You can really tell who actually grew up poor and who's been LARPing this whole time.
Cooking basic stuff doesn't require a ton of herbs and spices. Also, they can be found cheap. Also, once you have them they last a long time. I've had a full spice cabinet since I was 18. Like. You can get staples on hand.
Actually this is insane I'm not even entertaining the rest of these points
Cooking is absolutely a skill that requires some effort in terms of time money energy. But like. It's a survival skill.
If you can only cook simple cheap dishes then you can put in the effort to find and learn simple cheap dishes.
But like. Cooking is a skill that pays off. Once you know how to cook something you can do it forever. You can learn meal planning and substitutions. You can make up your own recipes.
When my mom and I were poor as dirt when I was a kid, she'd just make buttered noodles because that's all we could afford. We didn't order takeout.
Now that I'm an adult that can cook anything your heart desires? And has fed crowds for Thanksgiving and Yom Kippur breakfast?
My go to meal each week is just... Baked chicken breast or fish. Whatever was on sale. Then some kind of roasted fresh veg or microwaved can veg. I cook for an hour on Sunday and eat for the week.
Yeah learning to cook on my own was hard and intimidating and it sucked and took me a couple years and sometimes I'd fuck up and make something incredible and end up wasting money and ordering pizza.
But it's so fucking worth it. I can make good food and plan and eat cheaper and healthier. It's a skill for life.
"I need to cook at home, but I'm not even sure how to make authentic khao poon, and coconut milk and fresh basil are so expensive! And I won't even have enough basil left over to make pine nut pesto, so I'll have to buy more when I buy the pinoli!"
Actual poor meals: Noodles with garlic & sesame oil. Pasta with a can of Hunts tomato sauce. Pasta cooked in V8. Rice and beans. Pancakes for dinner. Etc. Etc. Etc.
Also spices and things are way cheaper if you go to an actual East Asian/Indian/Mexican etc. grocer instead of trying to buy it from the ethic aisle of Whole Foods.
some reasons cooking is overwhelming to some people:
motor issues make handling knives or hot objects risky
OCD or sensory issues preventing working with certain categories of foods
Executive dysfunction
Standing up hurts or is impossible
no fucking kitchen in the apartment
(do not at me with solutions to these problems. some exist, in some cases they are effective, not all.)
