Start cooking at home

[Mike75]

Well, this will not make you money, but you are going to save a fortune. I used to eat take outs at least 4 nights a week with my family. We have stopped that for the 3 month and saved $200!!!! Can you believe that? That's how much we spend on our monthly commute.

So in other words, our transportation is not costing us a penny.

[Snippa]

I agree, Mike! And good job on your savings!! That's tremendous!

Eating at home is THE NUMBER ONE biggest money saving thing we do. Hubby and I used to eat out 3-4 nights a week minimum, when I worked outside the home. PLUS, I ate lunch out almost every day. Now that I work at home, I cook most nights (we go out 1-2 times during the week max--often not even that), and it has saved us a ton of money. Consider even fast food costs $10-15 at a shot, and a decent restaraunt (like Ruby Tuesday's) three times that. The costs definitely add up.

Dee

[rob62521]

Eating at home is not only a good money saving idea, but it is healthier if you choose fruits and vegetables and not all totally prepared items. I usually spend a couple of hours on the weekend making casseroles and stews to store in the fridge and heat up during the week. I figure that is time well spent.

[SoCalifrugal]

Homemaking whatever you can is the frugal and healthy thing to do. Even making something that you can buy in a box will often be healthier because you know exactly what is going into it. No preservatives and junk.

We gradually moved from fast food daily to eating at home, and now I want to venture into making more from scratch. It's funny, because we were patting ourselves on the back when we were making hamburger helper instead of going to Carl's. It gets me sick though, and now I try to find my own ways to help hamburger. It's liberating, really.

[Saving_spree]

My family always prefers home made food.. We go out occasionally..

[mom-from-missouri]

Good job. But, I question why you only saved $200. Is your family small? We couldn't eat out (5) that many nights in 3 months for only $200. I am sensing we could possibly save more here. Are you cooking from scratch or buying ready made meals?

[Mike75]

Yes, my family is small. We are only 4 people. Me, wife, son (14) and daughter (12). But we only saved $200 bucks we didn't stop eating out altogether. Went out to eat two-three times. Plus, we did splurge on groceries too.

[wfhouses]

We also prefer home cooked meals. In addition we save money on gas, tip money, and tylenol (for the headaches from dealing with poorly trained fast food workers who always screw up our orders) by eating at home.

[stevenrokz]

I think home made food is much more healthier than eating out. You can save money. We go out occasionally & sometimes eat out as well.

[Mike75]

And guys, you won't believe how good we feel after eating home cooked food. No heartburn, no acidity, no fat belly!!!

[joanlovescats]

We love to stay in. I have 2 young girls that are giant helpers in the kitchen and I take all the help I can get! How else would they ever learn how to cook if we ate out all the time? We have even go so far to make our pets food at home. I found this inexpensive product called Dr. Harveys Pre Mix Feline Cuisine Food. It has saved us a bundle making our cats food at home also.

[msi56]

Another advantage of this tip is that you will soon become a good cook and this is a marketable skill in itself.

[Granite]

I not only cook from scratch, I bake from scratch too using sourdough starter. i don't even bother with a bread machine anymore. Just takes a while to get the hang of it.

I recommend a crock pot. You can make stew, chili, soups, roast, etc. while you are at work. when you come home, dinner is cooked. just put the ingredients in the crockpot in the morning and dinner will be done when you get home from work. takes a very small amount of planning. try it !

[Mike75]

Originally Posted by msi56

Another advantage of this tip is that you will soon become a good cook and this is a marketable skill in itself.

I never thought of this before I am a fairly good cook. Can I actually market this skill?

[PetMom]

Great job on your savings!

Cooking from home as in caterers usually involves a health dept. inspection but I was reading some blog the other day by an artisan bread maker that was making his artisan breads and selling to friends and coworkers and by word of mouth.

Plus he was using this bread as a gift to people insead of purchasing gifts.

It was getting hard for him to loaf around though as wherever he showed up people expected him to have a loaf of bread handy.

[cptacek]

Originally Posted by Granite

I not only cook from scratch, I bake from scratch too using sourdough starter. i don't even bother with a bread machine anymore. Just takes a while to get the hang of it.

I recommend a crock pot. You can make stew, chili, soups, roast, etc. while you are at work. when you come home, dinner is cooked. just put the ingredients in the crockpot in the morning and dinner will be done when you get home from work. takes a very small amount of planning. try it !

How do get started with starter? Can you make starter yourself, or do you have to get it from someone?

I tried making bread for a while. 8 bricks of dense blocks that could break your toe if you dropped it later, I quit. Don't know what was wrong...

[Granite]

starter: you can make it yourself. I did. it's just flour, water yeast, sugar. it will take awhile to actually "start"

google a recipe for it, it's really easy. I keep mine in a glass jar on counter and poked holes in the lid so it can breathe. everyone loves the bread i make. it's easy and cheap. you can use white or wheat flour or a combo.

Sourdough Bread I - All Recipes

i only use 5 cups of flour though.

[superdad1580]

My family and I save a small fortune by cooking at home. We take it a step farther because we have five kids. We buy in bulk, things like 25lbs of flour and sugar, large bags of noodles and large bottles of ketchup with a pump. I also cook enough for 14 instead of 7, then I food saver the left overs.

I end up cooking one week and warming up my bags of food in boiling water the next week. I also make large batches of sausage biscuits and then the kids just nuke them before school. It saves a lot of time and money.

[superdad1580]

Oh and don't forget all the money you can save by packing your kids and yourself a lunch instead of purchasing it.

[rob62521]

Is everyone on this post still cooking at home? I'm just curious about an update.