6 ms·

In order to have nutritious very cheap food the "make it yourself from cooked ingredients" way, you need: - Large amounts of skill in planning, choosing, prepa

In order to have nutritious very cheap food the "make it yourself from cooked ingredients" way, you need: - Large amounts of skill in planning, choosing, preparing, and cooking ingredients. The fact that you absorbed those household skills by watching your mom doesn't make them trivial. Many people have no such skill. - Free time to do the work of sourcing, preparation, cooking and cleaning. (Not always available to people who work as many jobs as they can or have kids.) - Predictability of demand and usable time (often not available to "casual" workers). - Good project-management skills, to bring ingredients together in usable form at the right time. - A location that conveniently offers the ingredients you need (rather than a food desert), at their optimal prices (rather than marked up). - Enough knowledge of basic nutrition to balance the meals you make over the long term. - Enough knowledge of food risks to not poison yourself (easily done with raw meat, undercooked beans, etc). - As a nice-to-have, enough actual skill cooking to make it taste good.

jacquesm 12y ago
My cooking skills are pretty much non-existent. But anybody (and I really mean anybody except for people that can not take care of themselves at all) can learn how to cook a quick and healthy meal. The amount of skill required for healthy eating is almost nil, we're not talking 5 course meals here. Worst case bail-out (still a lot more tasty than sludge, and a lot cheaper too) is that old bachelors stand-by, the omelet. Slightly more advanced, pastas and salads. You'll be doing fine like that if you combine that with fresh fruit, maybe some nuts, milk/yoghurt and the occasional piece of meat/chicken/fish (well done, if you're panicky about the risks involved in preparing those). Ok, true, you probably need a fridge if you want to economize on the cost part and if you live in a place with lots of others there might be trouble from that angle. (student dormitories for instance, assuming they allow cooking).
netcan 12y ago
AKA, the basic knowledge that at least one person in every household (but usually everyone) since the dawn of humanity has been expected to know.
- deleted 12y ago
  [deleted]
- JulianMorrison 12y ago
  Oh, expected is it? Is the mere expectation enough to make the knowledge jump into their head? Your privilege is showing.
  - netcan 12y ago
    Yes. I am drawing the line at feeding yourself. Everyone must be able to make a snack without poisoning themselves.
  - wtbob 12y ago
    > Your privilege is showing. Well, perhaps if the sort of folks who yap about privilege hadn't spent the last four decades doing their damnedest to destroy the system in which, yes, the vast majority of households had at least one member (but probably several) who had the appropriate skills, then we wouldn't have this kind of mess. I would dearly love to be able to get the sort of job where I create problems, then make money by talking about them.

jacquesm 12y ago

My cooking skills are pretty much non-existent. But anybody (and I really mean anybody except for people that can not take care of themselves at all) can learn how to cook a quick and healthy meal. The amount of skill required for healthy eating is almost nil, we're not talking 5 course meals here. Worst case bail-out (still a lot more tasty than sludge, and a lot cheaper too) is that old bachelors stand-by, the omelet. Slightly more advanced, pastas and salads. You'll be doing fine like that if you combine that with fresh fruit, maybe some nuts, milk/yoghurt and the occasional piece of meat/chicken/fish (well done, if you're panicky about the risks involved in preparing those). Ok, true, you probably need a fridge if you want to economize on the cost part and if you live in a place with lots of others there might be trouble from that angle. (student dormitories for instance, assuming they allow cooking).

netcan 12y ago

AKA, the basic knowledge that at least one person in every household (but usually everyone) since the dawn of humanity has been expected to know.

deleted 12y ago
[deleted]
JulianMorrison 12y ago
Oh, expected is it? Is the mere expectation enough to make the knowledge jump into their head? Your privilege is showing.
- netcan 12y ago
  Yes. I am drawing the line at feeding yourself. Everyone must be able to make a snack without poisoning themselves.
- wtbob 12y ago
  > Your privilege is showing. Well, perhaps if the sort of folks who yap about privilege hadn't spent the last four decades doing their damnedest to destroy the system in which, yes, the vast majority of households had at least one member (but probably several) who had the appropriate skills, then we wouldn't have this kind of mess. I would dearly love to be able to get the sort of job where I create problems, then make money by talking about them.