Cooking or Eating out?

[LivingAlmostLarge]

Okay so I have gotten lazier with age and I don't cook as much from scratch in some ways as I used too. We still eat mostly at home 1x during the week take out or out, and weekend we eat out usually once a day. Not a big deal about the same as pre-kids, but the real costs have gone in my convenience food.

I am about to admit that I buy frozen pizza or tonight broccoli cheddar soup that I would have made in the past. I also bought last week quiche from costco and we had that for dinner one night. VERY expensive compared to what I could make it for, but I didn't feel like it.

Can I ask for all the frugal people on the board do you consider it eating out to buy premade foods? Is it a cop-out? I actually have told other moms to do it instead of ordering take out or going out to eat, but am I doing the same thing buying these premade meals?

I admit I like frozen pizza. But I justify it in my head as not eating out, but am I really saving money? Is it bad advice to give that premade foods are cheaper than eating out or take out? I wonder if it really is?

[LuckyRobin]

I think it's about halfway between eating out and making it at home. If you can afford the expense I don't consider it a problem. If you can't then it is. I buy some convenience items to cook when I am sick or really tired (including pizza) and I've been known to hit the deli counter for fried chicken or meatloaf. I try not to make a habit of it, but I do it. When it's in the budget it's no big deal. If it blows the budget it is.

[hamchan]

We keep a frozen pizza on hand for "emergencies." I buy one on sale for $3-4 and don't include it in the meal plans ever. It's basically just there to prevent us from ordering out in a moment of weakness. We do eat out sometimes, but it is planned in advance. The emergency pizza is there so we don't order Dominos because we just can't be bothered to cook anything and really want something fatty and salty. We also keep sandwich things on hand pretty much all of the time, so on the nights we don't cook sandwiches or leftovers are standard. I don't want to cool every night, nor do I have the time. I have also started making my own granola, which is really good and has subbed in for dinner more than a few times.

I personally really like a lot of the convenience foods, and since these are the kinds of things you will often see loss leaders for, one can eat them pretty often without spending a whole lot.

The main reasons I don't use convenience foods very much are health related. I seem to do just fine on a steady diet of garbage, at least for now, but that much salt on a regular basis would straight up kill my husband. And I like him, so I have an interest in keeping him around as long as I can. So I cook. And the more experience I get with it the better things turn out. So I actually look forward to and enjoy eating at home, almost as much as I do eating out. Before it just felt like a horrible chore that rewarded me with mediocre food.

Part of this is spending a bit more for quality ingredients as well as ingredients I like. I like jasmine rice more than the cheaper stuff. I buy it in five pound bags at the Asian grocer so it costs less per pound, but it still costs more than medium grain white. I also buy the good bread, but choose a brand that is on sale. And I won't do most frozen vegetables, but stick with sale priced or seasonal fresh ones. So while I could maybe get my food costs down lower than they are, the downside would be that I would not want to eat at home due to the food's lack of appeal.

I don't love cooking, but since it's not really optional I have gotten used to it. And I enjoy what I am eating much more than I did when I didn't know what I was doing. The bottom line for me is if you can afford convenience foods, and you like them, and it's not any sort of health concern, then you don't need to justify it to anyone. If it prevents you from eating out more than you should then it's not a huge deal.

[kork13]

I think it's about halfway between eating out and making it at home. If you can afford the expense I don't consider it a problem. If you can't then it is. I buy some convenience items to cook when I am sick or really tired (including pizza) and I've been known to hit the deli counter for fried chicken or meatloaf. I try not to make a habit of it, but I do it. When it's in the budget it's no big deal. If it blows the budget it is.

LuckyRobin sums up my attitude quite well. I don't equate it with eating out, but it's definitely not "homemade" either. Cost-wise, it's probably 2-3 times the cost (very rough WAG) of what it would cost to make something from scratch... but that will still be much cheaper than eating out/ordering out.

Frozen pizzas are a great example. A homemade pizza to serve 3-4 can cost as little as $2-$3 to make from scratch (more toppings=more cost, obviously). A similar frozen pizza would normally cost about $4. Order a pizza from your favorite joint, and it'll probably cost $8-$10. Go to a pizza restaurant, you can easily pay $15-$20 for a pie.

So yeah, I'm fine with using prepared foods on occasion... I probably do so perhaps once a week. Of course, my preferred option is to make a large portion of one meal, then use (and/or "transform") it over the course of multiple days, depending on how much I make. That way I can still be lazy (only cook 1-2 times a week), but still have good, healthy, inexpensive, homemade meals.

[TheKayla]

Eating in with convenience foods still tends to be cheaper, and even healthier depending on what you get than eating out. Perhaps with very few exceptions. About half my groceries are convenience foods that are on the healthier side yet, making them a bit more costly, especially if I were to prep and cook from scratch. However, If bringing a $2 frozen meal to work stops me from grabbing a $5 fast food lunch or $10 restaurant lunch, it's all worth it. Same goes for staying in, sometimes I'm just too lazy to make myself anything, but if I have some quick food around, I won't spend too much eating out at all.

[Wino]

Has everyone forgotten about Ramen noodles? Here's my "quick and dirty" recipe:

• Take out two packs of Ramen noodles. Cost, about 15 cents.
• Crunch them up in the bags. Open bags. Throw away everything in the bag that isn't noodles.
• Take out package of hotdogs, smoked sausage, or thick ham steak you can cut into chunks. Leftover chicken, turkey, or steak works, too.
• Throw small pieces of previous item into about 3 cups of water in a saucepan that has a tight cover available.
• Boil water.
• While waiting for boil, take out two or three eggs, a can of cream-of soup (cream of mushroom, celery, tomato, chicken... whatever cream-of you like. Personally, it's always mushroom, no msg type, which costs slightly more)
• Grab bag of frozen corn, peas, peas & carrots, or whatever other veggie you like.
• Once boiling, turn off water.
• Throw in noodles, about a cup of the frozen veggies above, the eggs (of course out of the shells), and the cream-of soup.
• Stir up everything until the eggs are mostly cloudly and cooked. You have to break the yolks, too.
• Cover pot with a tight lid.
• Wait about three minutes.
• Stir again and eat.

The entire meal above is about $2 and it takes less than five minutes. Changing up the cream-of's, meat, and veggies gives you variety. Price is usually about $1 per person. I can eat this four times a week without getting sick of it, but I'm a guy, so maybe my gut is different from most people.

[hamchan]

Most people I know ate so many packs of ramen noodles in college that they can't even stand to look at them now. Plus, have you ever looked at the sodium content? After including your choice of meats, plus a can of soup that is going to be more sodium than a person should have in one day.

[Wino]

Plus, have you ever looked at the sodium content?

That's the part I threw away. The noodles have almost no sodium.

[hamchan]

Gotcha. Canned soup and hot dogs are pretty bad too, though. But it would depend on how many servings you get from that recipe.

[97guns]

i hardly ever eat out and cook dinner 5-6 times a week, last night made some shepherds pie. chopped up some carrots, celery, onions and some chicken. saute'd them and made a gravy, made up some instant mash that i got for .25 a box, threw it all in the oven and watched baseball. only took maybe 45 minutes to prepare and another 45 to bake off. pricewise, im probably into it for $4 and theres a lot of left over.

[disneysteve]

I agree with the others that convenience foods are an in-between category between from scratch and restaurants.

We generally use some convenience items along with some fresh items as part of a meal. When you really think about it, much of what most people call "from scratch" is really a convenience item. Canned or frozen veggies? Convenience item. Jar of pasta sauce? Convenience item. Bag of shredded cheese? Convenience item. Packaged loaf of bread? Convenience item. Box of pasta? Convenience item. All of those things could be made from scratch or bought in a less processed form. So it really comes down to a question of degree.

We love Mexican food. I can and do make my own tortillas from scratch on occasion but 98% of the time, we use packaged ones. But I will never, ever buy packaged guacamole. I always make that from scratch. We also use all fresh produce except for canned corn and beans. Then we use bottled taco sauce. So the meals are a blend of fresh and packaged items. the end result is still far cheaper (and far healthier) than going to a Mexican restaurant.

[JoeP]

Most people I know ate so many packs of ramen noodles in college that they can't even stand to look at them now. Plus, have you ever looked at the sodium content? After including your choice of meats, plus a can of soup that is going to be more sodium than a person should have in one day.

I OD'd on them in college, and cannot even bear the smell of them any more. I'm ok with certain of the cup-format noodles, the kind where you peel back the paper top and pour boiling water in it.

We do consider buying pre-made foods to be the same as eating out because there are two classifications in our book: making your own dinner, and not.

[disneysteve]

We do consider buying pre-made foods to be the same as eating out because there are two classifications in our book: making your own dinner, and not.

I'm curious how everyone classifies things in their minds.

Let's say you make dinner consisting of the following:
Bagged salad topped with bottled dressing
Dry pasta cooked and topped with bottled sauce
Italian bread (from the store) and butter
Some type of prepared dessert (cake, cookies, etc.)

Does that count as making your own dinner or eating out? Nothing was actually prepared at home but you probably only spent $1-2/person if that.

[rennigade]

We do consider buying pre-made foods to be the same as eating out because there are two classifications in our book: making your own dinner, and not.

I personally do not know a single person who cooks everything from scratch.

Do you know how difficult that would be? Growing all of your own vegetables from seeds. Grounding up wheat that you grew to create flour. Im not even sure how you would go about getting salt and pepper from the earth. I dont live near a salt mine, maybe from a body of salt water somehow? Meat products would be fairly straight forward....etc, etc.

Every single thing at a grocery store is "pre-made." Someone somewhere made/grew/raised what you are purchasing. Ive never heard anyone say buying things at a grocery store is the same as eating out.

Do you live on a homestead or have a ton of land where you can grow/raise all of your own food?

There are tv shows where people live on homesteads and or claim they live off the land...which they do to an extent...but not 100%.

[disneysteve]

I personally do not know a single person who cooks everything from scratch.

Do you know how difficult that would be? Growing all of your own vegetables from seeds.

I think buying fresh produce still counts as "from scratch". The question is if canned or frozen produce still counts. Buying flour and baking bread "from scratch" is different than buying store-bought bread. You can't "grow" your own salt so I have no problem with buying it in the store and still counting that as "from scratch".

I was thinking more about stuff that is prepared food as opposed to raw ingredients. A box of Barilla pasta, for example. You can make your own pasta with flour, eggs, etc. but hardly anyone does on any regular basis. We use the ready made stuff which is a convenience food.