There is a thriving market for cooked and packaged food which can be obtained from stores or even from restaurants. It comes at a higher cost though since its ready to use after some heating. It rates on the cost of fuel used for cooking though this depends on the location you buy the food. I buy boiled maize and beans since they take a long time to fully cook saving on fuel costs.
Cooked food can be nice if you don't have time to cook it yourself and where I live it isn't too expensive. You can buy an entire cooked chicken for about 5$. It is really tasty too.
It's not always I have the time to cook, and at some other times I may just be too lazy to cook. In that case I'd settle for buying already cooked food. Again, there are foods I like eating but don't how to prepare them exactly I steadily buy them already cooked.
It is always our kitchen for us when it comes to food except when we have no time to cook and go to the market. Fortunately, we have a maid who can buy the ingredients and also assist in the cooking. But on occasions like simple birthday celebrations, we order food for delivery to save on labor (since it is an occasion). It is a big saving when comparing cooked food with ordered food much more if we eat out.
I sometimes dine in restaurant and it is usually for celebrations. Sometimes when I am in a mood and I have budget, I will take my family to the restaurant for weekend celebration. However, when I am not celebrating, I don't buy cooked food from restaurant. I cook meal in my home. Buying is more convenient than cooking, but it saves a lot of money.
Some cooked food like the already made roasted chicken are OK healthwise, but some ready made stuff is loaded with unhealthy chemicals. Also, it doesn't take a lot of effort to cook food. For instance, we were talking about chicken. Well, in about an hour and a half you can boil a chicken. In fact, most food can be cooked in a decent amount of time, while a few rare exceptions, such as turkey, cannot. Therefore, looking at this thing money-wise, I don't think it's usually a good idea to buy ready-made food unless you're really tight on free-time. For instance, someone who is busy with a hectic work schedule might not want to fool with cooking for even two hours. Note, when it comes to the elderly or the sick, they could also benefit from pre-made food, but it may not always be healthy for them, so they should look into hiring some sort of kitchen help if possible. Finally, I'd like to add that among food you can cook, some are more healthy and humane to the animals than other types. For instance, farm fed meat would be better than the commercial variety, and in my hometown, the farm-fed stuff is often the same price or just a little higher than the other stuff.
While it may be a good idea to buy cooked food or ready to eat for those who don't cook.much or are busy people, for the rest I see it as an additional cost unless of course you are buying in bulk or a good discount. The same can be done at home like a lot of maize can be boiled at once and stored in refrigerator for later usage. I buy fresh vegetables for a whole week, clean and cut them and store them in fridge in air tight container. That way the fuel cost is saved on daily purchasing too plus buying in bulk gives more discount.
We usually buy ready-cooked food from the resto or kiosk along the road when we have important meeting to attend and we come home already late at noon. We don't have time to prepare for we're already hungry. But when we are free, my wife always cooks for our food. She's the best cook we have in our family.
I shop at Safeway supermarket locally in Hawaii. Safeway has $5 Fridays. On these special sales Safeway has there is prepared food like meatloaf already to heat a little and eat with your mashed potatoes at home. This meatloaf is very good and is only $5 on Safeway $5 Fridays. Safeway has Signature chicken tenders too for $5 a pound on sale from time to time as well as meatloaf too. Meat is so high now that I buy Safeway meatloaf when it's on sale and enjoy it immensely! It's cheaper and tastes good to buy on sale already cooked foods. (image fromLog In)
It has been a while since I bought cooked food I usually buy it raw so I can fully prepare them myself. Cooked food does safe us busy people a lot of time but can be a little pricey for me. If I did't have the time to cook I would take advantage of that option.
Even if it does cost more, it's usually a lot cheaper than fast food. We usually purchase a portion of a ''guizado'' and that usually is enough for three people if you accompany it with tortillas. It's the best alternative to fast food and not to mention that it's also a lot healthier.
If I don't buy cooked food then I'd starve badly. Today I hurried out of my house this morning to do some offline jobs, that time was too early for me to have prepared any meal. I had to take some money along with which I got a decent already cooked food for my lunch.
You know it costs a little extra but there are times when you have no choice but to buy cooked food from restaurants and carry them home. I never hesitate buying cooked food when my wife is not in a mood to cook or going out for dinner. We have several cheap food joints which cook for students on a very reasonable rate offering a good menu.
We seldom buy cooked foods since we're at home most of the time and my hubby loves to cook. There are times that we also buy cooked food if we go outside and are too hungry to wait to get home to eat. So we usually get some cooked food or dine out in those cases. But as much as possible, we avoid them since we don't know how it was cooked or what are the ingredients used.
I just ordered food online this Christmas, It is more expensive than cooking my own food but it is cheaper than hiring a chef.I love to cook but cooking lots of meals in one day for lots of people is way too expensive. I just ordered frozen gourmet food from Dean de Luca , it is a global gourmet food store that is available to all countries around the world. I will order again this coming New year.
Yes, I buy it. I think it's always a good option when you don't have much time to cook. However, I'm a bit annoying () when I go to buy this type of food because I usually inspect basically the whole place where I'm going to buy.
