First, I have to say that there are many people who can’t “learn” to cook by reading a recipe. (Even smart people with no reading disabilities.) There is a lot of assumed knowledge in recipes which you may or may not have picked up watching someone else cooking. If you were not allowed in the kitchen or you didn’t pay attention at all, it’s not easy.

But there’s hope. Watch someone, preferably someone whose cooking you know you like, like a relative. (If your relative with the best cooking is no longer available, think who that person might have taught, and ask them.)

If you have a roommate, that’s ideal. Or ask your friends what they most like cooking and ask if you can watch/help them cook that. Most people have a specialty or at least one thing they can cook and most would love to share their knowledge.

Yes, you can learn from cooking shows, but it’s very difficult to learn frugal cooking from a cooking show. I have never used a food processor for example, and I know I can cook without measuring everything into its own tiny bowl first. I can even do without a cheese grater if necessary. Perhaps a combination of cooking shows and beginner cookbooks from the library, and maybe there are good YouTube resources by now, would be good for someone shy or whose friends don’t cook.

I would also like to mention that there is a stage between cooking with and without a recipe that’s handy for frugality, and that’s cooking with a recipe but making substitutions. This is also handy if you’re picky or have allergies or other health issues.

And now that you can look up recipes online based on what ingredients you have on hand, you probably don’t even have to know how to substitute.

Another point I’d like to make is that some kinds of cooking are easier to do without a recipe than others. Stir fry, casseroles, meatloaf, and even quick bread are very forgiving. Cake and other baked goods, certain kinds of candy, cream of tomato soup (at least for me–stupid curdling): not so much.

The key to saving money is getting closer to original ingredients than where you are now. If you eat out, frozen meals will be cheaper. Mixes are cheaper than frozen meals. Making things mostly from scratch is cheaper still. Making everything from scratch (like pasta and bread and tomato sauce) is cheaper still. And in some cases, growing your own food (at least the kinds of food that are easy to grow in your part of the world) can be cheaper than buying it in the store.

There are some exceptions, such as when mixes go on sale, but that’s a good general rule.

I just started cooking a few months ago. My husband up to that point had done ALL the cooking. We’ve been able to cut our grocery budget in half by cooking everything from scratch. It’s time consuming but with both of us doing the cooking it’s doesn’t feel like a chore.
My husband is a good teacher and when he’s not around to give me advice I go to the internet to get my questions answered.

The trick is to stay away from all those recipes that call for exotic ingredients that most beginners don’t have a clue about. And to be honest, unless you have a refined sense of taste, it’s hard to tell what difference they make versus normal ingredients that cost a fraction of the expensive stuff. There’s a lot of really good food out there that isn’t hard to prepare. For the minimalist: a cutting board, a good knife, (think Japanese), and a crock pot will take care of most of your needs. Perhaps a frying pan as well. Think of your clean-up time when that is all you have to worry about.

My boyfriend used to spend $1000 plus a month on food. He doesn’t know how to cook nor does he care to. According to him, cooking is not his thing, he didn’t learn as a child and he’s definitely not going to now. 🙂 well, we recently moved in together, about 3 months ago, and already the food bill is down to about 300$ for all three of us. I usually prefer eating at home, because I cooked it I know what went into it (we only eat organic and non processed food) and I can only eat gluten free foods. See? I have to know where my food is coming from 🙂 but I just wanted to support your point. Cooking does save a lot of money.

🙂 besides eating better, and feeling better, I used the difference in the food budget to buy some gym equipment and fund the Rainy Day fund. 🙂

Plus I get to keep the difference from the old food budget, so I’m home more but I’m making a nice side profit, 🙂

(dear BF will have a riot when he reads this)

I never cooked when I was growing up, but I got a couple lessons in later from my grandmother and brother in law. Just chopping up ingredients and knowing how to cook a hunk of meat can make your life ten times easier when you’re trying to put together a dish.

To those spending more: hope my breakdown helped!
To those spending less: what are you doing different?

@Jacob: thanks for checking!

– How I can have so much olive oil? It’s the sauce on my rice dinners. Plus I’m a tall guy who eats a lot of just about everything 🙂
– yeah, this seems to be an expensive city for groceries (fruits/veggies on sale: $1/lb)
– Excluding ethnic grocers (which I may look into), I’m sure I’m shopping at the least expensive grocery chain (all stores seem to be priced equally), buying rice in bulk in the ethnic section.
– I may drop the milk (and keep the fish)

[…] like Grandma makes.”  Wow,  they must be talking about somebody else’s grandma… maybe some grandma who couldn’t afford to retire because she spent too much money on prepared … her whole life  and now works on the production line at the meatball factory.  My grandma […]