Approximately three years ago, the Houston Press published an article titled, "Please Stop Telling Poor People to 'Just Cook' to Save Money". The author spends a lot of time commenting on struggles those of lower income face, and that cooking at home isn't going to save them from poverty. As someone who is not poor, has never been poor, and has no plans to ever become poor, I have no comment on how those of lower income make ends meet.
However, the author, a Mr. Rouner, also makes comments on the lifestyles of those who are comfortably middle-class, mostly as an attempt to call out the reader for taking certain things for granted. And... well, his comments on middle-class life left me scratching my head.
As I am now just beginning to explore my culinary limits (cooking in China was much harder than ordering delivery, and not really any cheaper), I approach cooking with the youthful naivete of an idealistic new soldier just coming to the first battlefield in defense of his country's honor. My outlook hasn't yet been sullied by cynicism (at least, not where food is concerned). And by golly, there are a few things in this article that trigger my idealism! Also, they come across as rather questionable advice even for comfortably middle-class people.
So, here we go. Anything that I left out, you can assume I had no comment on it, or it was just journalistic flair.
Original is in italics. My comments are in plain text.
There’s a meme making the rounds again comparing the amount of food you can get from KFC for $20 and the amount of food you can get from the grocery store for the same price. The implication is that stupid, poor and lazy people are throwing their hard-earned tuppence away on fast food when they could be cooking at home, being healthier and richer in the process.
This line. This line, right here, is the part that shows exactly why I cringe. I've gone to that link, and it says absolutely nothing about poor people. The only way you can get that implication-- the only honest way, at least-- is if you believe that poor people are the only people who need to save money.
See, the article opens up with this list of comments that all go back to, "It's too expensive to eat healthy." Healthy. Not home-cooked, but healthy. Eating healthy is absolutely a universal importance, regardless of your socioeconomic status.
But if you are comfortably middle-class, does that really mean that you should give up on saving money? Does that really mean there's no need or reason for you to be careful with your costs? Why does Mr. Rouner seem to think that it's acceptable to be wasteful just because you can afford to?
If you are middle-class, you should still be trying to save money. It's good preparation, it's wise stewardship, and it demonstrates restraint and temperance.
Give me an absolute break.
The basic premise of the meme is correct, and by basic I mean whoever made it had half a thought and didn’t bother with the rest. It IS cheaper to cook at home than get most take-out… in the long-term. A recipe is far more than the ingredient list, and things like utensils alone can make what seemed like a simple, cheap dish into something more costly than going by the drive-thru would have been.
I've certainly spent plenty of money on getting utensils recently, as I am beginning to outfit my longterm collection, rather than the transient utensils I had in China. This gives me the advantage of looking at this issue with fresh eyes.
Cooking is not just a trip to a grocery store. You need a basic set of cookware for starters. I’ve been on a $70 Tools of the Trade set for more than a decade, and trust me, it really wants to retire.
To this point, I have two comments.
First, Mr. Rouner's Tools of the Trade set has cost less than $7 per year.
To the best of my research, Tools of the Trade is (currently, not more than 13 years ago when he bought them) a cookware set sold by Macy's. Possibly he bought his set back when it was still Bon Marche, I do not recall when the name change occurred. I went looking over at Macy's page and couldn't find anything for that price (shocking, I know). What I did find was a 13-piece set that was normally $120, but because of Black Friday was only $30!
Now, I did some digging around and found reviews of this non-stick set which claim it will last no more than 5 years in the best conditions (even though they are better than Teflon). I'll let you know how that goes 5 years down the road, but if they're anything like my mother's set-- which are currently more than 10 years old-- they'll be fine as long as I'm careful with them. My point of all this is that Black Friday is not pure poison, sales do appear, and you can see chances to get something valuable for less.
You’re going to need some knives for chopping, butterflying, mincing, etc. The low-end of those starts at $20, but they are absolutely essential. Of course, you’ll require a cutting board as well.
The knife set my mother bought me included a cutting board. So unless you, for some reason, need a super nice cutting board, you can find a knife set that includes the cutting board and use that.
These things add up quickly. The dish in the headline picture is my take on the basic the McCormick Rosemary Chicken and Red Potatoes recipe.
Second reason I had to fisk this: I have also made this dish, so I feel like I have some insight.
It’s cheap enough and easy as pie, but do you have a 5 quart mixing bowl?
Nope! Still made this. (I do have one now, but I didn't when I made the recipe.)
You need one if you don’t want to be chasing escaped potatoes all over the kitchen.
What? You do need a mixing bowl of some kind (I just repurposed a saucepan - it's not as good as a mixing bowl, but it worked), but what's that line about "escaped potatoes"? Are you cutting potatoes inside the bowl, instead of on a cutting board? The bowl is there to mix the oil and rosemary and then coat the chicken and potatoes in, so a better way to say this is, "You need one if you want the oil and spices to be on your food and not on your counter".
Another question, do you have a 15x10x1-inch baking pan, heavy duty foil, and cooking spray? All this just added another $20 onto the price of a meal if you don’t have them.
According to the recipe, the foil is optional. It's for easier cleanup.
Mr. Rouner included the cost of something optional as an inhibition to making food. Rather than be creative and solve problems, Mr. Rouner will only march within the suggested boundaries or give up.
Actually, I take that back. I have no idea if Mr. Rouner is being unimaginative or not. But he is doing something worse-- encouraging others to be unimaginative.
Again, my fisk isn't aimed at people struggling to make ends meet. No, it's aimed at the same people Mr. Rouner's was: the comfortably middle-class. Any comfortably middle-class young adult will read Mr. Rouner's article, and instead of finding words of encouragement, creativity, flexibility, and optimism, will find pessimism. Rather than being encouraged to improvise, make do, and push past their own perceived boundaries, Mr. Rouner's readers will be pushed slightly towards giving up.
I'm not enough of an idiot to think that being middle-class and having stability in your life makes you immune from defeatism. And defeatism should be destroyed at all fronts.
The McCormick’s recipe is at least kind enough to recommend garlic powder rather than fresh garlic. Most recipes not put out by spice companies don’t.
McCormick's recipes are all online, and they have hundreds! If you're limited to only using McCormick's recipes, then you're not really limited, because they have an insane variety.
Better learn the fresh-to-powder ratio or buy a press. That’s another $8.
Or just... Google?
Also, what is this “buy a press” thing? How does this solve the problem at all? As far as I can tell, the problem is that you have powdered spice but the recipe you’re working with calls for fresh spice. The press will turn fresh garlic into fresh garlic chunks. But supposedly, you didn’t have fresh garlic, which is why the McCormick’s recipe was kinder. What you’d need in this situation is to convert spice into fresh. A press won’t help you do that.
It’s like he switched which ingredient he thought you were more likely to have in the middle of that complaint.
Also, I just realized he’s not talking about a spice press, which apparently is a thing. He’s talking about a garlic press specifically. A garlic press is not going to give you garlic powder—it’s going to give you smaller fresh garlic. Ergo, you still need to Google the fresh-to-powder ratio, because fresh garlic tastes less strong than garlic powder. So the actual option provided by this segment is not, “Buy a garlic press or Google the ratios”, but rather, “Buy a garlic press or use a knife”.
How much of a rush was Mr. Rouner in when he wrote this?
Over time, this even outs, but setting up a working kitchen can easily cost as much as a used car depending on where you start from.
"Easily" cost that much? I found the Houston Press's mailing address and put their zip code into Carfax. As per the results of that search, the cheapest used car within 50 miles of their office is $1,500. Now, I'm aware that really good cookware can be expensive, but how can just the setup of a new kitchen "easily" cost $1,500?
Let's say I bought my Tools of the Trade set on full price for $120. Then, let's add my Black and Decker toaster, which was $25 ($145). Then my Black and Decker coffee maker, which looks like the $22 model ($167). I can't find my knife set online, but for the sake of argument, let's splurge and buy a $60 Cuisinart knife set from Target. Then we'll need some casserole dishes, so let's add on that classic white-ridged Corningware set for $39 (brings us to a total of $266).
Then let's add a set of stainless steel mixing bowls, including a 5-quart, for $30 ($296) (and there were cheaper versions available). Oh, and wait a minute, that McCormick chicken recipe called for a baking pan, not a casserole dish, so let's add a set of bakeware for $20 ($316). Then we need something to stir and serve with, so let's add this cookware set for $29 (now we're up to $345). Plus some trivets to put hot things on, so let's splurge again and get two of these pretty lattice trivets for $24 each ($48, which reaches $393).
We'll need a muffin pan at some point in the future too, so let's get a $35 Baker's Friend steel nonstick muffin pan ($428). Oh, and we need something to eat dinner on, so let's add a Stoneware dinner set for $70 (who are you having over for dinner, the president?). And finally, we need to take things out of the oven, so let's add a set of cotton and silicone oven mitts, for $29 each ($58 together; now we're up to $556). And of course, most kitchens have those cute little flour and sugar cannister sets, so let's get the most common one I've ever seen, which costs $55 ($611). And-- I know Mr. Rouner isn't in Seattle, but in Seattle, it's the law that we must have a kitchen compost bucket. A stainless steel one costs $30. Oh, and then let's add that $8 garlic press. Oh, and look, I forgot the cutting board. This set costs $15.
Adding all of that up, we have a cost of $664. We're roughly a third of the way to that used car price tag, and that was with some serious splurging. I know I haven't accounted for food yet, but exactly what food are you buying that will cost you almost $850, and yet it's still little enough that you can eat it before it goes bad?
Now, granted, Carfax only shows cars from dealers, so maybe Mr. Rouner is thinking of buying a used car from someone selling it down the street, or driving around with one of those "Car for sale" signs in the back window. Those might be cheaper, so that might be what Mr. Rouner is thinking of. Which begs the question... why does he think you can buy a used car from a neighbor or family member but not inherit second-hand cookware???
As the primary cook and grocery person in the family, I’m very used to poverty substitution games, which I am slavish to even when money isn’t tight because it’s become second nature.
"Slavish" and "second nature" aren't synonyms. They have significantly different connotations.
You swap vegetable oil for olive oil, water for stock or broth, table salt for sea salt, etc. All of it in an effort to shave just a few more dollars off the grocery total, and all of it produces a slightly lesser version of what you’re hoping for.
Does anyone actually notice the difference between sea salt and normal Morton's salt? And stock isn't exactly expensive. As for olive oil, unless you're dipping your Italian bread in a mixture of oil and Italian vinaigrette, who cares?
That’s if it even comes out good and you’re not forced to order an emergency pizza to cover a cooking goof.
Now, these days for me, cooking is absolutely cheaper for virtually anything. I’ve got nearly two decades of pan, utensil and spice acquisition to prep for.
Which just makes Mr. Rouner's earlier comment about "used cars" even more ridiculous. When you buy a used car, you must have the entire cost right away or take out a loan. You can't buy a car piecemeal. But that is completely not true about a kitchen. Even if your kitchen setup eventually cost as much as a used car, you don't need that when you're starting out! You could get by with some saucepans, some oven dishes, some old frying pans, and some used eating utensils for a while until you've saved enough to buy some really nice sets.
The used car comparison is silly. As is all the stuff I listed while comparing it, so... who's the real fool? The fool, or the fool who wastes time and links debunking a foolish comparison?
If I want to make turkey chili some night, I can probably do so for less than $2 a serving because odds are my spice rack is full and I have everything else I need ready to go. Again, the chicken pictured at the top? All I had to buy was the meat and potatoes. Everything else was handy because I’ve bought it piecemeal over the course of years. If you’re observant about sales and coupons, good at meal prep and have a fair-sized freezer, you might not even need to go buy those. Alton Brown has given me a lot of good advice, but the best is still “freeze the ingredients you don’t use.”
This bit here reminds me of a story I heard from an older professional lady. Apparently, the company she worked at sent around some email with tips about how to be more environmentally friendly, one of those tips being to reuse plastic bags. One of the younger workers came into that lady's office and said their mind was blown by the idea of reusing plastic bags. The older lady said nothing at the time, but she told me later that she couldn't believe someone had to be told that.
But that brings us into a final discussion: time. You know why people go through KFC? Because, in terms of total resources it is the most efficient family meal you can provide in a 20-minute timespan.
Granted. At time of writing, I'm planning to head to McDonald's for dinner, because this writing has cut into my meal prep time.
Having said that, allow me to remind the reader that McCormick's website is a wonderful thing with a "Quick and Easy" section for recipes. I clicked on a few of these randomly, and none of the ones that I clicked on required more than 15 minutes prep time.
I have three fried chicken recipes. Most of them require at least an hour or more including store and prep time. Time is, well, not money, exactly, but it is something that is precious and in short supply when you’re coming home at 6 p.m. on a Tuesday.
I realize Mr. Rouner is in Texas. The culture is different there. But outside of the South, do people actually make fried chicken at home? Doesn’t that need, like, its own special set of equipment that you don't use for anything else? I don't know, and I don't ever plan to find out.
I buy that, and I make other entrees at home.
Let me make something very clear. I love to cook, and it is a handy way to save money. That said, one of the ways we make that happen is that I work from home within hiking distance of the grocery store. I can pull myself away from an assignment and go get whatever we need for a spinach quiche whenever I want.
So... old bread slices, eggs, and spinach? Isn't the whole point of quiche that you don't have to go anywhere to prepare it?
If my wife, who works 12-hour shifts at the hospital and often doesn’t get home until 8 p.m., were doing this without me, I imagine there would be a lot more KFC in my daughter’s diet.
Also, crock pot, meat and condensed soup. They're amazing.
Everyone should learn to cook. It’s an essential skill, but the answer is way more complicated than “just cook, you lazy poor!”
“The answer” to a question that the meme Mr. Rouner is angry about wasn’t asking.
Like I said. I'm not saying anything to anyone in money difficulties. I'm talking to the same people Mr. Rouner is talking to.
People with financial difficulties are not the only ones who need to save money. Those who live comfortably would also benefit from that meme. And they would benefit from being told to be creative and resourceful. You told them neither, and nothing you said gave any suggestions for how to be that.
I’ve yet to buy a single recipe book that didn’t take at least one $20 purchase for granted as they casually told me to run something through a food processor. Cooking costs, and that’s one of the reasons some tired parent working two jobs stops by McDonald’s on the way home for the cheapest, most nutritious food in human history.
That last line might be satire, but I'm not clicking on the link.
A food processor... okay, a giant food processor at Target costs $60. So if we add that to our existing cost, that brings us $724. Still nowhere near our used car. Oh, and I see your Alton Brown who freezes ingredients and I raise you Queen Ann Reardon, who uses plastic bags and a rolling pin instead of a food processor at 7:16. (We stan for Ann!) Granted, she's making a cake and not a smoothie or... I don't know, what else does one make in a food processor? Anything that can't be accomplished by a fork and mashing?
Nonetheless, if there really is a recipe out there that you can't find a way to make without a food processor, then choose a different recipe. McCormick's has hundreds of simple recipes. Or, if you want to use less corporate-made recipes (not like McCormick's is more corporate than McDonalds or any other fast food), then... just Google.
Seriously! The world is full of so much beautiful creativity. People can recreate recipes from their memory and post those on different websites, and they can give you a whole host of recipes (granted, as a PNW native, I'd never ask a Southern lady for advice about how to cook salmon, but some of her other recipes look delicious!). They might not all be as equally easy as McCormick, but you'll find something you can work with and something that can make you happy to eat. There are options, and there are creative opportunities out there, so ignore the people who try to prescribe a narrow path for you.
The Writer Who Causes Earthquakes When He Shakes His Pen, aka Larry Correia, described this lamentation as "defeatist dreck". I would have used the phrase "unresourceful slop", or maybe "unimaginative garbage", but the point stands. People may not be able to, or may not want to skimp, use creative solutions, or wait for Black Friday for everything, but the way this article was written, with no suggested alternatives like sales or basic internet searches ground my gears.
