to make the food even edible, I ended up throwing them out and ordering pizza.

Years later, and many more nights like that, I can now make some amazing meals, that my family and I truly love to eat.

People Like To Come To You For Food

If you are a people person you know that good company goes with good food. By becoming a good cook, you’ll be able to have more people over, people will come to you for advice on how to cook things, or they’ll beg for whatever amazing dish or dessert you make that they love.

It’s a great feeling and one that can’t really be described.

Meal Prep Like A Restaurant

After taking the time to learn how to cook well, you can start cooking and thinking like a restaurant.

Restaurants have a particular menu of items. When a customer orders that meal, they don’t then go out and get the ingredients and start cooking them, they already have things prepped and ready to go.

This lets them get you your food fast, and turn their tables making them more money. Why not do something similar to make cooking at home faster and easier?

My wife and I like to take Sunday night and decide all our meals for the week. We have a cookbook of things we make regularly and we’ll pull that out and decide which items we are going to make.

Then, we figure out what groceries we already have, and what we need, and make a grocery list. Picking the days everything will be made also tells us when to pull something out of the freezer, or when to start marinating something.

For instance, we love making butter chicken, but the chicken needs to marinate for at least 24 hours. So if one night we just wanted it, we would have to order it because making it wouldn’t taste right. But, by planning ahead of time that we are going to have it on Wednesday, I know that I need to get it marinating Tuesday in order for it to come out right.

Now, this sounds like a wonderful plan, and we do enjoy it. But sometimes we just don’t feel on Thursday making that elaborate meal we planned on Sunday. When that happens, what do you do?

For us, we always have something easy we can make such as a frozen pizza, chicken tenders, or even leftovers. That way, even when the plans change, we don’t have to worry about breaking the budget.

Sell Food For Money

Another benefit of learning to cook is not just how much money it saves you, but how much money you can make.

Most states allow you to sell certain baked goods that you make in your own kitchen, as long as you follow the laws, and make less than a certain amount of money.

Where I live I can sell fudge, which I make some amazing fudge, as long as I sell less than $50,000 worth of it. I still have to count that money as income and pay taxes on it, but I don’t have to get a license from the state.

What’s something you can make that you can sell and make money?

Maybe you love to cook and want to start a restaurant, food truck, or Ghost restaurant as a side hustle.

Going To Restaurants Won’t Be Worth It

As already mentioned, at one point in my life I went to a restaurant almost every day. I stopped because I couldn’t afford it, but even if I could I still wouldn’t.

Because I’ve learned how to cook and make most of my favorite meals from scratch when I go to a restaurant they have to make that meal amazing for me to feel it was “worth” it.

Even if I can afford to go out to eat, I now really only go out for two reasons. First, because they make something I have not figured out how to make yet, or this particular restaurant makes it better. Second, it’s nice to be waited on sometimes and not have to do any prep, cleanup, or anything.

MealKits To Get Started

If you are hesitant to learn how to cook, or just think you can’t, you may want to try meal prep kits.

Meal prep kits like Blue apron, hello fresh, or any other kit gives you step-by-step instructions, with pictures, and videos on how to make your meals.

The meals are usually amazing, and more importantly teach you how to cook, providing all the benefits we’ve already discussed.

Learn Just A Few Meals

Some people are natural chefs, and most of us love and hate those people.

But, anyone can become a good cook, even if you only learn to make 3 to 4 meals, you’ll be way ahead of everyone else, and be able to save money.