First of all, my apologies for the long break. Our baby beagle was born a month ago, and blogging had to be put on hold.

I will continue where I left off, on the Cook to Save series.

Today my post is about:

a) the benefits of cooking your own meals
b) how you can get started cooking your own meals at home.

It really isn’t that hard once you get used to it. Don’t close your mind to this yet, hear me out.

In our Frugal Beagle home, we have been cooking our meals since we got married. We try not to eat out, although we do take that luxury once in a while. With the recent rise in fuel prices, eating out becomes even more luxurious for us.

We have found the following benefits:

Benefits of Cooking Your Own Meals

1. Save money

Cooking and eating at home saves money in several obvious ways. You save petrol and parking fees because you don’t have to drive out. You avoid paying others to cook food for you. You avoid paying service charges and tips. You avoid the temptation to order expensive desserts.

2. Save time

You save time because you don’t have to get all dressed up, get your whole family in the car, drive through traffic jams, scout for a car park, wait for a table, order your food, and wait for food to be cooked.

3. Healthy food

Those of you who need to watch their diet will find it easier to control the ingredients that go into food preparation. You can control the amount of oil and salt you add to your food. You avoid food additives such as MSG.

The ingredients will be of a better quality and hygienic. After all, you bought them and prepared them yourself!

4. Tastes better

I always find that the food cooked at home tastes better. Maybe it’s the sense of achievement I feel, having produced something edible.

Sometimes, cooking your own food means you can cook it to your preference and exact taste. You can add extra portions of your favourite ingredients. Restaurants can’t do this for you because they have to cater for everyone, and they have to make a profit.

How to Get Started

How do you get started with cooking your own food? If you already have cooking experience, I guess you could skip this section!

I have to state here that I’m not a chef. There are probably things I have missed out. Feel free to add in the comments below.

Here are some basic things you need:

1. The right equipment

You need to have the proper cooking utensils. At the minimum, you need a rice cooker, a frying pan, a pot, or a wok. You need knives, cutting boards, vegetable peelers, plates and eating utensils.

You need a stove (which can be gas or electric). You need a refrigerator to store food, and if possible have a microwave for added convenience.

You need various containers and tupperware to store your ingredients.

2. Ingredients

I would advice you to stick with local dishes when you cook. Local dishes means food that makes full use of local ingredients. Local vegetables, spices and meat are cheaper compared to imported ones. Local ingredients can be found easily at the wet market.

Cooking western dishes like pasta may taste good, but it’s going to cost a lot getting the ingredients at the supermarket (unless you can make them from scratch).

You will need to stand by with cooking oil and standard sauces like soya sauce, dark soya sauce, ketchup, chili sauce, etc. Have corn starch, salt, sugar and pepper ready as these are commonly used for seasoning.

3. Recipes

Don’t go to your bookshop to buy recipe books. Recipes can be found for free on the Internet. You can get recipes from cooking shows on TV.

Even better, call up your family members (mom) and ask them for help. They will be more that pleased to teach you how to cook those hometown dishes and family recipes.

You can also ask the vegetable or meat vendor at the market for tips and recipes on cooking. Very often they will give you some excellent recommendations.

4. Planning

You need to plan ahead if you are going to cook. Don’t expect to start cooking 15 minutes before dinner time and have all the dishes ready on time!

Take at least a few hours to prepare your food. If want, you can even cook a bigger batch of food to last you several meals.

You also need to plan your ingredients properly. Make sure you have everything cut up and washed even before you fire up your stove.

5. Washing Up

Get your spouse, housemates or children involved in the washing up. Often times I hear people saying that this is the reason they don’t want to cook.

I find that it helps if someone starts washing as the cooking is taking place. Don’t wait until after dinner. The piled up dishes in the sink will surely demotivate you!

Get a good dish washing soap. Don’t go for the cheap ones as they don’t work and you end up having to use even more soap.

Conclusion

As with all my other posts, I genuinely hope that it has helped you. Once you get started with cooking your own meals, it won’t be as difficult as you though. It may be hard work, but I think the benefits in terms of savings, health and hygiene make it worthwhile.

To save even more money, you can cook extra and pack lunch to work on the next day.

Feel free to share your ideas in the comments section below.

Cook to Save Series:

Photo: Richard Dudley

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