Making your own meals vs eating out/getting takeout

[swirl_of_blue]

To cook or not to cook?

 

Do you like inventing new recipes in the kitchen, or do you just get a burger at the nearest fast-food place? Did you grow up surrounded by your parents' homecooked meals or eating microwave meals?

 

Myself, I like to cook as long as I don't have to do it too often. I prefer to make big portions and eat the same thing for several days, or freeze some of whatever I made for later use. I grew up in a family where almost everything was made from scratch: from the market fresh fish and potatoes for the mash, and certainly no microwave meals! Salad from fresh vegetables, and for dessert something mom had baked (and not using any mixes - all the way from flour, butter and sugar). My parents never really taught me to cook, but I learned some things from observing and we also had mandatory cooking classes at school. The rest I've figured out by using my common sense and reading cookbooks, as well as by trial and error.

 

I'm not quite as strict in using only basic, fresh ingredients as my parents were (and still are), as I love trying out different ready-made sauces, stocks, marinades and other things to make my meals more varied than what I used to get at home. Finnish food tends to be a bit bland, and many people think simple salt and pepper is easily enough seasoning for anything. I don't really agree with that, and have at least twenty different spices, spice mixes and herbs that I like to mix and match. I do feel a bit guilty if I buy ready-made, processed foods like meatballs or mac and cheese, but sometimes I just don't bother to make everything from scratch.

[Grumpy Alien]

I’m American. Cooking is a hobby, not a daily activity.

[Guest]

I mean for me, that second question of why I don't cook some days is more of a "I don't have the ingredients/I don't feel like it today"

[Yatogami]

I'm an American, and I cook everything from scratch. I get fresh food, and produce usually weekly. I'm really big into cooking Japanese food as a hobby. As it's really healthy. I do buy premade ingredients occasionally, if they are difficult to make or take a lot of time. Noodles are the biggest offender.

 

To be healthy here in USA, it's essential to do so. As processed food, and take out is horrible for you. And all that extra sugar is disgusting.

 

I occasionally get fast food for a treat, and it's too late to cook.

[swirl_of_blue]

4 minutes ago, Graceful said:

I’m American. Cooking is a hobby, not a daily activity.

This was a shock to me when I came to USA as an exchange student in high school. I was used to eating homecooked meals every day, and suddenly it was microwave meals or fast food almost every day. Even in the weekend it was going to a restaurant, or getting some meat and barbequing it, with mash from the box to go with the meat, and for dessert brownies made from a mix. I don't think in the several months there was a single meal that I would consider we made from the scratch! That was probably one of the biggest culture shocks for me.

[Grumpy Alien]

2 minutes ago, swirl_of_blue said:

This was a shock to me when I came to USA as an exchange student in high school. I was used to eating homecooked meals every day, and suddenly it was microwave meals or fast food almost every day. Even in the weekend it was going to a restaurant, or getting some meat and barbequing it, with mash from the box to go with the meat, and for dessert brownies made from a mix. I don't think in the several months there was a single meal that I would consider we made from the scratch! That was probably one of the biggest culture shocks for me.

I’m currently living in the UK and experiencing the opposite culture shock. I have to think about what I’m eating each day and plan around it and go shopping multiple times a week because the food doesn’t last. It’s quite irritating! 

[Homer]

 

Needless to say, I really really do not like to cook.

[Mezzo Forte]

My mom has a garlic allergy, so packaged foods and restaurant meals that she can eat are quite rare. Consequently, I grew up mostly to homemade meals, with restaurants being more of special occasion situations. Definitely made being vegetarian feel pretty normal for me, even if my diet confused people. (Most people assumed I ate tons of tofu and salad because of my dietary restrictions, but I didn't try tofu until way later in life, and to this day, I despise 99.999% of all salad dressings.)

 

Living on my own, I prefer to cook my meals when I have the time, but I tend to make really simple dishes, and I do enjoy eating out for the kind of stuff I couldn't prepare myself. I will sometimes use preprepared items like store-bought salsa or rice as ingredients, but I do make a fair amount of stuff from scratch. I've been contemplating trying new recipes though, since my tendency to cycle between my 3-4 things I normally cook makes them start to get old.

[Grumpy Alien]

My family was never one to cook either. Most nights were boxed mac and cheese or tv dinners.

[RoseGoesToYale]

I used to eat a lot of ready-made foods because I was under the impression that students couldn't afford anything else. Then one time a few years ago I wanted steak and potatoes, so I thought I'd splurge. I looked for the cheapest steaks and got three cuts for $5-6, so maybe $1.75 per steak. Add in the baked potato and a few brussel sprouts and the meal total came to around $3, plus I got two other meals out of it. When I compared that to the $4-5 I was spending on a single frozen meal, that's when I knew I'd been duped. Since then I've done most of the cooking myself, and the food tastes much better. Some things I buy pre-made because it would be too expensive and time consuming to make by hand.

[Gloomy]

I usually cook meat and have it with canned or frozen vegetables. It’s cheaper that way. I’m sort of a prepper so I like having non-perishable canned food on hand in case the SHTF anyway.

 

When I was a little kid my family and I lived off fast food and boxed food. Luckily I’ve always had a ridiculously high metabolism so it didn’t show.  

[Guest]

I can't answer the poll because none of the options in number 2 apply to me.. it won't let me submit my vote :c

 

I cook literally everything at home, from scratch. And as a single parent with two kids on the lowest income possible, healthy ingredients are affordable if one budgets properly (in NZ anyway)

[Copal_0]

Good topic! I think question 2 should include something about being forced into not cooking because of schedule or circumstance. Anyways, thats why I don't cook sometimes.

[Guest]

Question 2 needs to have an 'i cook at home', or 'not applicable' option!

[Ortac]

If I cook, it usually ends with my kitchen looking like a bomb has hit it. That doesn't stop me from trying though. 

[borkfork]

I grew up with homemade meals most days. We didn't make pasta noodles from scratch, but we ate pretty well for our income level. 

 

I don't have access to all my pots, pans, cooking tools right now so I rarely make anything more complicated than a sandwich or a burrito. I did manage to make pesto in a blender. I can't have soy so cheap microwave junk isn't really an option for me.

[Yatogami]

1 hour ago, swirl_of_blue said:

This was a shock to me when I came to USA as an exchange student in high school. I was used to eating homecooked meals every day, and suddenly it was microwave meals or fast food almost every day. Even in the weekend it was going to a restaurant, or getting some meat and barbequing it, with mash from the box to go with the meat, and for dessert brownies made from a mix. I don't think in the several months there was a single meal that I would consider we made from the scratch! That was probably one of the biggest culture shocks for me.

This is rather a new thing. Most traditional and rural families cook. It's only in big cities that I've ever seen this culture. 

 

Moving to Ohio gave me culture shock, because of this. It's gross too, because I hate most processed food.

[StormySky]

I make smoothies, ramen, and store-bought macaroni and couscous, most other times I don't cook, I just "forage" food like fruit and cheese and dry cereal from the cabinet/refrigirator.

 

Eating at a resturant is a rare occurence

[Yatogami]

20 minutes ago, Copal_0 said:

Good topic! I think question 2 should include something about being forced into not cooking because of schedule or circumstance. Anyways, thats why I don't cook sometimes.

This applies to me for breakfast. I get up and go to work, with nothing but coffee or maybe a bagel.

[Hayley]

I'm an avid cook. I cook every day at least once, and love trying out different recipes and cuisines. My significant other also enjoys cooking, which means that there is always good food in the house (and we're both overweight! )

 

I primarily make things from scratch, but do occasionally use ready made components in a meal. Time is often very tight for me. I pretty much never buy meals ready-to-eat though. 

[Dreamer23]

Voted what seemed most applicable, but here's the actual answers:

 

1) I almost always make everything from scratch. The only exception is a subway sandwich ~twice a month, and that's technically all pretty raw ingredients as well!
HOWEVER: I feel like I'd be cheating a little if I'd claim I'm making everything from scratch. While that is true, most of my meals are just "microwave raw ingredient x or y"
Microwaved and seasoned broccoli, tofu, or whatever is a perfectly fine meal on its own, no need to make some fancy recipe!!!

 

2) The times when I eat at sub is because I'm just too friggin' hungry and my weight has been okay that day that I know I'll forgive myself. I always buy my food for the week and with exact calorie counts, so if I feel overly hungry beyond that and a vegetable broth won't do, I'll have to eat out (or hit the grocery store for a snack, which seems silly)

 

3) 100% home cooked meals. Like literally 100% (maybe eating out once every other Christmas or so! ;D)
   My mom was stay at home and home cooked is also significantly cheaper which was an important factor (I know that might not always be 100% true in the US, but it certainly is where I'm from)

[Xavy]

I love cooking vegetarian food. Cooking brings out my creativity 

[WinterWanderer]

I cook my own food. I can't afford to eat out, and I've sworn off buying pre-made meals at the store. Growing up, my parents cooked a lot but we ate out a couple times a week.

[Siimo van der fietspad]

5 hours ago, Graceful said:

I’m currently living in the UK and experiencing the opposite culture shock. I have to think about what I’m eating each day and plan around it and go shopping multiple times a week because the food doesn’t last. It’s quite irritating! 

Eh? What doesn't last? Food will keep for plenty long enough if you store it correctly. Potatoes keep for weeks in the dark, so will veg, dairy has use-by dates weeks ahead and will keep at least a week in the fridge even opened; rice, beans and tins pretty much indefinitely. My grandparents kept tins of evaporated milk throughout the war... You can freeze pretty much anything if it has a short date too, a common money-saver is to visit supermarkets late in the day and buy the short-date items that are reduced, then freeze them at home.  Unless you're living in a remote village in the Orkneys, you should have little difficulty obtaining processed food stuffed with preservatives anyway.

 

Anyway, to address the thread, I grew up with a diet dominated by home-cooked food, which has gotten even more so since living away. I make my own breads, cakes, pesto, curd cheese, pizza, sauces, curry, soups, breakfast cerial - I think about the only premade foods I ever buy are pasta (which only has about 3 ingredients anyway), rennet cheese, chocolate, and very occasionally pies and quiches. My shopping is all base ingredients, and it results in nice fresh food for very little money, especially as the shopping trip is made by bicycle. I generally find restaurant food to be slightly disappointing by comparison, or obviously full of salt and sugar, unless it's something I couldn't practically cook at home (and even then I will try - my city has a great range of Polish and Asian shops). Home-made bread was the biggest revelation: even high-end commercial bread is full of preservatives and raising agents and is over-inflated: a home-baked loaf with proper flour and fresh yeast goes three times as far (if you can stop yourself eating it) and I can make types of bread I never knew existed.

[daveb]

I'm not a versatile cook, and I don't actually cook a lot of meals. But I don't buy ready-made meals often or eat out much. What I tend to do is make things like sandwiches or have some fruit or cereal or snacks. Occasionally I heat up canned soup or beans or frozen pizza. And every once in a while I make something like enchiladas or cook a turkey breast and make mashed potatoes and stuffing or a big pot of spaghetti and freeze some of the leftovers.

[Gloomy]

I’ve sometimes joked that instead of eating ramen during college, I ate it during elementary school. My parents were young when they had me(right now I’m actually the same age as my mom was when I was in kindergarten O_O), and they were kind of broke, hence the cheap boxed food and $1 McDonalds burgers...

[Skycaptain]

I generally cook from fresh and freeze so I can make half a dozen instant meals at at a time. 

I won't make noodles and pasta from flour, though, I get them ready made. 

 

This is mainly because when I did eat ready meals and takeaway all the time I ended up with diabetes, so I have to be more careful now 

[LadyWallflower]

I always cook although I make simple meals. I don't usually make sauces from scratch, although otherwise I use fresh ingredients. The rare times I eat out is the rare time a friend wants to meet up.

 

I lived in the USA for a bit and everyone I knew cooked mostly, so I'm a bit confused about this cultural conundrum??? Although I'm sure some people don't.

 

While living in Japan everyone makes a big deal over the fact that I always cook and bring my own lunch. So?????

 

I think it depends on the exact people you know.

[Gloomy]

1 hour ago, LadyWallflower said:

I always cook although I make simple meals. I don't usually make sauces from scratch, although otherwise I use fresh ingredients. The rare times I eat out is the rare time a friend wants to meet up.

 

I lived in the USA for a bit and everyone I knew cooked mostly, so I'm a bit confused about this cultural conundrum??? Although I'm sure some people don't.

 

While living in Japan everyone makes a big deal over the fact that I always cook and bring my own lunch. So?????

 

I think it depends on the exact people you know.

That's true. I'm from the US and have always lived in suburbs or semi-rural areas, and I've come across both people who cook a lot and people who never cook. *shrugs*

[AussieIsAce]

how can people not cook....they'd waste all there moneyyy. its way cheaper to cook for yourself plus if you grow your own veggies then its that much easier. 

every sunday i make homemade pasta and i freeze it for when ever i want it. 

 

maybe its cause im a wog and we all can cook. 

 

i never eat out and i only cool fresh food...ive never had a microwave meal. those are so bad for you let alone expensive and nasty. 

make your own meals its fun and healthy aye