Why cooking at home is smart

During this time off from the blog, I have had much time to reflect on some of my favorite articles. Here is one from the July 2008 email newsletter that I found relevant–hope it finds you well! (sign up for the free Mind Your Decisions email newsletter at phplist)

image by erix via flickr

Food companies and restaurants hold tremendous power. They have warped our notions about portion size and even influenced our health guidelines. They have even gotten to financial advisers, convincing them that buying prepared meals is “smarter” when you consider the cost of time. I find this absurd–I think such statements are primarily made to defend unhealthy habits.

I primarily eat home-cooked meals and only dine out once or twice a week for a change. This means I will bring home-cooked food into the office when necessary. Often people compare their own highly-processed and greasy meals to mine and admit envy. But not always. Once, my mentor told me I was wrong. He told me it’s better to dine out because my time as a worker was “worth more money.”

I agreed with him that the time value of money is important, but I ultimately disagreed with his logic for three reasons.

First, it’s virtually impossible to value personal time uniformly in monetary terms. Some hours are worth a lot–like hours sleeping–while others can be improved–like watching excessive television. I solve the problem by only comparing money to money and time to time. An hour gets its worth relative to other hours. If I only have 2 hours of free time, then each hour gets 50 percent weight and is very important. I don’t usually consider the money value of personal time. After all, I can’t substitute cooking time with extra hours at the office given that I work on a salary.

Second, most people who dine out instead of cook don’t realize how much time it really takes to get food. My mentor didn’t want to spend 30 minutes preparing his meal, but he was willing to spend 15 minutes going to a restaurant and 15 minutes waiting for the food to be served. Mental accounting is not always as precise as it should be.

Third, and finally, it is harder to find high quality and healthy food when dining out. Most consumers base decisions on sticker cost. Additionally, higher quality products only make sense when consumers appreciate the value. Consequently, many restaurants tend to stock the lowest acceptable quality for the general public–reasonable economics, but somewhat disconcerting for my tastes. There are notable exceptions, and I’m sure you have found a few healthy places to dine out. The reality nowadays is that good, healthy restaurants are the exception and not the rule.

Cooking at home is too good to pass up. You save money and you can save your health, if you plan appropriately. You’ll be using your time for something that really matters.