Is making your own dinner worth the time?
A few weeks ago, Ricky and I bought a convection oven to “save” money and time. It is a good idea and certainly broaden our range of cooking style without having to use the mammoth oven that we got in the kitchen. The first thing I cooked was fish sticks I bought 4-5 months ago and it turned out alright. I began to dream of shakin and bakin, and realized the dream a couple days ago.
However, I wondered — is it worth it? The answer was resounding no. The ****ing chicken wings that I got from Stop & Shop cost $5.68 and had 12 in the package. That’s $0.47 per wing! ****!!! Not only did I have to prepare the chicken by shakin’ and bakin’, it cost more than Whiskey’s! For $0.50, I could’ve gotten 5 wings! And the wings from Whiskey’s taste better too! OMG WTF BBQ!
Of course, there is spaghetti and pasta that is always cheap. On the same day I bought the chicken wing, I also bought 2 jars of Ragu Garden Style Spaghetti sauce for $5.00, some produce (tomato, onion, mushroom) for $6.00, some spaghetti for $7.00, and some ground beef for $9.00. So for just 27 bux, I have meals for the next 21+ days. That’s mad cheap, and tastes pretty good!
After the adventure with the shakin’ and bakin’ chicken ~ I decided I’d go a bit more hardcore since I have a week off with no exam. I thought I would make some dumplings/wontons cause I have the time! After canvassing the Chinese market a couple times, and revisiting Stop & Shop, I finally had what I wanted: ground beef, shrimp, leek, clear rice noodles, and dumpling skin.
Earlier today, after getting home from Stop & Shop with the final ingredients ~ I started making the dumpling meat at around 6 pm. Cutting the leek, cutting the shrimp, mixing everything, and then putting it in the dumplin skin. The whole process took until 9 pm to finish and I made about 100 dumplings. The cost for making all 100, is about 14 dollars.
It’s not worth it at all… considering I could buy 30 dumpling for $3.50, or 120 for 14…. I dunno, I guess cooking at home is for those with lots of time and ready for the morning every day ` cause I just feel I could’ve used the time for something more productive!