If you really want to win the Spend Nothing Game, you’re going to have to master a basic life skill: cooking.
Strangely, this is something that seems to have fallen out of the key skill set that many people used to develop naturally as part of their family traditions, or has shot to the other end with a concentration on gourmet extravagance. Perhaps it’s the laudable progress away from the state where cooking in the home was a woman’s role, but rather than teaching both boys and girls to cook, it now appears that almost nobody does it (OK, that’s an exaggeration, but it’s shocking to me how many people don’t cook). I love to cook. I’m the chief cook and bottle washer around here.
If you want to win this game, you’re going to have to stop eating out – or limit it severely. No drive-thru breakfasts. Take your lunch to work every day. And cooking and eating at home is the rule, not the exception.
Remember, food expenditures is a key part of the Spend Nothing Game:
You may exempt up to $50 per person in your household for weekly food. This includes ALL consumables, including coffee, sodas, alcohol, gum and candy – anything you might eat, drink or consume in any way.
The only way you’ll be able to do that is to cook for yourself. There are very few places in the modern world where you can’t eat very well for that amount of money – if you cook for yourself.
Cooking can be a great joy. And it doesn’t have to be difficult. I believe it is one of those essential adult skills that absolutely everyone should be able to do to a basic degree. I consider it on the same level as literacy. Every adult should be able to read and cook a healthy and tasty meal.
And there are benefits beyond saving money and winning the game. Cooking can help you eat better. When you cook for yourself – and I’m not talking about heating up a packaged meal – you’ll use more raw and natural ingredients - fruits, vegetables, meats, and grains. You’ll change how you shop at the supermarket and notice the difference in your cart. Buying local foods is great, too, but it may actually increase your costs. That means you’ll have to balance what you want more - this game or sustainable, local foods.
But if you never learned and don’t know how to cook, where do you start? I recommend How To Cook Without A Book and How To Boil Water. And if you really want to get excited about cooking, I highly recommend Alton Brown’s show and books - Good Eats. I’ve never had one of his recipes fail me and I have a far better understanding of food after watching his show. He’s very entertaining, too.
I even make a point of posting recipes here from time to time. Check them out http://randymurrayonline.com/recipes/. And feel free to post your own recipes here in the comments section.
{ 10 comments… read them below or add one }
I absolutely agree, Randy! Learning to cook is essential to saving money.
Cooking went out of fashion in the early 70’s with the rise in pre-cooked and pre-packaged foods. “Cooking” became merely “heating”. The average home cook today thinks that opening a box of spaghetti and a jar of sauce, warming them up, and plopping them together on a plate — is cooking. That is, in fact, merely “heating”.
Real cooking involves getting to know a raw food and what it tastes like when boiled, roasted, fried, or grilled. And “cooking” is all about that thing that happens when boiled, roasted, fried or grilled raw food is smashed together with other raw ingredients.
There’s a certain thrill in discovering what Mother Nature has to offer — REALLY offer — in the way of raw foods and how to cook them. Along with the wonderful flavours, there is also the wonderful MONEY that has been saved.
Cheers
I experiment frequently. And it’s not always successful, but it is fun! I hear it from the family when I make a new chili too hot, or don’t quite master a technique, but by and large they like what I fix.
I’m now working on “series” meals, ones that build off of a base component, but change from meal to meal. For example, start with roast chicken, then end up with enchiladas after a meal or two and always end up with stock - never waste the bones!
Thanks for your comment!
Randy, I’m a great cook, and lately I’ve been buying more fresh veggies and fruit, fish … but these are the EXPENSIVE things in the market! Have you priced fish lately? $5 to $6 a pound for the cheapest. And fruits - berries are the best for you … and strawberries are $4 a pound! Blackberries and raspberries are even higher - and fresh vegetables are high priced as well!
Dorothy
You might need to make another adjustment: buying local AND in season. That can be cheaper in the long run. But it will mean a lot of the foods we’re use to eating year round will come in and out of your menu planing.
Good luck!
Randy
In addition to the pre-cooked meals of the 70s, the rise of the fast food industry has surely affected us. I’ve just read “Fast Food Nation” by Eric Schlosser and highly recommend it to everyone. Fascinating, well written, well researched and somewhat sobering.
I’ve gotten to the point that I’ll only eat “fast food” as a last resort - like then I’m on the road. And I’m rarely happy afterward.
Hey! It’s totally do-able to eat seasonally, locally and almost entirely organically for low-cost (that’s part of what I am sharing on my blog). I feed a family of 4 this way for $600 a month (that includes non-food items). We eat simply, seasonally…and hardly EVER go out anymore…it takes a re-set of your thinking…and that takes some time…but it’s SO worth it! We are spending less now than we ever have! thanks for sharing!
jane
I’m not against eating out, but I think it should be a special occasion. And it’s a great way to get ideas for your own recipes.
Thanks!
Randy
Cooking together can be a great way to bond the family together. We both cook in our house, which make for nice tag teaming sometimes. If I’m out of ideas, Barry usually has ideas. Another thing I do is plan menus for the week and buy groceries accordingly. That helps cut down on grocery bills too. Of course there are those staples you need to have in the house all the time, like rice, noodles, tuna fish, peanut butter, canned tomatoes, you know food stuffs like that. I use my crock pot a great deal. Often, when I cook in the crock pot, I make enough to freeze for later use. Ideas probably many of you already use.
Yes, cooking together is fun, and so is eating together without the rush. We remodeled our kitchen a year ago and I love cooking in it.
Oh, and you mentioned peanut butter. You can make terrific homemade. Once again, credit to my hero, Alton Brown: homemade peanut butter.