I used to eat out almost every meal as well. It wasn't because I didn't know how to cook, and I even like cooking. The economics (monetary and time) just didn't work out for one person. I can't buy in bulk (at least not fresh produce) because there is only one of me, so the cost is about the same as eating out. It also takes me a while to cook, clean etc, which takes more time than just eating out some where or getting takeout.

However, when I'm in a relationship, we tend to cook a lot more. The economics works out better, lower incremental cost of 2 vs 1 at home but double the cost (nearly) eating out. Also with 2 people cooking / cleaning, the time it takes for 1 person reduces quite a bit.

> I have friends who eat out every single meal of every single day.

I have friends who do too but it's not because they don't know how to cook, it's because they don't like to and don't wanna bother and can afford the luxury of having someone else to do it for them.

Funny thing about those people is they constantly complain about how expensive everything is, yet they spend frivolous amounts of money on what's probably the highest marked up item: food. Meal prep for a week for ~$75 and you're set. It would cost probably 4 times that (at least, depending on where you eat) to eat out, not to mention you don't know how it was prepared, and it's probably wildly unhealthy compared to if you just cooked it at home.

Take 2-3 hours on Sundays and cook some food. It's not hard.

I guess I understand how many people dislike cooking, I guess. For me, it's a very creative, relaxing, rewarding, (and necessary) process in my life. For me, it's like coding, but with ingredients. Take a bunch of relatively trivial components, and combine them creatively into something complex, useful, even beautiful--inspiring. You generally follow "industry best practices", but there's plenty of room for interpretation or establishing your own patterns.

I cook or eat left overs 6 nights a week at this point. Beyond saving a massive amount of money it's shocking how much better the steak I make myself is than one I can get out. Most cities have kitchen equipment stores (not just Bed Bath) that actually have cooking courses you can take.

Now "home made pasta" starts with flour and eggs.

I've been trying to learn to cook off and on for years now and I get so discouraged all the time because I'm still either overcooking or undercooking something, still not getting the flavors right, not using the right amount of oil despite the recipe's prescription. I can't be alone in feeling that way.

I don't eat much when I cook for myself though. Not because I dislike the food, I don't have much of an appetite by the time it finishes cooking. I do love cooking for others and experimenting the hell out of weird cooking combos because why not. That's the most fun part, you pick a recipe and then you try to substitute ingredients but maintain the taste more or less the same. Eventually, you will understand flavors more and can create new recipes because you can learn about various ways in which you can cook the ingredient for using it as a different part in a dish.

Cooking edible food is easy for most people, they are either lazy or like me sometimes where their appetite is gone. Following recipes is more bothersome than you think for a lot of folks, programmers don't find it that bad given they are used to reading monotone instructions.

I was actually thinking about opening an online food service for people with diabetes/weight problems/specific goals where you can get good food delivered to your home. The recipes aren't that different for someone doing keto and suffering with diabetes type 2. They can generally be combined for example.

Finding ingredients for a keto low carb diet is hard if you are vegetarian/vegan and there is ton of problematic information out there. Recipes are not clear, it won't taste good and frankly speaking, it is expensive if you get the ingredients in low quantity due to the demand.

People need a dietician + food without jumping through many hoops. That way, More people can be healthy.

Some of those weird looks might be that they want your company at lunch occasionally!

What sucks about people not being able to cook for themselves is that they stop cooking interesting things and thus the supermarket produce section keeps shrinking. Yeah, some places like Whole Foods have large varieties of items, but there isn't one anywhere near my neighborhood. The local grocery store doesn't even sell radishes.

Indeed. You can give them the answer used in my family "Planned-overs"; where a sufficient quantity is cooked to plan other meals in advance.

I tried to save money once by making lunch and bringing it to work. My SO at the time who was much more frugal than me pointed out that eating lunch out (socializing) was much more important to them than the savings which over the course of a month was not that much, especially if you factor in the cost of time and that there were way more effective ways of saving money than giving up socializing time.

It was also boring (for me) in that in order to save time and money I'd end up having to make a larger portion of one thing and then eat the same thing all week.

For me it's quite similar, in the office they always tell me "Wow! That look amazing, I can't believe you do it everyday". Even when it's a salad with 3 ingredients

Eating left over for lunch at work is usually not a good experience as the only way to heat food is microwave, unless the food you bring is best reheated with one, or just have a cold salad or sandwich. As an aside, learn the best method to reheat food for each type of meal. Steak, spaghetti, fish, bread all have the best way to make it as enjoyable as possible.

Same. Started cooking out of frugality and anything I can order or comes packaged is unhealthy. Cooking feels like the default, what normal people do. I was so wrong. None of my friends can cook even a simple meal without step by step instructions. Some can grill, and that's it. They just order food or eat something from a box every single day.

What made my post-college mental state so much better (as well as my friends' quality of life) was that I forced my flatmates to cook with me all the time and we would have people over for lunch/dinner like I used to do back home, in Greece. Our stomachs and wallets are still thanking us to this day.

For context, I studied in the US and moved to London for work right after graduation.

I rarely have time to cook which sucks, but I make the effort when I can and I've just bought fresh ingredients.

I get home around 6:30 and go to the gym in my apt until around 7:30, then after I've showered and had my protein shake it's now 8:00 and I'm tired. Prep to eating to cleaning up can take an hour or more for me, and I try to go to bed around 10 if I can to wake up for the next day at 6. If I have to go to the grocery store that can take another hour out of my free time after work. Morale is low, freetime for hobbies are low, and the only way to maximize this time without cutting into fitness or sleep is to go with a premade meal from trader joes and be done with it.

Homecooked meals made a lot of sense when you showed up at home at 5:30 with that pot roast your wife started at 2:30 steaming and plated for you on the table, but that's not the world we live in anymore.

I feel that's why food trucks became popular. Low barrier to entry (relative) and allows people that know how to cook quickly cook for those that don't.

I also noticed this; my friends would eat out or eat a tv dinner every night; In the meantime, I was eating healthy chicken and veggies.

Instant Pot. Game changer.