Dear Penny: I’m Wasting Money on Food Because I’m an Awful Cook

Posted On Feb 11, 2020 By admin With Comments Off

Dear S .,

You attribute all that wasted food to poor projecting and kitchen knowledge. But I suspect that intention — as in, having too much of it — is the bigger culprit.

And I share your agony: I’m a single woman who works long hours and doesn’t like to cook. In my 36 years, I’ve thrown out more groceries than I care to think about. Please don’t ask me about how much I be applicable to spend on UberEats.

I can’t say I’ve altogether reformed these bad dress, but I’ve stimulated pretty good progress over the past year or so.

But I haven’t gotten more penalized. I’ve just gotten more realistic. I know that I’m way too ambitious when I peruse Pinterest for recipes and meal-planning plans when I wake up refreshed on Saturday morning.

I know that when the weekend is clicking apart on Sunday afternoon, I’ll be willing to commit an hour or two at most to meal prepping. Some weekends I’ll fail altogether at planning.

What preserves me reasonable is that I’m a bicycle commuter. I do most of my weekday grocery ranges on my journey residence. That wants I’m limited to what I can fit into my bike’s basket, which is a medium bag of groceries.

I have to be selective. I’m forced to think about how much effort I’m willing to put into that night’s dinner. Occasionally, the answer is “none, ” so I’ll pick up takeout instead. Is that the most frugal answer? No. But at least I’m not shelling out for a restaurant snack and ingredients for a dinner I’ll never cook.

The key is to decide how much age you’re willing to commit to meal prepping each week and hampered yourself to it. You want to devote less on meat, but you too need to account for the value of your limited time off.

If you can set aside even an hour or two of prep duration every week, I think you’ll impel substantial progress. Try chopping up some veggies and cooking a couple of protein staples expending olive oil and a few cases spices.( Simply invest in some good storage receptacles .)

Then, you’ll have some basic parts you can throw over rice or a bed of light-greens. Or you can use them as taco crowds or transcends for a healthful pizza. Start with meals that are so basic, you don’t even need a recipe. As your culinary skills improve, you can aim a little higher.

Just be honest with yourself: When you’re working 50 to 60 hours a week, you’re probably not going to cook 21 banquets a week from scratch. That’s OK.

Breakfast and lunch don’t require much prep job — you can easily toss together the ingredients for a smoothie, omelette, sandwich or salad in a few minutes. Dinner tends to be a little more of a production, or at least we treat it that way.

So maybe start with the goal of making all seven breakfasts and lunches, plus four dinners. Enlist your daughter to be responsible for dinner at least one night a week. Then give yourself permission to get takeout for the remaining part three dinners.

Just keep your priorities in brain here: You want to save money. You want to eat healthy. Neither of these goals requires you to be the next Wolfgang Puck. You don’t even have to be Pinterest-worthy.

Focus on uttering small-minded strides in the kitchen, give yourself a little room to neglect, and I’m confident you can whittle away at the amount of menu you waste.

Robin Hartill is a senior editor at The Penny Hoarder and the expression behind Dear Penny. Send your questions about saving money to AskPenny @thepennyhoarder. com.

This was originally published on The Penny Hoarder, which cures millions of books worldwide pay and save money by sharing peculiar job opportunities, personal fibs, freebies and more. The Inc. 5000 graded The Penny Hoarder as the fastest-growing private media company in the U.S. in 2017.