Why_are_you_shouldnt_bother_cooking_your_own_food_to_save_money
00:00:00.000 | Hello everybody it's Sam from Financial Samurai and in this episode I want to
00:00:04.220 | talk about why you shouldn't bother cooking your own food to save money. And
00:00:07.420 | wow I got a lot of interesting feedback after I published my post because Google
00:00:15.180 | on its Android operating system, so the mobile phone system, picked up the post
00:00:19.700 | and started blasting it out to like 50,000 readers for some reason. I don't
00:00:23.820 | know why but it did. And so I got a lot of non-regular listeners and readers
00:00:29.140 | commenting some nasty things on the website and I thought this was fun. It
00:00:34.300 | was interesting and I enjoy this type of criticism and different points of view.
00:00:38.940 | I'll save the quotes, the nasty quotes, for some other time or for those of you
00:00:44.180 | who want to read it in the comment section. But the basic feedback is
00:00:47.900 | spending $500 per person a month is ridiculous. And here are some fun quotes.
00:00:54.100 | Who pays $2,100 a month for food? That's so ridiculous maybe they're buying all
00:00:58.260 | the avocado toast. This is for a family of four. How much are they spending a
00:01:02.820 | month on food? Oh just as much as some families entire income. Cool. $70 a day
00:01:09.900 | for food for four people? Four question marks. They're spending $500 a week on
00:01:15.780 | food? I spend $60 a week for one person. Another quote. I'm literally upset if I
00:01:22.940 | spend more than 10 bucks a day on food. Spending around 30 is a legit luxury. And
00:01:29.660 | it just goes on and on and on and it's actually quite entertaining. But the
00:01:34.780 | greatest irony is that over 70% of Americans are considered overweight
00:01:38.420 | today. Meanwhile 40% of Americans are considered obese. Yet today 82% of the
00:01:45.300 | meals Americans eat are prepared at home according to research from NPD Group
00:01:50.780 | Incorporated. It's a strategy research group. So like yo, if 70% of Americans are
00:01:57.740 | overweight and will likely die earlier than they should as a result, perhaps
00:02:02.180 | these food budget complaints don't have much merit. Add on the fact that the
00:02:07.100 | typical American has less than a hundred thousand saved for retirement and maybe
00:02:11.140 | we definitely shouldn't care what other people think when it comes to how much
00:02:15.420 | we spend on food. So I just wanted to share why maybe you should reconsider
00:02:22.700 | the way you prepare food, eat food, spend time making food and so forth if you so
00:02:29.020 | happen to be one of the 70% of people who are not too healthy and if you so
00:02:33.020 | happen to not have too much in your retirement savings account. I really
00:02:37.060 | don't want to judge or care how you eat or how you save and invest. We all have
00:02:44.460 | the freedom to do whatever the hell we want. I'm just providing a different
00:02:48.740 | perspective and I think if we can offer different perspectives we tend to learn
00:02:52.700 | more and improve our lives. So I'm gonna argue why cooking your own food more
00:02:57.500 | than 50% of the time to save money is a suboptimal financial decision. Look this
00:03:03.420 | is Financial Samurai. We're here to try to build our wealth and ultimately our
00:03:07.580 | happiness and our lifestyles. So keep in mind these goals before I continue. So
00:03:15.220 | one, your time is valuable. It doesn't make much sense to come home from a long
00:03:18.940 | day's work and spend an hour cooking a rubber chicken dinner. Yuck! You should be
00:03:23.940 | using this time to unwind, play with your kids, develop a better relationship with
00:03:29.700 | your spouse or work on your side hustle. Calculate how much you make an hour. Now
00:03:35.260 | multiply that hourly rate by how long it takes you to cook a meal. This may be the
00:03:40.420 | true cost of your meal. Two, your marriage is valuable. We know the percentages
00:03:46.380 | right? 50% of marriages end in divorce in America and it's probably because one
00:03:52.940 | person neglects the other person, takes the other person for granted. You know
00:03:57.860 | unless you make cooking together a fun activity, spending time cooking while
00:04:01.860 | your partner is doing something else like sitting on the sofa watching TV may
00:04:06.580 | be harmful to your relationship. In fact the person slaving over the stove might
00:04:11.340 | start resenting the partner who is doing something else more relaxing. So don't
00:04:16.620 | underestimate the level of resentment the person doing most of the household
00:04:19.940 | activities may have for the one who isn't. Resentment is definitely one of
00:04:24.500 | the key reasons for divorce. Three, your toddlers grow up quickly. It is true you
00:04:31.780 | turn around and whoa they're an adult. Let's say you come back from work at 6
00:04:36.420 | p.m. after leaving the house at 7 a.m. Your young children leave for school at
00:04:40.300 | let's say 745 a.m. because your partner drives and then they go to bed at 830
00:04:44.780 | p.m. After not seeing your little one all day do you really want to then spend
00:04:49.620 | more time away from them by cooking once you get home? Of course not. A loving
00:04:54.580 | parent would muster up his or her remaining energy to spend time with
00:04:58.940 | their children. Besides you're not going to willingly invite toddlers into the
00:05:02.900 | kitchen while cooking over a hot stove due to the risk of injury. Four, you're not a
00:05:08.820 | professional cook. Sorry to say I don't care how well you think you cook and how
00:05:14.300 | awesome your spaghetti meatballs are. It's probably okay and your family and
00:05:20.620 | partner are like "it's pretty good, better not say anything negative or else
00:05:24.340 | that's really really gonna piss off mom or dad whoever's cooking." The reason why
00:05:28.920 | you go to see a doctor when something is wrong is that the doctor has had years
00:05:33.020 | of specialized training. You may be able to self-diagnose by googling but it's
00:05:37.580 | probably better to see someone who treats big boils all day long. Not only
00:05:42.420 | are you losing an hour of your time preparing a meal but your meal probably
00:05:46.800 | look it probably won't taste as good. I know so many people say I cook the best
00:05:51.340 | food ever but it's probably not as good as a professional cook who does it for a
00:05:55.260 | living. Five, you're too generous with the ingredients. If most people eat at home
00:06:01.140 | to save money and also believe that cooking at home is healthier, there has
00:06:05.100 | to be a problem with the way we cook given most Americans are overweight. Home
00:06:09.540 | cooks are likely adding too many unhealthy ingredients to their food
00:06:13.660 | preparations or they're just cooking way too much and then they don't know how to
00:06:18.500 | portion control. So there has to be something going on here and it's one of
00:06:24.780 | these reasons folks. You can't deny at least with food delivery and restaurants
00:06:28.940 | they portion out their meals so you don't eat too much. After all they've got
00:06:34.260 | profit margins to protect. You've seen those funny restaurant pictures where it
00:06:38.340 | looks like you know you're gonna starve to death after you eat that that little
00:06:42.380 | scallop but it cost $25 but it's for the presentation and the show and the wow.
00:06:47.900 | Restaurants and food delivery companies have profit margins so they're not gonna
00:06:52.780 | give you all the food you can eat. Six, you might injure yourself. This is a
00:06:57.260 | really big one. Think about all the times you sliced a finger, felt your eyes
00:07:02.460 | burning, chopping onions, or splattered boiling water on your hand when you
00:07:06.980 | dumped ravioli into the pot too enthusiastically. Ouch! Some injuries take
00:07:12.580 | weeks to heal and if you said hey I'll give you a hundred bucks if I chop your
00:07:19.380 | finger I'll say no thank you. So on the same lines, seven, you need your hands to
00:07:25.540 | play and earn. If you slice your index finger you probably won't be able to
00:07:30.180 | effectively swing a racket or a bat for at least a couple of weeks and that
00:07:33.820 | would really stink for me because I love playing tennis and softball three times
00:07:37.700 | a week. It's my joy, it's my physical outlet, it makes me happy. If you
00:07:42.340 | accidentally pound your thumb while you're pounding your meat, any type of
00:07:45.980 | work that requires typing will probably be at risk and guess what all desk jobs
00:07:51.540 | require typing. Even if you injure yourself only once out of every let's
00:07:55.980 | say 20 times you cook, that's 5%, it's not worth the risk. Besides being out of
00:08:02.020 | commission for a while, injuries hurt. Ouch, ouch, ouch. Eight, food delivery apps are in
00:08:08.860 | abundance. Hey guess what we live in the internet age since 2009 there have been
00:08:13.900 | a plethora of new food delivery apps to use. They are battling each other like
00:08:18.860 | crazy and they have tremendous amount of venture capital funding. I think DoorDash
00:08:25.140 | just raised another like billion dollars or something and they're now worth 13
00:08:29.060 | billion. There's like Grubhub, E24 which was bought and sold, there's Uber Eats,
00:08:34.060 | it's just non-stop. These apps have effectively infiltrated your city's best
00:08:38.980 | restaurants and now offer every type of food you can think of. You don't have to
00:08:43.300 | get an artery-clogging artisan double cheeseburger, you can get you know
00:08:47.740 | celery with some lettuce and some tomatoes at your doorstep in 45 minutes.
00:08:52.660 | You can order as healthy as you want so don't use food delivery as an excuse and
00:08:59.180 | say that it's just unhealthy, it's just not true. It's only unhealthy if you
00:09:02.620 | choose unhealthy foods to order to bring to your house. So to not take advantage
00:09:08.460 | of technology would be a shame. It's just like not taking advantage of
00:09:12.940 | technology by not starting your own website in the internet day and age. I
00:09:16.780 | mean why not brand yourself online, showcase your talents and get rich off
00:09:21.260 | yourself? Why let Facebook and Twitter get rich off you? No, get rich off
00:09:26.460 | yourself. Okay, nine, going out to eat spices things up. Yes it does. Food is one
00:09:32.660 | of the main best ways to bring people together. Not only can you take your
00:09:37.300 | partner out for a romantic date, but you can also invite your family and friends
00:09:42.300 | out to bond and if you pay for the meal the other side will greatly appreciate
00:09:46.300 | it and may potentially provide a much greater reward in the future. I love
00:09:50.460 | going out to eat with friends. It's just fun, it's a new adventure, it makes me
00:09:54.440 | happy, it's good social gathering and I think you'll enjoy it too. Alright number
00:09:58.940 | ten, no need for a cleanup. Not only do you not have to spend time preparing
00:10:03.020 | your food by ordering delivery or going out to eat, but you also don't have to
00:10:07.420 | spend time cleaning up after yourself either. Less cleanup means less money
00:10:11.740 | spent on sponges, more room for trash and a longer life for your furniture and
00:10:17.860 | utensils. Eleven, no need to spend as much time grocery shopping. I don't know if
00:10:24.180 | anybody likes grocery shopping. I think that's why there's like grocery shoppers
00:10:28.420 | who do it for you. It's all about coming up with a list and getting in and out as
00:10:32.860 | quickly as possible. I like to spend like 10 minutes and that's it.
00:10:37.260 | Grocery shopping is like doing a chore because you've got to drive to the
00:10:40.820 | grocery store, look for the items, wait in line at cash register and then drive
00:10:45.460 | home. Every time I go I always text my wife, "Hey do you need anything?" hoping
00:10:49.380 | she'll say, "Nope I don't need anything." But she always says, "Oh I've got a great
00:10:53.180 | list. It's like 10 things." I'm like, "No and I don't know where to get that organic
00:10:57.700 | bread. Are you kidding me? Why does everything have to be organic? Organic
00:11:01.340 | blueberries, raspberries, come on." But I got to do it as a good husband should. Oh
00:11:06.100 | and hopefully you don't get any annoying door dings in the parking lot or a
00:11:11.860 | ticket either. I've got door dings left and right and man, that's just part of
00:11:17.620 | life. Okay number 12. You're not out there winning business. If you are in a
00:11:22.980 | marketing or sales role then it should be your mission to go out to eat with as
00:11:26.640 | many clients and prospective clients as possible. Your firm should pay for all
00:11:31.300 | your meals and entertainment outings and if you want to save money order extra
00:11:35.340 | and bring leftovers home. I did this constantly when I was working in
00:11:40.060 | finance and I made it a mission to take out a client at least once a week and I
00:11:45.420 | knew that I'd also get a free meal and I'd bring some back. It was awesome.
00:11:48.580 | Everybody won. Even if you have to pay for the food yourself with a dining
00:11:52.140 | rewards card. You should actively take interesting people out each week who
00:11:55.980 | can boost your network. And the final reason why you shouldn't spend so much
00:12:00.060 | time cooking at home is that you fall into a scarcity mindset. One of the most
00:12:05.820 | important ways to get wealthy is by adopting the abundance mindset. You want
00:12:10.140 | to go build your wealth by making more money not by saving more money. Look we
00:12:15.500 | should all save but there's only so much you can save right? You should be out
00:12:19.340 | there trying to figure out how to get a promotion, doing more for your boss,
00:12:23.020 | working on a side business, figuring out how to invest better and so forth. It's
00:12:27.820 | much easier to get wealthy making more money folks. You can only save so much
00:12:32.740 | and it's just that's it. 50%, 60%, 70% okay put that on autopilot. You got to
00:12:39.860 | really focus on investing and making other engines of income. As you get older
00:12:45.700 | your number one goal should be to win back as much time as possible to do
00:12:49.740 | things that bring you the most happiness. If that thing is cooking then cook all
00:12:55.020 | day if you want but I think for most people they have other things that bring
00:12:59.300 | them more happiness. If you want to cook at home do so during the holidays. The
00:13:03.780 | holidays are the best. No homemade meal feels better than during Thanksgiving or
00:13:09.460 | Christmas. Now those are special times where cooking at home is absolutely
00:13:13.460 | encouraged. Cook for love, cook for company, cook for joy but don't bother
00:13:18.860 | cooking for the main purpose of saving money. Cultivate an abundance mindset to
00:13:24.000 | build your fortune. Thanks so much everyone. I hope I didn't piss everyone
00:13:27.780 | off and I'd love to hear your thoughts, nice thoughts, reasonable thoughts in the
00:13:33.180 | comment section of my post. Thanks so much.