Cook at home, you lazy bastard

Posted at 22:21 on Tuesday August 24, 2004 | Filed Under Saving

Every time I do a summer internship, I lose my mind and start eating out every day. Then about halfway through the summer, I realize I have no money saved up, only fond memories of that taco truck down the street.

Cost of eating out:

Lunch: ($8.00/day) = $56.00/week
Dinner: ($12.00/day) = $84.00/week

Lunch: $2,680/year (365 minus 30 days of not eating out)
Dinner: $4,020/year
-----
Total: $6,700.00/year GOOD GOD

After I wept for 3 days, I went to the grocery store and started cooking a little bit for myself. A month later, I ran the analysis and discovered that, for me, cooking is 1/10 the cost of eating out.

Now what?
DONE READING?
Now you can leave your own comment or subscribe to the newsletter

Comments (21)

1.

Same as the latte factor as mentioned in automatic millionaire . One of the simplest example of frugal living .

Posted by manuvns at July 22, 2005 02:52 PM
2.

Surprisingly, very few people seem to figure this out.

Posted by Matt Hartrich - Buffalo, NY at December 8, 2005 09:36 PM
3.

Here's a simple calculus:


If you can read, you can cook.


This means that if you invest $20 in a cookbook, you'll be repaid with delicious meals in addition to the money you save, not to mention the aquisition of extremely useful culinary skills.

Posted by JBA at April 13, 2006 11:49 PM
4.

I wish I had your discipline...going out to buy tacos is just so much easier.

Posted by Jim at June 21, 2006 12:35 AM
5.

I've been eating lunch out for almost the last 4-5 years that I've been working for. For me , the motivation to start cooking is less that it'll save me some money but more that I'm totally SICK of eating out! Going out and trying out different restaurants and cuisines ( which was so exciting when I couldnt afford them more than twice a month) now seems torturous. I think having more dispensable money has made me lazy and lame. Time to get the pots and pans rolling!

Posted by Dhiraj at July 16, 2006 04:56 PM
6.

Does anyone have a website of quick lunches that can be put together for a decient price day in and day out?

Posted by Kraig Turner at July 18, 2006 12:00 PM
7.

I appreciate this website and this posting because Ramit is changing the perception of readers. That is a very kind thing to do. It makes people better and wiser. Thank you for the lovely website. I read it everyday and each time I learn...I change...for the better.

Posted by Idea Senator at August 14, 2006 01:42 AM
8.

Tacos in specific aren't too bad. They're like $0.89 each. Two or three for an occasional lunch is cheap, although probably not very healthy.

Posted by Jonathan at August 19, 2006 12:08 AM
9.

I've been hitting the home kitchen pretty hard lately... to save money and lose some lbs. For lunch I often go with the Lean Cuisine or Marie Calendar frozen meals that go on sale at the local mega mart for less than $2 each. Throw in some yogurt, string cheese, pretzels... for about $3.50 you can have a pretty satisfying lunch with far less calories than some supersized fast food. Find some friends and play some cards at lunch... just as fun as blowing money at Crapplebees.

Posted by mfred at August 22, 2006 05:53 PM
10.

You don't even have to invest in a cookbook to learn how to cook. There's plenty of sites with recipes online, some of them geared towards inexpensive meals or inexperienced cooks. The library is a great place to get cookbooks also. If you really like the cookbook you can buy one.

Posted by Melsky at August 25, 2006 06:58 AM
11.

I don't know what you cook, but when I do anything more than a very basic meal, I'm looking at around $10 for dinner on average.


Dinner tonight:
2 Halibut filets: $12
4 scallops: $4
Assorted veggies & ingredients: $4
Ingredients for desert: $5
Drink: $2


That's $27 for dinner for 2. Eating healthy isn't cheap, either.


Cooking at home and eating well is just as expensive as eating out frugally.

Posted by Robin at November 30, 2006 06:35 PM
12.

In reply to the question about a website with reliable lunch suggestions -


I don't have a website to recommend, but I can recommend Nigel Slater's "Real Fast Food". Superb meals, easy to prepare, very reliable.

Posted by Hugh "Nomad" Hancock at December 1, 2006 04:51 AM
13.

Robin, ya, I know what you mean. A couple of 2 1/2 lb lobsters, a couple of NY Strip steaks, 4 oz a little beluga caviar, a bottle of Dom Perignon, some veggies and....


Seriously though, you must be doing something wrong. I can enough salmon to feed 4 people for $12. If you're spending $5 on desert for two, at home?


I can make an apple pie and couple it with pint of vanilla ice cream for about $8, and that comes out to about $1 per serving. Mmmm.


And I would consider those types of food extravagant for me.


How about 1 lb of penne tossed with a head of broccoli rabe, a couple of links of hot Italian sausage cut up, a few cloves of garlic and a little olive oil. Sprinkle with some fresh grated Pecorino Romano.


There are at least 4 servings in that meal, at

Posted by Mark at December 4, 2006 06:30 PM
14.

Last summer I realized that one of my biggest expenses was food and/or candie while at work due to not having the discipline to prepare food in the mornings. My solution was to make about fifty sandwiches, pack them in little plastic baggies (pair-wise) and put them in the freezer. I could grab a bag every morning on the way out, and stick it in the little toasty machine in the employees lounge. If there was no toasty machine I could pull the bag out of the freezer the evening before.


Saved a bunch - and was still able to be lazy in the morning. Cost me a couple of hours every few weeks.

Posted by Jane Andersen at December 11, 2006 03:10 AM
15.

cooking is so overrated it's not funny, I just eat cereal, walkers crisps and varties of other large bags of crisps/potato chips and sometimes cheese & crackers.


cooked food is useless if you want to make it last while watching lets say a movie, ufc event, etc.


you are all probably thinking omg that dude must be a fat slob, ironically I am only 170 pounds.

Posted by the chosen one at December 12, 2006 09:25 AM
16.

170lb chip eater: Only 170 pounds but probably under-nourished. Healthy eating is more than weight ( with composition being more important than weight. I know 6' guys who are fat-asses and only weigh 150).


Expensive seasfood eater:
I eat seafood myself but I spend about $1 per serving of Salmon. Veggies are like $1 a pound,. I also dont have a gigantic multi-course meal every night. I like to be able to get up sometimes. The meal you described, for most people, is a fancy special occasion meal- not typical.

Posted by greg at December 18, 2006 01:04 PM
17.

what to make at home for lunch ?that's easy. How about sandwiches. Spaghetti is also easy to make and I never get tired of it. You can make these the night before and take it with you to work. If I'm in a hurry I grab a can of soup and a bowl on my way out

Posted by kristi at December 27, 2006 06:57 PM
18.

Well I was on internship in slovenia as student for last 4 months. first, i got some discounts as student. second - i save time! 5mins by bike to restaurant, 5-10mins to wait for food. if you cook something good it takes at least an hour for cooking, washing up. just choose cheaper restaurants, but cooking at home can also get expensive! and as i said it takes time. if you enjoy it, then its different.

Posted by Valters Boze at January 6, 2007 04:16 PM
19.

I realized that one of my biggest expenses was food and/or candie while at work due to not having the discipline to prepare food in the mornings. My solution was to make about fifty sandwiches, pack them in little plastic baggies (pair-wise) and put them in the freezer. I could grab a bag every morning on the way out, and stick it in the little toasty machine in the employees lounge.

Posted by Nensy Cooper at January 23, 2007 11:20 AM
20.

greg I don't really care to be honest, because as long as I am slim, I will carry on just eating cereal + potato chips/crisps all the time 0.o


my fast metabolism + 15 mins per day on my exercise bike is just great haha

Posted by the chosen one at February 1, 2007 05:21 AM
21.

Eating lunch for me isn't a problem cost-wise, my work has a cafe and my lunches cost less than $5 each day. Not bad, I can live with that.


As for dinner, the savings really dont come into play that night...the savings happens when you make enough for leftovers. If you can save a few bucks each day by bringing leftovers to work, that helps.

Posted by steven at February 3, 2007 07:51 PM

Leave your comment

NOTE
Fields marked with asterisk (*) are required.
:
:
:
remember me:
(You may use HTML tags for style)
getting started

This is a blog on personal finance (banking, saving, budgeting, and investing) and personal entrepreneurship.

It's for students, recent graduates, and other young people.

about me

Ramit Sethi

I'm a recent graduate of Stanford, where I studied technology and psychology. Now I'm the co-founder & VP of Marketing for PBwiki, a wiki startup in Silicon Valley.

categories
stay tuned

Stay current with updates:
Sign up for the free newsletter...

...or use RSS / Atom feed:

RSS FeedAtom Feed