"I don't get you people. Why on earth would you cook something when you can save yourself the time and money and just buy this stuff? Who would want to bake when Save Mart has it already made?"
This is what someone recently asked me. This person is one of those typical people we see everyday. The kind who are grossly overweight, eats fast food EVERYDAY, and is just generally a massive heart attack waiting to happen.
Should you encounter one of these people, here are the arguments I suggest to you.
1)
It's More Cost Effective: By buying ingredients, you have the ability to actually make many dishes. When you purchase a microwave pizza, you can only make one thing, the microwave pizza.
Another example, buying a package of "lowfat" Snackwells will get you 28 cookies for the price of $5.00. For all the ingredients you need for a batch of tollhouse cookies, you will probably spend around $8-$12. This includes flour, salt, sugar, eggs, butter, etc. Now while you spent more money, you have enough ingredients for multiple batches of cookies, with each batch giving you about 4 dozen, you already beat out the Snackwells.
Even then, if you don't make hundreds of cookies, you have ingredients for other recipes. Ingredients like butter and eggs are always in use and staples like flour and sugar usually last for long periods of time.
In in the long run saves you from having to eat out all the time. Saving you from eating another McMeal.
Thus, buying for scratch ingredients is a far more frugal approach.
2)
It's Fun and Creative: Some of us actually enjoy cooking. It's fun for us. Sure it's not hunting for that last broken potato chip hiding under the couch cushion, but I guess that's a crucial difference between us.
I am allowed to be creative in what I make. Even if I have made it before, it's a bit different each time and I can, and usually do, switch it up somehow to make something new.
I suppose I can see the comfort in dependability with premade food, but still you would think that meat patties in brown sauce and chicken skin from K.F.C. would lose it's charm. Ah well, different strokes for different folks. Of course, these are the folks who also suffer strokes. =P
3)
It's Healthier: All that crappy, no nutritional, crazy chemical crap you buy isn't healthy. It has no real health value. It's a wad of grease, fat, and sugar. Deep frying all your vegetables doesn't mean you are eating healthy. There is no argument here. Don't even try. Is it any wonder you struggle to breathe when you move?
4)
You Can Make Time: Seriously, cook while you watch T.V.. What are you doing with all your time you can't possibly find at least 30 minutes in your day? Reality television isn't that engrossing as much as it is just gross.
In fact, if you are seeing it as a lack of time due to kids, family, work and so on, I can understand that. Some days, you just don't want to cook and that's okay. But try to involve your family and friends, get them into cooking. Rather than letting the kids watch T.V. show them how the kitchen works and try out new things. It will teach them to be self sufficient in the future and to eat healthier. (
The Great Big Vegetable Challenge is a perfect example of this.)
If whoever you are arguing with still insist on complaining about making food from scratch, then at this point your tender grip on sanity is probably lost. Do yourself and the culinary dissenter in question a favor; put the bitch down. Best of luck to you.
This is me. Moving. Without having showered for 27 hours. Only eating pizza. Wearing the same gross clothes. I can actually smell myself. I forgot to use the flash on the camera. And, yes, I licked a gum wrapped and stuck it on my forehead because it seemed like a good idea. But - I am very close to having finished packing. Just thought I would share.
