It is when you're as bad at cooking as Alex is, a significant number of the times he gets sick comes from food poisoning. Some people just built different and need to spend their money accordingly
@@Grace-er9epdoes the man not refrigerate his food? Or is he like not cooking meat properly? What the hell, I’ve never actually gotten sick from home cooked food.
@@forest_meadow_ranch both maybe? If you watch the video about it he catalogs his multiple runs of food poisoning after trying to cook for himself. He's definitely doing something wrong to get sick as much as he does but I don't know what he could be doing wrong so consistently
Sorry buddy. You can't justify having delivery by saying "It's only $6 an hour for me to get delivery and i make more than that working" .... you aren't actively working. For reference, I'm a father of a family of 5 and we spend about 500-600 a month in eating out and 1100 in groceries. That's about 320-340 a person. Granted some of those people are children who cost less but you are running almost 1k a month in eating and drinking by yourself. But major props for at least realizing it's an issue. You are a smart guy and I've been watching you for years. I'm sure you can come up with a solution that makes sense
i also hate cooking, and i don't have much knowledge in making 'healthy(?)' meals. i found the easiest way to make dinners was to oven bake the protein [chicken, fish, pork] , use frozen veggie bags that can be microwaved, and pairing with instant mashed potatoes or rice made in a rice cooker. Shrimp is a super easy and fast protein to cook in the pan, mushrooms take a bit long to pan cook but are great toppings on toast with cheese. Protein shakes are great for breakfast, i usually add 1 cup of fruit to mine because it tastes better in my opinion.
I completely agree with your justification on getting delivery yes your time has value If you can be adding to your income by working at home for 40 mins instead of driving then 100% it’s worth $4 And you could technically add the time you are saving on not cooking to this argument. You aren’t supporting a family. If you were neglecting a child you “own” (haha) in order to get food delivered then this would be a different story of course. This is the joy of being on your own. Enjoy it.
There's absolutely no reason to order Doordash more than once a day. If you're gonna eat out like this, you need to be willing to eat the same food multiple times a day. Order once from the same place and order enough for multiple meals - even multiple days. You own a fridge! No reason to be paying the delivery fees and tip over and over again. Especially since you only order from like, five places over and over!
Holy moly. You should do Hello Fresh. They end up being a little more expensive compared to buying things separately, but it really helps knowing what you have at home and the meals are actually pretty good. Not to be a mom but fast food is really terrible for you.
You need to set an actual Dollar amount limit. An open goal of "spending less" isn't as effective as "okay I can only spend 400 on personal and 1000 on house/car this month". The more detailed the goal the easier it is to stick to it, at least from my experience. Edit to add it will always be better for your health to cook at home in the long run. You can't think short term when it comes to your diet because it can affect you for the rest of your life. We all know how terribly the fast food industry is and how its become a bad staple of the American diet. Cut that habit now while you can.
You are young and thin, but the quality of food you get from restaurants is less than making it at home. You will have a much healthy diet preparing food yourself. Restaurants often time use cheaper pieces of meat, full of preservatives, and often a ton of salt. At this stage in your life, all of that probably doesn't matter to you, but long term it could have an effect on your overall health. And yes you are paying for the convenience, so overall you spend more money. A good goal for you would just to try and pick one day a week and prepare and eat those meals only on that day. Save a bit of money one day a week, and eat a bit healthier.
now that its replaced, it feels very similar. Like it does take * some * force, like requiring more force than the accelerator but less than the brake. when before, it was harder to push than the brake. and my weak lil leg used to get fatigued just driving normally, but now it only does if I'm stuck sitting in traffic and having to basically ride the clutch for a while. Also the motion is much more consistent all the way down, when before, it was inconsistent and felt more or less tension as I pressed
I spent 6000€ last month, but I took me any my boyfriend on vacation to two countries and booked 2 other holidays (flights and hotel) too 😅 Also we ate out on holiday every day and I payed our rent and utilities for 800€ as well as groceries. Maybe, to change your spending, try to think of bigger things like holidays and going out with friends or family instead of spending on every day convenience :)
There's tons of videos on RUclips teaching you how to cook. Also, you may want to consider learning how to cook a standard daily meal you'll be happy eating to supplement eating out/ordering in. A large slow cooked pot of beans with veggies, and an air fried batch of chicken legs or thighs will give you meals for several days for only a few bucks. You can still order out on occasion to keep from burning out.
Instead of cooking big meals, or trying to meal prep, what about just getting a bunch of frozen foods (at least frozen pizzas, and things like chicken tenders)? Most of the things you were ordering you can find in a frozen aisle, there are a lot of decent options. If you have an air fryer then you're basically set. This might be an easier change than going from 0 cooking to full blown meal prepping (which is hard).
I notice from the food spending that you typically eat out for every meal. Instead of just doing away with the convenience and also taste, you could make a rule where you must eat one meal of the day at home. Then you can build it up from there. So, hey every dinner you need to cook at home. It's a small change that could save you $20 bucks a day, or $7300 a year. Also if you need more food inspiration, a subscription box could help. I think they aren't worth the price if you already have the skills to budget, prep, and cook a meal yourself but for someone like you it might be worth it to go that route rather than try to buy your own groceries.
Yeah, I honestly think people like Alex are the ones who can benefit the most from a few months of something like Hello Fresh. You get instructions that are super easy to follow even with 0 cooking experience, the selection is super diverse but also curated enough that you can trust most things are palatable at worst (plus, places like HelloFresh let you switch meals out in advance if you see an ingredient you know you hate or have an allergy to or whatever), and like you said, he doesn't have to worry about budgeting and prepping because he's getting everything pre-portioned. IIRC, he'd spend about as much per meal as he is eating doordash, so he really should give it a try imo. He can even keep the papers the recipes are printed on both to help with grocery shopping (if/when he transitions to truly cooking his own meals) and so he doesn't have to actually memorize every new meal he comes across.
I would suggest a subscription meal box too. Helps you learn how to cook with simple instructions, comes with mostly all the ingredients and can be healthy for you, depending on your meal choices. Would save so much.
Hey if my uber orders were 5-10 dollars like his are I'd eat out every meal too. In my country I spend 100-200 a month on it and I only get it for dinner twice a week
I love how you compliment yourself on not getting Starbucks...before proceeding to get so much McDonald's. Though I guess selling your soul to the McDonald's app to save two dollars on a quarter pounder with cheese and bacon is a small price to pay for salvation. I get just ordering stuff instead of cooking because it's instinct but cooking at home really can do wonders. It's healthier, it doesn't have to be difficult if you start with simple and tasty recipes, and cooking your own meals at home allows you to have greater control over various aspects compared to dining out. Creative flow is key to good mentality.
Alex: I'm saving a couple of dollars by feeding my chickens their own eggs. Also Alex: watch me throw a ridiculous amount of money at a car I don't need. Alex, I like you and I love watching your videos but holy shit, you need a wake up call. Basically, you look into what you're spending, you realize you spend too much on several things (such as your card and food takeout), yet a day later you're back at it again. Can you buy nice things for yourself? Sure! But make sure you have your finances in order. I don't know what your finances look like but it does sound like you don't have any savings and just blow whatever comes in. Please be smarter. Save some money, get a backup fund for when bad times hit. You never know what might happen. I know Americans are being told "hey, if you need money, we have money, come loan money" but Alex, you're smart, you can do better. In all honestly, at one point I considered subscribing to you because I really enjoy your content but I'm watching a young guy who apparently makes 3x what I do blow all that money on stupid shit. Why would I give you money? lol
You wouldn't have to worry about loans or taxes if you lived in the DPRK! No taxes here! And housing is free! Just saying! They may be the Smoothie King, but you're the DoorDash and reptile king in our hearts, comrade! The key is to keep motivating yourself to do and be better. Success is not final, failure is not fatal, it is the courage to continue that counts. You learn more from failure than from success. Don’t let it stop you. Failure builds character. Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work. Don't overcomplicate cooking, bro. Be self-sufficient, just like us.
I think you should learn to cook but for self sufficiency not to save money. Your cooking isn't terrible necessarily it's the food storage and then using expired food that keeps getting you 😅
I'm not sure if the USA's supermarkets are similar, but here in Germany there's a bunch of nice in between options between cooking everything yourself and eating out. We've got healthy-ish frozen food you only need to heat up, premade pasta sauce you just need to pour over pasta (takes like 10min including making the pasta). If you hate cutting vegetables, get them precut frozen as well. There's also a lot of premade dried sauces like from Maggi that usually just need a bit of water, milk or cream to make, and they're usually so flavorful that it can safe an otherwise bland meal. It's not as healthy or cheap as cooking from scratch but it does save a lot of money compared to eating out daily, be fairly fast and still taste good.
If you are going to stick with ordering food, why don't you do, like with the pizza, and always get 2 portions or even 2 full days' worth of food? Would that not save a tad on the delivery? I think I heard you talk about why you don't do the "groceries in a box" Hello and others kind of scheme, but my goldfish memory has revoked this knowledge. And, Minecraft server, nice. ^^
Seeing your videos on saving money has inspired me to stop ordering from DoorDash too, it was nearly a daily thing for me just because it was more convenient than driving to pick up. I’ve only ordered food 2 times this month and it’s really showing in my bank account how much I saved. You got this man. 👍🏽
Honestly, just a good hand cream does wonders for my cuticles. I like the brand Eucerine, but any hand cream should help. In case you don’t feel like buying foot cream lol.
Dude, frozen meals. On average it costs $2-6 for 1 dinner, you can switch it up with frozen meats (chicken nuggets, meatballs, burgers, fish) and an easy side like salad or pasta to get into the habit of cooking/preparing. Portions for 1 are a PIA; I've been meal prepping ALL day.
You spend double my income every month, so I can't really compare our lifestyles. Time is also a "cost" in economic terms. You spend time. If the time you'd spend cooking is worth the cost of ordering delivery food, then it's reasonable. Meal subscriptions, like Hello Fresh (or one of several others) are a nice middle ground and you may come to enjoy cooking if things are planned out for you in detail (though they generate a lot of packaging waste.) Only you know what your time is worth, not just in units of dollars but of energy and happiness.
In the early years of a thirty year mortgage, it's critical to pay down the principal as much as you can afford. Otherwise, even with a decently low interest rate, you'll end up spending double what the house is worth over the life of the mortgage
Truth. A true down-payment is like having 50% of the cost of the house. Put 20% to start, and then 30% immediately after its been signed. So much money saved. If you don't do that, its worse than double, its almost 3x the cost of house.
Everyone loves spending money on things we enjoy, like your Subaru. The saving needs to come from the day to day stuff so you can splurge on stuff like that car. I honestly don't understand the I don't know how to cook thing you got going on. There are very basic ways of cooking things. Making a pasta and just using canned sauce is super cheap and can last several meals, or making chicken and rice, both are simple and both taste good. I mean if you really want to know how to cook too, you could do the unthinkable and talk to family about teaching you. I personally learned how to cook from my parents, and in my experience it makes it better because they teach you your childhood favorites. (Idk if this is an option, but an idea)
You just need to find a way to get your needs below 50% of your income. If I remember correctly the ratio is 50% to needs 20% to savings and 30% of wants if you don’t have any outstanding debts. But if you do have loans then all of the wants money goes towards paying off the debts as fast as possible. If I were you I’d cut fast food and make a sandwich everyday. I know you said that you can make a pizza last 2 meals but the supplies to make a sandwich can last 12.
cognitive dissonance, you know it's bad, you feel bad for doing it, but you make every excuse to keep going. If you're bad at cooking, then focus on easy meals and consider cooking unfamiliar foods a luxury. I'd suggest aiming to use a recipe twice a week initially. like a smoker or alcoholic try to cut back slowly, if you're getting food delivered twice or more a day, try to limit yourself to one delivery a day with the aim to cut it out entirely
I only let myself buy fast food once a month, maybe twice if I have a bad day and treat myself. My grocery budget includes both meal foods and snacks. Maybe get yourself a lunch box and a sandwich container for when you’re out driving, so you can bring a sandwich and snacks with you. A reusable water bottle is useful too - and better for the environment.
I use captions but do not need them, necessarily. I like when I can't understand or process what you're saying (which doesn't normally happen with you) I can read the subtitles. I leave it on on everything I watch. TV, facebook, RUclips, everything. So honestly didn't notice you didn't have the subtitles but I normally have them on. I'm part of your 20% but I don't need them and am not offended or upset. Sucks that someone who has actual hearing problems can't watch BECAUSE RUclips is a cheap and makes the RUclipsrs pay fot their own subtitles. Don't feel like you should have to. You make them money they should offer that. Sorry just the world according to Becca lol
I'm extremely concerned about you. I've seen many people with a higher income and less frivolous spending habits become homeless recently. The common denominator between yourself and them is the attitude, you laugh this off but this is SO serious. Take care of yourself please.
I work 40hrs a week and even at $18 an hour i only make $2K a month after taxes and insurance, so I have to cook mostly at home using home chef. They have super easy meals that you can throw together and bake in the oven. As a single person I make 1 meal last for 2 and it helps me a lot. It’s about $70 a week, and I’m sure they’d sponsor you.
You need to cut out all the things you don't actually need. Plus, you can cook cheap, easy, and non-threatening meals for yourself.... like soups. 😅 Edit: You can freeze portions of meals for later too!
maybe try those apps that give u just enough food to make the recipe they give and u can pick how many portions u want, so not as much waste? make videos making the food then get ya another affiliate link lol.. i like cooking but hate the cleaning part after 🤣 i dont even know my spending like that, i just know it is to much spent at grocery for crap u need around the house.
Dude you should get those meal kits they have instructions and prepared ingredients. You can record your learning process for content and we can laugh at you when you mess up ;)
My first car was Manual I drove it for 2 1/2 year. My clutch needed replaced but I just got a new car when it was time to replace the clutch 😂 My recommendation for saving money is maybe down sizing. I live in a 350 sq ft tiny home and it’s pretty fun, also pretty cheap it cost less than my car
Some people need more protein than calories to gain weight. I think you've previously mentioned you're struggling to gain weight maybe try to eat less chicken and more beef.
If the big trouble with home cooking is time management, my personal suggestions would be a subscription meal service where you barely have to worry about what you’re eating next, or doing some kind of meal prep. You could prepare a few days worth of food in one sitting and then just reheat it when needed, like having a huge pizza and picking at it day by day. Reheating pre-made stuff can be just as fast as ordering it. At the end of the day though, if you have enough income to eat out/delivery all the time, there’s no real problem. It would only actually be a problem if it interferes with paying bills
Don't completely cut off your grocery. You can buy bread, fruits, vegetables and processed meat that are easy to cook. When I was in college I bought a lot of potatoes and learned how to cook it in different ways (baked, fried etc). If you like to eat rice, you should buy a whole sack and make it yourself it will save you a lot of money. If you go to panda express just buy a side dish for your rice. I usually buy a large side dish and it's good for 2 or 3 meals depending on how hungry I am lol
I agree, you might be a lot better off trying a meal delivery service like Hello Fresh or Factor. Heck, it could even land you a sponsorship if you turn it into content.
being open about your income would be interesting to give some perspective on your spending, You spent what I make in a year on disability in two months on random shit, i just spent the same (which is a third of my savings) on a camera and laptop and equipment so I can follow my dream and make a documentary haha. Not salty though, happy that you´re comfortable.
I suggest, if for 'value for money', big cooking is great. Like. Make a giant pot of minced meat sauce. (Köttfärsås in swedish) and cook a lot of pasta. Then you can eat lunch, then freeze it all in containers and have like 8 meals in the freezer to take out every now and then. Pasta/taco gratin, easy to freeze, soups, easy to freeze. But if you really don't want to save money/don't want to try cooking anymore. Why not ask your partner or family for advice? They certainly did not bring you up on Doordash your entire youth. They may know some good recipes that you liked and that can be frozen and eaten over a longer period of time. Good luck Alex!
Alex! Make stuff at home like, a big lasagna, chicken parm, etc. Portion out and freeze. Take meals out in morning and thaw in fridge. Pro tip- oven reheat is best. I go grocery shopping no more than every other month and spend $150- $200. I NEVER buy takeout/dine out/delivery. I might buy a coffee at Dunkin or Cumberland farms 3-4 days a week. 👍🏼
Can’t wait for your learning how to drive clutch video! I’ve only ever driven manual cars so I’ve tried teaching a couple friends. It’s fun watching people struggle
My parents keep complaining about running low on money. Which is a problem because we have a farm (not the kind where you eat them either) which is really expensive. I kinda did the free Craigslist animal thing last year and as much as I love them the social media/animal rescue thingy didn’t turn out as I had hoped… it’s a slow process 😅 anyway I keep thinking “oh no we gotta only eat eggs and beans and rice to save on money” and everyone else comes home after buying regular groceries and even a bunch of unnecessary junk. I don’t think we are even running that low on money at this point I think they just like to complain. 🤣 eat more eggs from your chickens. That’ll save you on expensive proteins. You can also breed mice for your reptiles, just got into that myself and it’s fun!
I refuse to spend money on food orders. I have a high paying job and could get food delivered to me every meal but it's such a waste and nothing tastes better than cooking your own. It's cheaper and makes me feel more accomplished when I'm finished in my kitchen. Nothing is more satisfying to me than being able to save money and make rewarding investments.
How do you justify all the time time and effort that goes into Prep and then the cleanup afterwards? If I make a meal that's healthy, I'm easily in the kitchen for 3 hours.
@@EarthsGeomancer depending on what you are making yes it can take long somethings can take me 8 hours to cook, such as slow cooking ribs and somethings take less than 30 minutes. Al depends what you cook. My wife will do most of the cooking but as I said when I cook it feels satisfying to me, many people enjoy cooking like it's a hobby.
@@andrewlacerenza667 So you get to choose cooking as a hobby when you feel like it but prefer home cooked meals so your wife has to cook then? That's not saving money by choosing to cook yourself, that's choosing free labour instead of minimum wage labour.
People being real judgey but I completely sympathise with your eating habits. I have an intense vomiting phobia (caused by food poisoning episodes in the past) and if I had been through the experiences you described in your previous video, I wouldn't want to prepare my own food either. If I could afford to just get take-out all the time, I totally would. I would much rather pay to have food prepared for me by someone who knows what they're doing. I *can* cook, I just hate it, it's so stressful.
Perhaps for food, to kinda work in increments of learning how to cook, start with real easy things. Chicken nuggets, sandwiches, the like. Throw in the occasional microwave meal. Then build up, canned things, frozen things. You can really quickly heat veggies with salt, pepper, and minced garlic (the stuff you get in a jar!) Also, bulk cooking, you make one or two large entrees at the beginning of the week and freeze some of it to eat later in the week. That does take time, but you could also do a crocker pot, something you toss in shit and come back at the end of the day to eat. Maybe instead of quitting cold turkey for eating out, make your goal: eat out once a week, or maybe three. Something where it's not every day for every meal, but something to look forward to after working hard at home.
Think of it this way, if you absolutely didnt want to cook, went to the store and bought microwaveable freezer food for the month and kept it at 900, and didn't eat out. You'd save about $900 each month (thats at the idea of eating out is 20/a meal and you do it 3 times a day). Or, if you wanted to cook, sometimes, you could look into food subscriptions. They bring food to you, have cooking and non cooking options, and at the end of the month you would save about $100-200 bucks.
Great video! With regards to saving money vs trying to earn more I would like to mention to you what was one said to me... Saving has a limit, there is only so much you can save but their is no limit to how much you can earn. Easier said than done of course. I am not saying to do away with saving completely but it might be worth investing more energy into increasing those revenue streams you mentioned. Just my 2 cents Keep up the great content!!
Sell the Subaru, learn to cook. The car is 100% a terrible investment. I'm sure you're also paying quite a bit for insurance as well as the repairs. I promise you'll eventually learn to enjoy cooking. I didn't care for it in my early 20's either, but grew to enjoy it once I lived on my own. Now that I have a family, I'm the primary cook. You mention growing your income rather than "penny pinching." People who become wealthy and stay that way learn to control their spending. "Live below your means," so to speak. You can't always control your income, but you can always heavily influence your spending. Easy things to learn cooking that are tasty and healthy? Pastas. Also, is there a reason you're paying $17-$25 for pizzas when you can buy them for a fraction of that with a quality frozen or take-ane-bake pizza?
Take it from a guy who’s about to start working a 9-5 at State Farm and is feeling a sense of impending doom because I know I’m going to hate it…if your reptile videos used to make more money, then you should STRONGLY consider doing it solely for the sake of income.
Look into crock pot meals or casseroles. Meals you can eat for a couple days. I have a cheesy chicken casserole to expire for. It's amazing and with the chicken only costs about maybe $20 to make. Me and my family can eat it for 2 or 3 days. Meatloaf made with McCormick meatloaf mix is under or about $20 and can eat it for days. And I don't coupon. Maybe you could look into getting help with getting groceries and making good money efficient meals... I just hate that you're putting that much crap into your body. I know you need to eat and I understand your reasoning for wanting to atleast maintain your body weight but there is other ways.
If it helps, if you cook your own meals you can feed your chicken your veggie scraps plus if you talk to some business they will give you their scraps (when they clean lettuces, broccoli, etc. not bad food, just leafs we don't eat), Plus, chickens get the most out of egg shells (you have to pulverize it though) and that way they have an extra calcium intake (remember chickens lose calcium when producing eggs)
Maybe you should watch some Caleb Hammer vids that he does Financially Auditing people bc i feel like you need someone to get on your ass rn to buckle down and just start cooking at the least XD no amount of take out/delivery will ever compare to the money you save if you just cook for yourself
great place to get tools is Estate Sales, moving sales; sometimes church rummage sales; tools are older but in most cases: garden & toolbox-tools were better made than what's out there now. Budget will sort itself out; at least you're being proactive and honest.. re: food: pick food you like already.. learn to make that & expand from there. alt: using a meal-prep kit (compare to your current grocery or fast food bill)
I would rather penny pinch than spend my time trying to monetize my free time Nothing about it appeals to me. I'm glad it works for some people, but there's nothing that will produce an internal (or sometimes external) groan faster than someone asking "How can you monetize that?" I just want to enjoy myself. Money doesn't bring me fulfillment.
Once you master a few cheap meals (pasta with white sauce is incredibly easy and is like a blank palette for seasoning/herbs) you'll fall into a cycle. When you buy food to cook from scratch you end up with like 7 meals worth of food for a few dollars (one box of pasta is def more than one meal). I'd recommend getting good at ~3 meals so you can alternate between them without them getting too old. Mine are two types of pasta (change like one ingredient/shape of pasta) and rice with tomato/chicken seasoning. I get a few pounds of rice for ~1$ and I pretty much just chuck it in a rice cooker with water and some very cheap seasonings. If you want to save money by cooking on your own, you really need to think more about staple food types of meals rather than a meal you would order at a restaurant. For example, I'd never spend money at a restaurant only to get rice, but if it's to save money I'll eat it 8 times a week. So sorry that this is so wordy, in conclusion, it won't feel like investing in learning to cook if you focus on staple food (rice/pasta/a protein with either of these) and these tend to be easier to master and repeat. Love the new content man I hope you're doing well.
I like that you're proud that you managed to cut spending on your chicken's food but justify hundreds on Doordash lmao But at least you're starting to pay more attention to finances. The first step is recognizing just how much is going to what and then slowly cutting what you don't need. It can be hard when you never had to budget and then suddenly have to.
Can you get meals prepped for you by someone who can cook ? Like a cash job for a chef, bit of a side job for them... Or like idk pay your Mum to feed you. That's my thoughts. This is very cool of you to share all these details, I'm learning things.
Man claims making your own food is more expensive than ordering and learns in real time that it's not, at all.
It is when you're as bad at cooking as Alex is, a significant number of the times he gets sick comes from food poisoning. Some people just built different and need to spend their money accordingly
@@Grace-er9epIf he WANTS to eat out that's his prerogative but he doesn't need to. What he NEEDS is a damn food thermometer.
@@TokyoAnkylosaur lmfao I actually almost mentioned a meat thermometer in my comments you're totally right about that
@@Grace-er9epdoes the man not refrigerate his food? Or is he like not cooking meat properly? What the hell, I’ve never actually gotten sick from home cooked food.
@@forest_meadow_ranch both maybe? If you watch the video about it he catalogs his multiple runs of food poisoning after trying to cook for himself. He's definitely doing something wrong to get sick as much as he does but I don't know what he could be doing wrong so consistently
Today I bought 400 pounds of corn from tractor supply. Don’t worry about the reason why.
*why*
@@hylaarborea1090 don’t worry about it
Judging by your profile picture I’d guess corn cob bedding maybe? That’s what we use in all of our mouse cages in biomed
Oh noooo
@@joshdoe7288 much more despicable
That jumping chicken made my whole day 😂
Sorry buddy. You can't justify having delivery by saying "It's only $6 an hour for me to get delivery and i make more than that working" .... you aren't actively working. For reference, I'm a father of a family of 5 and we spend about 500-600 a month in eating out and 1100 in groceries. That's about 320-340 a person. Granted some of those people are children who cost less but you are running almost 1k a month in eating and drinking by yourself. But major props for at least realizing it's an issue. You are a smart guy and I've been watching you for years. I'm sure you can come up with a solution that makes sense
i've really been enjoying the content lately Alex
i also hate cooking, and i don't have much knowledge in making 'healthy(?)' meals. i found the easiest way to make dinners was to oven bake the protein [chicken, fish, pork] , use frozen veggie bags that can be microwaved, and pairing with instant mashed potatoes or rice made in a rice cooker. Shrimp is a super easy and fast protein to cook in the pan, mushrooms take a bit long to pan cook but are great toppings on toast with cheese. Protein shakes are great for breakfast, i usually add 1 cup of fruit to mine because it tastes better in my opinion.
I completely agree with your justification on getting delivery
yes your time has value
If you can be adding to your income by working at home for 40 mins instead of driving then 100% it’s worth $4
And you could technically add the time you are saving on not cooking to this argument.
You aren’t supporting a family.
If you were neglecting a child you “own” (haha) in order to get food delivered then this would be a different story of course.
This is the joy of being on your own.
Enjoy it.
There's absolutely no reason to order Doordash more than once a day. If you're gonna eat out like this, you need to be willing to eat the same food multiple times a day. Order once from the same place and order enough for multiple meals - even multiple days. You own a fridge! No reason to be paying the delivery fees and tip over and over again. Especially since you only order from like, five places over and over!
Holy moly. You should do Hello Fresh. They end up being a little more expensive compared to buying things separately, but it really helps knowing what you have at home and the meals are actually pretty good. Not to be a mom but fast food is really terrible for you.
the engagement I give your videos by commenting all my different thoughts in 10 separate comments is next level😂
You need to set an actual Dollar amount limit. An open goal of "spending less" isn't as effective as "okay I can only spend 400 on personal and 1000 on house/car this month". The more detailed the goal the easier it is to stick to it, at least from my experience.
Edit to add it will always be better for your health to cook at home in the long run. You can't think short term when it comes to your diet because it can affect you for the rest of your life. We all know how terribly the fast food industry is and how its become a bad staple of the American diet. Cut that habit now while you can.
You are young and thin, but the quality of food you get from restaurants is less than making it at home. You will have a much healthy diet preparing food yourself. Restaurants often time use cheaper pieces of meat, full of preservatives, and often a ton of salt. At this stage in your life, all of that probably doesn't matter to you, but long term it could have an effect on your overall health. And yes you are paying for the convenience, so overall you spend more money. A good goal for you would just to try and pick one day a week and prepare and eat those meals only on that day. Save a bit of money one day a week, and eat a bit healthier.
19:22 does your clutch feel just like the logitech wheel or is it still slightly stiff? my car might be broken too lol
now that its replaced, it feels very similar. Like it does take * some * force, like requiring more force than the accelerator but less than the brake. when before, it was harder to push than the brake. and my weak lil leg used to get fatigued just driving normally, but now it only does if I'm stuck sitting in traffic and having to basically ride the clutch for a while. Also the motion is much more consistent all the way down, when before, it was inconsistent and felt more or less tension as I pressed
@@GoHerping so mines fine lol
I spent 6000€ last month, but I took me any my boyfriend on vacation to two countries and booked 2 other holidays (flights and hotel) too 😅 Also we ate out on holiday every day and I payed our rent and utilities for 800€ as well as groceries.
Maybe, to change your spending, try to think of bigger things like holidays and going out with friends or family instead of spending on every day convenience :)
There's tons of videos on RUclips teaching you how to cook. Also, you may want to consider learning how to cook a standard daily meal you'll be happy eating to supplement eating out/ordering in. A large slow cooked pot of beans with veggies, and an air fried batch of chicken legs or thighs will give you meals for several days for only a few bucks. You can still order out on occasion to keep from burning out.
Are you in florida??
Instead of cooking big meals, or trying to meal prep, what about just getting a bunch of frozen foods (at least frozen pizzas, and things like chicken tenders)? Most of the things you were ordering you can find in a frozen aisle, there are a lot of decent options. If you have an air fryer then you're basically set. This might be an easier change than going from 0 cooking to full blown meal prepping (which is hard).
Dang Snap Alex
Make more cooking videos…you’ll practice your abilities and make money doing it. Maybe it’ll help you hate cooking less?
You should collab with Caleb Hammer
What state are you in where Lowes sells groceries?? They sure don't in Ohio.
This is makes me feel much better about my own budgeting lol
I notice from the food spending that you typically eat out for every meal. Instead of just doing away with the convenience and also taste, you could make a rule where you must eat one meal of the day at home. Then you can build it up from there. So, hey every dinner you need to cook at home. It's a small change that could save you $20 bucks a day, or $7300 a year.
Also if you need more food inspiration, a subscription box could help. I think they aren't worth the price if you already have the skills to budget, prep, and cook a meal yourself but for someone like you it might be worth it to go that route rather than try to buy your own groceries.
Yeah, I honestly think people like Alex are the ones who can benefit the most from a few months of something like Hello Fresh. You get instructions that are super easy to follow even with 0 cooking experience, the selection is super diverse but also curated enough that you can trust most things are palatable at worst (plus, places like HelloFresh let you switch meals out in advance if you see an ingredient you know you hate or have an allergy to or whatever), and like you said, he doesn't have to worry about budgeting and prepping because he's getting everything pre-portioned. IIRC, he'd spend about as much per meal as he is eating doordash, so he really should give it a try imo. He can even keep the papers the recipes are printed on both to help with grocery shopping (if/when he transitions to truly cooking his own meals) and so he doesn't have to actually memorize every new meal he comes across.
I would suggest a subscription meal box too. Helps you learn how to cook with simple instructions, comes with mostly all the ingredients and can be healthy for you, depending on your meal choices. Would save so much.
Hey if my uber orders were 5-10 dollars like his are I'd eat out every meal too. In my country I spend 100-200 a month on it and I only get it for dinner twice a week
I love how you compliment yourself on not getting Starbucks...before proceeding to get so much McDonald's. Though I guess selling your soul to the McDonald's app to save two dollars on a quarter pounder with cheese and bacon is a small price to pay for salvation. I get just ordering stuff instead of cooking because it's instinct but cooking at home really can do wonders. It's healthier, it doesn't have to be difficult if you start with simple and tasty recipes, and cooking your own meals at home allows you to have greater control over various aspects compared to dining out. Creative flow is key to good mentality.
Alex: I'm saving a couple of dollars by feeding my chickens their own eggs.
Also Alex: watch me throw a ridiculous amount of money at a car I don't need.
Alex, I like you and I love watching your videos but holy shit, you need a wake up call. Basically, you look into what you're spending, you realize you spend too much on several things (such as your card and food takeout), yet a day later you're back at it again. Can you buy nice things for yourself? Sure! But make sure you have your finances in order. I don't know what your finances look like but it does sound like you don't have any savings and just blow whatever comes in. Please be smarter. Save some money, get a backup fund for when bad times hit. You never know what might happen. I know Americans are being told "hey, if you need money, we have money, come loan money" but Alex, you're smart, you can do better. In all honestly, at one point I considered subscribing to you because I really enjoy your content but I'm watching a young guy who apparently makes 3x what I do blow all that money on stupid shit. Why would I give you money? lol
turning spending habits around is a lot of work and im proud of you for making it happen!!!! I'm in the middle of my own process on this.
He’s slowly becoming more self-sufficient
Idk, I wouldn’t call 100 fast food meals a month self-sufficient 😂
@@charlieryan251 lol very slowly
You wouldn't have to worry about loans or taxes if you lived in the DPRK! No taxes here! And housing is free! Just saying! They may be the Smoothie King, but you're the DoorDash and reptile king in our hearts, comrade! The key is to keep motivating yourself to do and be better. Success is not final, failure is not fatal, it is the courage to continue that counts. You learn more from failure than from success. Don’t let it stop you. Failure builds character. Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work. Don't overcomplicate cooking, bro. Be self-sufficient, just like us.
I think you should learn to cook but for self sufficiency not to save money. Your cooking isn't terrible necessarily it's the food storage and then using expired food that keeps getting you 😅
As a chef I'm begging you to do more cooking videos and not give up on cooking at home
I'm not sure if the USA's supermarkets are similar, but here in Germany there's a bunch of nice in between options between cooking everything yourself and eating out.
We've got healthy-ish frozen food you only need to heat up, premade pasta sauce you just need to pour over pasta (takes like 10min including making the pasta). If you hate cutting vegetables, get them precut frozen as well. There's also a lot of premade dried sauces like from Maggi that usually just need a bit of water, milk or cream to make, and they're usually so flavorful that it can safe an otherwise bland meal.
It's not as healthy or cheap as cooking from scratch but it does save a lot of money compared to eating out daily, be fairly fast and still taste good.
If you are going to stick with ordering food, why don't you do, like with the pizza, and always get 2 portions or even 2 full days' worth of food? Would that not save a tad on the delivery? I think I heard you talk about why you don't do the "groceries in a box" Hello and others kind of scheme, but my goldfish memory has revoked this knowledge. And, Minecraft server, nice. ^^
Seeing your videos on saving money has inspired me to stop ordering from DoorDash too, it was nearly a daily thing for me just because it was more convenient than driving to pick up. I’ve only ordered food 2 times this month and it’s really showing in my bank account how much I saved. You got this man. 👍🏽
Honestly, just a good hand cream does wonders for my cuticles. I like the brand Eucerine, but any hand cream should help. In case you don’t feel like buying foot cream lol.
Dude, frozen meals. On average it costs $2-6 for 1 dinner, you can switch it up with frozen meats (chicken nuggets, meatballs, burgers, fish) and an easy side like salad or pasta to get into the habit of cooking/preparing. Portions for 1 are a PIA; I've been meal prepping ALL day.
I predict a recipe box sponsorship coming up and I hope you learn to love making meals to your own specifications Alex!
You spend double my income every month, so I can't really compare our lifestyles. Time is also a "cost" in economic terms. You spend time. If the time you'd spend cooking is worth the cost of ordering delivery food, then it's reasonable. Meal subscriptions, like Hello Fresh (or one of several others) are a nice middle ground and you may come to enjoy cooking if things are planned out for you in detail (though they generate a lot of packaging waste.) Only you know what your time is worth, not just in units of dollars but of energy and happiness.
In the early years of a thirty year mortgage, it's critical to pay down the principal as much as you can afford. Otherwise, even with a decently low interest rate, you'll end up spending double what the house is worth over the life of the mortgage
Truth. A true down-payment is like having 50% of the cost of the house. Put 20% to start, and then 30% immediately after its been signed. So much money saved.
If you don't do that, its worse than double, its almost 3x the cost of house.
You should get a few meals you want to eat often, cook large portions once a month, and freeze individual portions for when youre hungry
Everyone loves spending money on things we enjoy, like your Subaru. The saving needs to come from the day to day stuff so you can splurge on stuff like that car. I honestly don't understand the I don't know how to cook thing you got going on. There are very basic ways of cooking things. Making a pasta and just using canned sauce is super cheap and can last several meals, or making chicken and rice, both are simple and both taste good. I mean if you really want to know how to cook too, you could do the unthinkable and talk to family about teaching you. I personally learned how to cook from my parents, and in my experience it makes it better because they teach you your childhood favorites. (Idk if this is an option, but an idea)
You just need to find a way to get your needs below 50% of your income. If I remember correctly the ratio is 50% to needs 20% to savings and 30% of wants if you don’t have any outstanding debts. But if you do have loans then all of the wants money goes towards paying off the debts as fast as possible. If I were you I’d cut fast food and make a sandwich everyday. I know you said that you can make a pizza last 2 meals but the supplies to make a sandwich can last 12.
cognitive dissonance, you know it's bad, you feel bad for doing it, but you make every excuse to keep going.
If you're bad at cooking, then focus on easy meals and consider cooking unfamiliar foods a luxury. I'd suggest aiming to use a recipe twice a week initially.
like a smoker or alcoholic try to cut back slowly, if you're getting food delivered twice or more a day, try to limit yourself to one delivery a day with the aim to cut it out entirely
I only let myself buy fast food once a month, maybe twice if I have a bad day and treat myself. My grocery budget includes both meal foods and snacks. Maybe get yourself a lunch box and a sandwich container for when you’re out driving, so you can bring a sandwich and snacks with you. A reusable water bottle is useful too - and better for the environment.
You spent half of my broke ass’s salary last year in one month 😂
I’m getting a job in about a month I will then be a channel member
i think you missed an opportunity to post an april fools video being like "going cold turkey with ordering doordash" and totally bamboozling us
bruhhhh. you didn't even know how to drive manual and then you bought a BRZ? never even driven one once? I'm actually shook😂
I am so amazed by you. You are absolutely an amazing young man.
I actually loved your Uber videos even though they gave me anxiety.
I use captions but do not need them, necessarily. I like when I can't understand or process what you're saying (which doesn't normally happen with you) I can read the subtitles. I leave it on on everything I watch. TV, facebook, RUclips, everything.
So honestly didn't notice you didn't have the subtitles but I normally have them on. I'm part of your 20% but I don't need them and am not offended or upset. Sucks that someone who has actual hearing problems can't watch BECAUSE RUclips is a cheap and makes the RUclipsrs pay fot their own subtitles. Don't feel like you should have to. You make them money they should offer that. Sorry just the world according to Becca lol
I'm extremely concerned about you. I've seen many people with a higher income and less frivolous spending habits become homeless recently. The common denominator between yourself and them is the attitude, you laugh this off but this is SO serious. Take care of yourself please.
I work 40hrs a week and even at $18 an hour i only make $2K a month after taxes and insurance, so I have to cook mostly at home using home chef. They have super easy meals that you can throw together and bake in the oven. As a single person I make 1 meal last for 2 and it helps me a lot. It’s about $70 a week, and I’m sure they’d sponsor you.
You need to cut out all the things you don't actually need. Plus, you can cook cheap, easy, and non-threatening meals for yourself.... like soups. 😅
Edit: You can freeze portions of meals for later too!
came for the reptiles, stayed for the vibe
maybe try those apps that give u just enough food to make the recipe they give and u can pick how many portions u want, so not as much waste? make videos making the food then get ya another affiliate link lol.. i like cooking but hate the cleaning part after 🤣 i dont even know my spending like that, i just know it is to much spent at grocery for crap u need around the house.
Dude you should get those meal kits they have instructions and prepared ingredients. You can record your learning process for content and we can laugh at you when you mess up ;)
My first car was Manual I drove it for 2 1/2 year. My clutch needed replaced but I just got a new car when it was time to replace the clutch 😂 My recommendation for saving money is maybe down sizing. I live in a 350 sq ft tiny home and it’s pretty fun, also pretty cheap it cost less than my car
Some people need more protein than calories to gain weight. I think you've previously mentioned you're struggling to gain weight maybe try to eat less chicken and more beef.
If the big trouble with home cooking is time management, my personal suggestions would be a subscription meal service where you barely have to worry about what you’re eating next, or doing some kind of meal prep. You could prepare a few days worth of food in one sitting and then just reheat it when needed, like having a huge pizza and picking at it day by day. Reheating pre-made stuff can be just as fast as ordering it. At the end of the day though, if you have enough income to eat out/delivery all the time, there’s no real problem. It would only actually be a problem if it interferes with paying bills
That uber video was gold. No way that got few views? Must be youtube supressing it for something you said because the video itself was a banger
Ps does your Mom worry u don’t eat enough vegetables, I have a son your age and I worry constantly about him eating takeouts and not enough veg
if you're gonna order in, pizza is definitely the way to go! imo🤷🏼♀️
on average I spend $280 on groceries for myself and $180 on eating out a month. i try to limit myself to eating out only 3 times a week.
Don't completely cut off your grocery. You can buy bread, fruits, vegetables and processed meat that are easy to cook. When I was in college I bought a lot of potatoes and learned how to cook it in different ways (baked, fried etc).
If you like to eat rice, you should buy a whole sack and make it yourself it will save you a lot of money. If you go to panda express just buy a side dish for your rice. I usually buy a large side dish and it's good for 2 or 3 meals depending on how hungry I am lol
What video editing program do you use because Adobe premiere now uses AI to make your subtitles for You and you can also export them out for RUclips
oh cool, yeah i use premiere but completely ignore the updates lol. i'll check it out
how did I never know about this??? they're infinitely better than youtube's auto captions and I could have saved so much money. welp thanks lmao
You should do a series where you try microwave meals to replace DoorDash for 1 month
I agree, you might be a lot better off trying a meal delivery service like Hello Fresh or Factor. Heck, it could even land you a sponsorship if you turn it into content.
Buy more food
being open about your income would be interesting to give some perspective on your spending, You spent what I make in a year on disability in two months on random shit, i just spent the same (which is a third of my savings) on a camera and laptop and equipment so I can follow my dream and make a documentary haha. Not salty though, happy that you´re comfortable.
What about hungry root or hello fresh I don't know
they're certainly not getting free screentime! but so far I haven't been able to secure a sponsorship lol
sometimes i think to myself why do I find this entertaining? the answer lies in the fact that I too, like Alex, spend money on unnecessary things :)
I suggest, if for 'value for money', big cooking is great. Like. Make a giant pot of minced meat sauce. (Köttfärsås in swedish) and cook a lot of pasta. Then you can eat lunch, then freeze it all in containers and have like 8 meals in the freezer to take out every now and then. Pasta/taco gratin, easy to freeze, soups, easy to freeze. But if you really don't want to save money/don't want to try cooking anymore. Why not ask your partner or family for advice? They certainly did not bring you up on Doordash your entire youth. They may know some good recipes that you liked and that can be frozen and eaten over a longer period of time.
Good luck Alex!
Alex! Make stuff at home like, a big lasagna, chicken parm, etc. Portion out and freeze. Take meals out in morning and thaw in fridge. Pro tip- oven reheat is best. I go grocery shopping no more than every other month and spend $150- $200. I NEVER buy takeout/dine out/delivery. I might buy a coffee at Dunkin or Cumberland farms 3-4 days a week. 👍🏼
Bean dishes are really cheap to make and tend to freeze well. You can make vegetable chili, black bean burritos, lentil soup, chick pea curry, etc...
@@BulbasaurLeaves Yes! I make soups and freeze them also! 😁👍🏼
Get you a BF that can cook. Best advice I can give you.
Can’t wait for your learning how to drive clutch video! I’ve only ever driven manual cars so I’ve tried teaching a couple friends. It’s fun watching people struggle
Alex! We’re in a lifetime where tik tok and RUclips and Instagram pushes these easy to make meals, YOU CAN DO IT! 🎉
My parents keep complaining about running low on money. Which is a problem because we have a farm (not the kind where you eat them either) which is really expensive. I kinda did the free Craigslist animal thing last year and as much as I love them the social media/animal rescue thingy didn’t turn out as I had hoped… it’s a slow process 😅 anyway I keep thinking “oh no we gotta only eat eggs and beans and rice to save on money” and everyone else comes home after buying regular groceries and even a bunch of unnecessary junk. I don’t think we are even running that low on money at this point I think they just like to complain. 🤣 eat more eggs from your chickens. That’ll save you on expensive proteins. You can also breed mice for your reptiles, just got into that myself and it’s fun!
McDonald’s is disgusting why
just get hello fresh or something like that
I refuse to spend money on food orders. I have a high paying job and could get food delivered to me every meal but it's such a waste and nothing tastes better than cooking your own. It's cheaper and makes me feel more accomplished when I'm finished in my kitchen. Nothing is more satisfying to me than being able to save money and make rewarding investments.
How do you justify all the time time and effort that goes into Prep and then the cleanup afterwards? If I make a meal that's healthy, I'm easily in the kitchen for 3 hours.
@@EarthsGeomancer depending on what you are making yes it can take long somethings can take me 8 hours to cook, such as slow cooking ribs and somethings take less than 30 minutes. Al depends what you cook. My wife will do most of the cooking but as I said when I cook it feels satisfying to me, many people enjoy cooking like it's a hobby.
@@andrewlacerenza667 So you get to choose cooking as a hobby when you feel like it but prefer home cooked meals so your wife has to cook then? That's not saving money by choosing to cook yourself, that's choosing free labour instead of minimum wage labour.
People being real judgey but I completely sympathise with your eating habits. I have an intense vomiting phobia (caused by food poisoning episodes in the past) and if I had been through the experiences you described in your previous video, I wouldn't want to prepare my own food either. If I could afford to just get take-out all the time, I totally would. I would much rather pay to have food prepared for me by someone who knows what they're doing. I *can* cook, I just hate it, it's so stressful.
Perhaps for food, to kinda work in increments of learning how to cook, start with real easy things. Chicken nuggets, sandwiches, the like. Throw in the occasional microwave meal. Then build up, canned things, frozen things. You can really quickly heat veggies with salt, pepper, and minced garlic (the stuff you get in a jar!)
Also, bulk cooking, you make one or two large entrees at the beginning of the week and freeze some of it to eat later in the week. That does take time, but you could also do a crocker pot, something you toss in shit and come back at the end of the day to eat.
Maybe instead of quitting cold turkey for eating out, make your goal: eat out once a week, or maybe three. Something where it's not every day for every meal, but something to look forward to after working hard at home.
Actually paying for Adobe?
I’ve heard it’s really difficult to download illegally
since my channel was hacked, i'm not willing to risk pirating on my main device again
Again he says.
Lowe's sells food where you are?! wtf lmao
lol it's a local grocery store in the carolinas
I had the same reaction lol.
@@GoHerping do you also have Lowe's the hardware store?!
yeah, plus I just realized upon googling, that Lowes Foods was founded by the former co-owner and son of the Lowes hardware founder :O
Think of it this way, if you absolutely didnt want to cook, went to the store and bought microwaveable freezer food for the month and kept it at 900, and didn't eat out. You'd save about $900 each month (thats at the idea of eating out is 20/a meal and you do it 3 times a day). Or, if you wanted to cook, sometimes, you could look into food subscriptions. They bring food to you, have cooking and non cooking options, and at the end of the month you would save about $100-200 bucks.
Im about to make lentil soup with rice for dinner and it's going to be 4 meals for less than $10.
Im enjoying watching this new journey!
Great video!
With regards to saving money vs trying to earn more I would like to mention to you what was one said to me... Saving has a limit, there is only so much you can save but their is no limit to how much you can earn.
Easier said than done of course.
I am not saying to do away with saving completely but it might be worth investing more energy into increasing those revenue streams you mentioned.
Just my 2 cents
Keep up the great content!!
*squeak* savings, everyone
Lmao your clutch and labour cost as much as my A-B car. Perks of having a mechanic for a dad I guess.
Sell the Subaru, learn to cook.
The car is 100% a terrible investment. I'm sure you're also paying quite a bit for insurance as well as the repairs.
I promise you'll eventually learn to enjoy cooking. I didn't care for it in my early 20's either, but grew to enjoy it once I lived on my own. Now that I have a family, I'm the primary cook.
You mention growing your income rather than "penny pinching." People who become wealthy and stay that way learn to control their spending. "Live below your means," so to speak. You can't always control your income, but you can always heavily influence your spending.
Easy things to learn cooking that are tasty and healthy? Pastas. Also, is there a reason you're paying $17-$25 for pizzas when you can buy them for a fraction of that with a quality frozen or take-ane-bake pizza?
Enjoying your series.
Take it from a guy who’s about to start working a 9-5 at State Farm and is feeling a sense of impending doom because I know I’m going to hate it…if your reptile videos used to make more money, then you should STRONGLY consider doing it solely for the sake of income.
Look into crock pot meals or casseroles. Meals you can eat for a couple days. I have a cheesy chicken casserole to expire for. It's amazing and with the chicken only costs about maybe $20 to make. Me and my family can eat it for 2 or 3 days. Meatloaf made with McCormick meatloaf mix is under or about $20 and can eat it for days. And I don't coupon. Maybe you could look into getting help with getting groceries and making good money efficient meals... I just hate that you're putting that much crap into your body. I know you need to eat and I understand your reasoning for wanting to atleast maintain your body weight but there is other ways.
If it helps, if you cook your own meals you can feed your chicken your veggie scraps plus if you talk to some business they will give you their scraps (when they clean lettuces, broccoli, etc. not bad food, just leafs we don't eat), Plus, chickens get the most out of egg shells (you have to pulverize it though) and that way they have an extra calcium intake (remember chickens lose calcium when producing eggs)
Maybe you should watch some Caleb Hammer vids that he does Financially Auditing people bc i feel like you need someone to get on your ass rn to buckle down and just start cooking at the least XD no amount of take out/delivery will ever compare to the money you save if you just cook for yourself
great place to get tools is Estate Sales, moving sales; sometimes church rummage sales; tools are older but in most cases: garden & toolbox-tools were better made than what's out there now.
Budget will sort itself out; at least you're being proactive and honest..
re: food: pick food you like already.. learn to make that & expand from there.
alt: using a meal-prep kit (compare to your current grocery or fast food bill)
I would rather penny pinch than spend my time trying to monetize my free time
Nothing about it appeals to me. I'm glad it works for some people, but there's nothing that will produce an internal (or sometimes external) groan faster than someone asking "How can you monetize that?" I just want to enjoy myself. Money doesn't bring me fulfillment.
Once you master a few cheap meals (pasta with white sauce is incredibly easy and is like a blank palette for seasoning/herbs) you'll fall into a cycle. When you buy food to cook from scratch you end up with like 7 meals worth of food for a few dollars (one box of pasta is def more than one meal). I'd recommend getting good at ~3 meals so you can alternate between them without them getting too old. Mine are two types of pasta (change like one ingredient/shape of pasta) and rice with tomato/chicken seasoning. I get a few pounds of rice for ~1$ and I pretty much just chuck it in a rice cooker with water and some very cheap seasonings. If you want to save money by cooking on your own, you really need to think more about staple food types of meals rather than a meal you would order at a restaurant. For example, I'd never spend money at a restaurant only to get rice, but if it's to save money I'll eat it 8 times a week. So sorry that this is so wordy, in conclusion, it won't feel like investing in learning to cook if you focus on staple food (rice/pasta/a protein with either of these) and these tend to be easier to master and repeat. Love the new content man I hope you're doing well.
I like that you're proud that you managed to cut spending on your chicken's food but justify hundreds on Doordash lmao
But at least you're starting to pay more attention to finances. The first step is recognizing just how much is going to what and then slowly cutting what you don't need. It can be hard when you never had to budget and then suddenly have to.
Can you get meals prepped for you by someone who can cook ? Like a cash job for a chef, bit of a side job for them... Or like idk pay your Mum to feed you. That's my thoughts. This is very cool of you to share all these details, I'm learning things.