We go through phases of cooking at home more; then, eating out more; then, a blend of the two and around again. As our children have gotten older (and eat more), we have tried to cook more often than not because of the rising cost of food. However, we sometimes find that eating out is about the same cost as going to the grocery store. Of course, it's not usually the healthiest food selection that is cheaper.
One of my children suffered from food allergies when he was young. We had to cook practically everything to avoid allergens. We also had to purchase mostly organic foods due to the nature of the requirements for package labeling to ensure that he wouldn't eat something he was allergic to that was labelled under another name. That made our purchases quite expensive. It finally came down to time vs money. Was it more important to save the $5-$7 for a box of cheese crackers and make them from scratch while trying to raise four children 7 and younger, or was it worth it to save my sanity and buy the box of crackers? To me, it depended on my schedule. However, I always felt that the homemade product tasted better. So did my children.
I really prefer to eat what I cook because I know what's going into the recipe, but sometimes things happen that prevent that or sometimes, I just prefer a particular dish from a restaurant. As the name of the blog implies, I'm really more into baking, but I like all cooking except frying. Thankfully, my husband takes over that task; although, we don't eat a tremendous amount of fried food.
According to http://nymag.com, Americans spend more money eating out than they do on groceries. It's close to a two billion dollar difference. In researching this trend, many countries with affluent citizens seem to do the same. Go figure!
I'm trying to get back to a consistency in my cooking. I do think it is overall cheaper and healthier to buy and prepare our food. It's easier during this time of year to find fresh fruits and vegetables, which always taste better to me. There are very few recipes that intimidate me, thankfully. Time is usually my biggest obstacle to cooking as our schedules are quite busy. Preparing foods ahead of time or partial preparation (precooking certain ingredients, chopping things in advance), making a menu, well-planned grocery shopping, and determination seem to make the biggest difference.
What are some of the challenges you face in the kitchen? Again, I want to hear from you. Share in the comments.
I found this and thought I'd share. I am a fan of Julia's.
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