What I wanna achieved in this post would be a closer look at which option is rather economical, takeaways or cooking at home. I used the whole of July to do the test, along with some simple calculations to determine.
HOW DID THIS IDEA COME ABOUT?
One evening, Mister came back with 4 dishes plus a pack of gravy from the coffeeshop at our neighbourhood and was happily telling me that the portion was big enough for both of us and also to have it over 2 dinners and 1 lunch. All we needed was to cook our own rice, like 1 and a quarter cup. Convenience, saved time and utilities especially for the 2 of us who are working professionals.
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| Purchase on 23 July 2020 |
ABOUT ECONOMICAL RICE A.K.A ZHUP CHAI PNG
A stall that sells a large varieties of dishes from meat, omelettes, steamed tofu to vegetables. I always have this concept that ZCP stall will allow us to achieve a balance of nutrients everyday (at least), though most of the time we don't get to achieve fully (must include fruits lah). It may not be the healthiest because of the way dishes are cooked (some too oily, some too salty and so on), but some stalls were awarded the Healthier Choice logo so rest assured that have options like wholegrain rice or using healthier choice of oil. courts. It also depends on what you choose to have and how you choose to deal with your health with moderation of exercise and balanced diet. Oh... remember your fruits intake. For us, we alternate between fruits and home-prep salads.
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| Purchase for 14-15 July 2020 |
ABOUT DELIVERY SERVICES
During Circuit Breaker in April 2020 - June 2020, Food Delivery and Groceries Delivery became the most wanted option than buying in person. Because we were advised not to go out unnecessary in order to prevent the spread of this virus in our community. So most of the time we will cook at home and once awhile, we opt for food delivery because at times, you really felt lazy and sick of cooking every single day. But at the same time, you wanna have a satisfying meal without travelling out far, then that comes in handy via the mobile app. You just need to pay delivery fee or find those with free delivery (some need minimum order). For groceries, we tried to buy the needy from nearest supermarkets, went to those 24-hrs stores past midnight or the best solution, patronized the Mama shop a.k.a provision shop just below your block.
But in conclusion, whether buy in person or food delivery, we are still doing our part in supporting our local businesses. #SupportLocal
EXPENSES CALENDAR
I created this calendar so you get a better picture of the spending and on which days, and when are the FREE days (eg. visiting our families in one day, one for lunch and the other for dinner). And colour code the days accordingly.
This experiment is for a couple (2 humans).
Calculation based on: Dinner on weekdays, Lunch and Dinner on weekends and public holidays.
Why no lunch on weekdays? Because we both worked and how to have lunch together? Easier when both of us are together. Have doubt about that? Then you suggest what is better.
Groceries: Purchases meant for cooking, baking, consumption from wet markets, traditional markets, supermarkets, provision shops.
4 dishes mean we bought from Zhup Chai Png stall. Takeaways are food from individual stalls.
Let me do some simple Math. Apologies if there is anything wrong in my way of calculation. Please feel free to comment and let me know how I can do it better. I really cannot make it in Math since Secondary school days.
You must be wondering why I divided the Groceries expenses by 31 days. That was because I couldn't be just spending $270+ on just 9 days of cooking in a month. My purchases were not restricted just for cooking but for daily consumption like bread and coffee/tea for breakfast, snacks for Netflix, fruits, instant noodles for lunch at times, frozen food and so on. It only made sense to average out on 31 days instead of 9 days. Are you clear on that? Let's move on.
I usually jot down my daily expense in a notebook (followed my mum's footstep). Old school way. So I can trace back what I spend but didn't actually go calculate every month how much we spent. Now I know. $500 a month just on feeding us. Haven't included utilities and other expenses (transport, telco and etc).
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| Home-cooked Meal |
Obviously cooking at home is the winner here, even though the total amount for the month is much higher than outside food. If I calculate this way:
$271.30 - $227.88 = $43.42 (the difference)
$43.42 / $499.18 x 100 = 8.7% (the % that is less than 10%, small fraction of the total)
$43.42 x 12 months = $521.04 (this amount can be quite a lot of money ya)
Actually this experiment wasn't that in-depth especially in categorizing the items, especially when it comes to groceries. What are those meant for daily consumption or for cooking and baking. This is more like an overview of household expenditure, a portion on food. Household expenditure consists of toiletries, food, utilities and maintenance (in my opinion).
When you cook or bake, you consume not only the food itself but also water, gas and electricity. This is hard to add into the expenses if you are extreme detailed person. Because water, gas and electricity are intangible. Okay lah, loosely you divide your total utilities bill by 30 or 31 days. Also not in-depth mah. The whole thing above was based on average spending.
Conclusion is there is no right or wrong in either options as it also depends on how you see things. For me after doing this expense calendar, I opt for takeaways and also wanna cut about 20-30% on groceries (about $80+). I understand now everything are pricey due to the pandemic 👿 and as much as I want to, I will definitely try. Already very mindful of my purchase, think hard if it is a want or need, looking at the price and keep looking for cheaper options and so on. Very cheapo or cheapskate way. And always looking forward to great deals (like discounts or free gifts). I can do better in this.
Oh... and much easier if couples like us can share our food. Like maybe a bigger portion to share and if there is leftovers, keep for the following day as lunch or dinner. Nothing goes to waste. When we cook, we also try to maximize the usage of the food items. Maximizing is the word. Be kind to our earth.
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| A portion of Zhup Chai Png for lunch next day |
For a fresh month of August, I shall do the same thing but on my individual expenses and see where I can cut on for unnecessary spending. Stay tune.