Cook At Home And Save Money

Clearly, eating healthily while on a budget is one of my bugbears. Which would explain my shock, when reading the Sydney Morning Herald this week, to discover that takeaway and restaurant meals are the “highest weekly food item for Australian households, in all income groups” (from an article, ‘It’s Official: We Eat Too Much). With high-income households spending 18% of their budget on food, slightly tailing low-income households who spend 20%, clearly how and what we eat is as much a financial issue as it is a health concern. Which also means a diet that is consciously organised has far greater potential to save money. Here’s how.

Time resources are obviously stretched, for most of us. That said, an article I read recently (Michael Pollan, an article “Out Of The Kitchen, Onto The Couch” in the New York Times) showed statistics that the average American is spending 27 minutes a day cooking, with an extra 4 minutes a day cleaning it up. I don’t know the statistics in Australia, but I imagine- from the Herald article- they can’t be much better. Yet an episode of Masterchef is an hour long, sometimes an hour and a half.

I find myself becoming didactic on the issue, when clearly it is every person’s individual choice about how they eat. Certainly, there are many days when I would rather put a pin through my eye than cook. Or days when the thought of the pizza I am picking up on my way home from work is the only thing that sustains me. But I feel that advertising and marketing has attempted to convince us that we can’t make things ourselves; from the simple things like cakes, pizza bases, biscuits, curries through to the more time-consuming, such as bread.

Compare this. You make your own apple cake. Say Coles is your local store. I worked out that I could make an apple cake for around $3, including free range eggs and organic flour. The cheapest store-bought equivalent is $5, and check out the ingredient list. Cake [Wheat Flour, Sugar, Filling (Apples (17%), Water, Sugar, Modified Starch (1142), Preservatives (202, 223), Salt). Water, Egg Powders, Thickeners (1422, 1442, 415, 212), Maltodextrin, Whipping Agent, Emulsifiers (475, 471), Milk Solids, Raising Agents (500, 541, 450), Salt, Artificial and Natural Identical Flavours], Glaze [Water, Sugar, Syrups (Sucrose, Glucose), Vegetable Gums (401, 415, 406), Food Acids (332, 330), Nature Identical Flavour, Preservative (200).

Yes, there is time involved. But every day, we are spending extra money on things that are less good for us. Look at pizzas. Pizzas made at home with a simple dough contain no preservatives, turning a junk food into a treat that is comparatively less damaging to our health. And at an ounce of the price of takeaway. Can’t be bothered making the dough? Use pita bread instead. When Michael Pollan asked a food marketer in America what he thought the cure to the obesity epidemic was, the expert said that we could anything we like, as long as we ate it at home.

Beyond the cost to our health, I believe there is a huge financial incentive to healthy eating. Yes, some items cost more. Fish and meat, some organic produce will cost more money. But you will save money on frozen pizzas, lasagnas, dinner out a couple of times a week, McDonalds because you forgot your sandwich. With reported rises in grain costs imminent, there may well be a jump in the cost of staple items. The key is to educate ourselves so we can invest our money in good, healthy produce that will make our tastebuds sing. Cheap healthy eating isn’t a pipe dream, it just takes a new emphasis.