Is cooking really cheaper than buying fast food?

Is cooking really cheaper than buying fast food?

It can be with the appropriate investment and ingredients. Initial entry will be more expensive than dropping 5 bucks on mcdonalds, but by purchasing staples you can build multiple meals for the same cost

Depends what you're cooking, but generally yeah at least a little cheaper. But the upshot is that it's not only cheaper but also significantly better, both health wise and taste.

depends what you make and how well you portion it
you can take a pound of pasta, a scoop of mayo, and some tuna you got on sale and make 4 servings of tuna mac for $3

>you can take a pound of pasta, a scoop of mayo, and some tuna you got on sale and make 4 servings of tuna mac for $3
That sounds fucking vile.

Don't kick it till you try it. I was pleasantly surprised the first time I tried it.

I donno... Sounds like some bullshit to me as well

Then again, i ate cheese melted in between corn tortillas with hot sauce for dinner, so...

I have no desire to try that disgusting concoction... ever.

I think cletus severely misunderstood us when we told him he needed to caramelize his onions.

you never had tuna mac? that's a pretty standard poverty meal. its just tuna salad with some macaroni as filler to stretch it a little further. you can even crunch up potato chips for a crispy topping

I think what cletus is trying to do is play a trick on an unsuspecting trick or treater

This. The upfront cost looks steep, but as long as you're using everything you buy and shopping smart, it's cheaper over time.

I'd try those ant larvae tacos from rural Mexico before I'd try that.

kinda depends what you cook. You can spend more cooking if you want to. our going to the grocery store.

Tune and pasta isn't some nu-recipe its pretty common check out the tons of recipes online
There is even a one of those box pastas you buy at the shop that comes with its own sauce at the shops in my country. You know those ones were they say just add chicken or mince.

Might as well play along...
Which of the three core ingredients of tuna, macaroni, and mayonaise do you object to?

its peb tier food come on, how much i like the core ingredients dont necessarily have any bearing on my liking the outcome, eg i like coffee and i have nothing against milk but lates are terrible

It definitely is. It's obviously more work than going through a drive through. Rice is the greatest thing. It extends a bunch of food. I shop sales and sometimes use coupons. I'm able to feed 2 adults for under $200 a month.

Same here. Basically $150 for me and my mom Though I'm forced too due to shit salary

Depends on what you are cooking.

Exotic recipes will probably cost more but as long as it's a recipe based on your local traditional ingredients you will usually go a lot cheaper even after gas/power.

It's also more fun and you learn something.

>Is cooking really cheaper than buying fast food?
If you shop for a single recipe at a time and you throw away the excess because you don't know what to do with it, no.

If you know how to cook and you minimize your waste, absolutely.

Here's a great example that requires hardly any skill. Buy a whole chicken ($5), a package of pasta ($1), and some basic vegetables (Carrots, celery, onion $2).
Cook your chicken. You get 4 meals (2 breasts, 2 leg quarters). Use the carcass plus your veggies and the pasta to make soup. That's another 4 meals.

You just got 8 wholesome meals for roughly a buck a piece. Fast food will never compete with that.

You want to live cheap? Eat instant ramen everyday.

Don't do this, that shit has zero nutrition

I'm not the person you're replying to, but canned tuna is fucking disgusting to me. The smell alone is like rancid cat food. It's literally the only seafood I will not eat. As is the idea of a mayo-based salad.

That said, I know those foods are popular and well-liked so I don't think it's a bad suggestion for people. It's certainly a good way to eat on a budget.

It depends, I heard there's free refill of soda in the US so you probably can't compare in term of calories/$ if you consume like a pig.
Otherwise, it's usually cheaper to make it at equivalent weight. fries are especially overpriced in fast food.

That Tuna concoction sounds like a shit version of a tuna bake

But an American Tuna bake is probably 90% cheese so who knows what qualifies for food there

>his goal isn't to one day become a salt pillar

Yes. It's all about knowing how to use leftovers, and making large portions.
Example:When i make split pea soup there is usually enough of that stuff for 4-5 days, so i eat it for two days and freeze the rest.
Then again i live in Finland, so fast food here is ridiculously expensive.

how fucking retarded do you have to be to even ask that

jesus christ americans are stupid

Tuna helper. Just not in a box.

Add Tuna to it and you have at least a meal of protein and carbs You can also add an egg and some veggies to it for extra protein, nutrition and UMPH. I've also used Hot and Spicy spam for protein when I didn't have Tuna and it's alright, I'd rather have the spam another way but it's not bad.

and OP yes. If you use Tuna, Spam(or whatever the 1$ cheaper version is), and bulk packs of eggs with rice you can have healthier stuff at a much cheaper price than fast food and buying off of dollar menus. Also always look for discount meat at stores

that's what they call a kay sa dill a down south

FFS

Beans?

Lentils?

Meat doesn't have to be in every fucking thing you eat.

I'm no vegetarian but ffs what is up with you guys?

Pic unrelated

Tuna and shells is great.
However its the only food I've found where texture can make it absolutely disgusting. I tried to make it with spaghetti once and it was just horrible.

Of course. I cook for a living and get a free meal of my choosing every shift (2 if I work a double). I usually make something big enough to give me both dinner and breakfast, and taste enough throughout the day just doing my job that I don't need lunch. I also make/eat much better food than anything from a fastfood place. So yeah, when it comes to your food costs, cooking is pretty much better than any other option.

no.
t. mcdonalds

Usually takes more time out of your day.

>lattes are terrible

How wrong can one person be

This, the fact that rice and beans hasn't been mentioned is silly. A 15 lb bag of rice like pic related you can have for like 9 dollars if you can find an asian grocery store. 15 fucking pounds, thats easily like half a year ffs. Rice is cheap everywhere though as well. Dried beans are cents to the dollar. Whole chickens are cheap as fuck, even frozen chicken breasts at a supermarket are a good choice. Add some eggs, veggies and maybe a some orange juice or some shit and you're golden. I don't know why everyone always goes to ramen when they talk about cheap food. Regardless eating well for cheap isn't hard if you use your brain

only if you can eat all your food before it goes bad.