Low-Effort Cooking While Using Low-Cost Whole Foods

baked apples take one-quarter of the hands-on time required for making an apple pie

Time is such a valuable commodity in our culture, so much so that none of us seem to have much of it to spare. As much as possible, I try to conserve my time in some areas in order to have more of it for other areas.

This is a principle that I've explained to my family members, encouraging them to eat more of the cheaply-sourced foods that take less of my actual hands-on time to prepare. By primarily making these low-effort frugal foods, I can have more time to make some of their favorite high-effort frugal dishes. 

I touched on this idea very briefly yesterday. So my first low-effort food is rice.

• rice is a low-effort, inexpensive scratch-cooking food (3 mins. hands-on), whereas scratch-made bread is a high-effort food (35 mins. hands-on). When our homemade bread supply is running low, I make more rice to go with dinners in order to stretch the remaining bread, therefore delaying the time that I need to do more baking.
• whole potatoes "baked" in the microwave are low-effort foods (2 mins), whereas potato salad (35 mins) is a high effort food. We get the same potato-satiety from the baked potatoes as the potato salad, but my work is significantly diminished.
• cooked oatmeal (2 mins) from oats is a low-effort food, whereas homemade granola (10 mins) is a high-effort food, and homemade granola bars (60 mins) are an even higher effort food (which may explain why I rarely make granola bars.) Since I don't buy commercial dry cereals, our breakfasts are almost always scratch-made in some form or another, such as toast made with homemade bread, eggs, homemade yogurt, etc. When I check the pantry and see that we are out of breakfast-y foods for the next morning, I set up the crockpot just as we're finishing our dinner with either rolled oats or steel cut oats for overnight oatmeal. If I forget to do this, then a pot of hot rolled oatmeal is pretty quick to make in the morning and takes very little hands-on effort.
• popcorn (7 mins) made from kernels, oil, and salt in a pan on the stove is a low-effort snack food, whereas crackers (50 mins) made from scratch are high-effort snack foods, and something that I only do once or twice per year.
• this snack cake (12 mins), which is mixed in the pan in which it bakes, is a low-effort dessert, whereas a layer cake (60 mins) is a high effort food. I think we all knew that. However, I just wanted to point out that this snack cake recipe can be used as a celebration cake in a pinch. After some cooling, spread the top of the snack cake with a scratch buttercream icing and throw lots of colored sprinkles on top. Voila -- celebration cake, with only a small amount of hands-on effort.
• baked apples (15 mins) are a low-effort dessert, whereas scratch apple pie (60 mins) is a high-effort dessert (even with this make-ahead pie crust dough)
• a pot of rice and a pot of beans (15 mins) are a low-effort Tex-Mex vegetarian combination, whereas making scratch flour tortillas and beans (60 mins) is a high-effort Tex-Mex combination.

I think there's this myth that frugal cooking is always extremely time-consuming and complicated. That line of thought must come from the notion that one must replicate commercial products to be fully satisfied. 

As much as I can, I try to find the less labor-intensive options that deliver similar satisfaction for my family, using primarily cheaply-sourced basic foods. Of course, we all grumble from time to time that it would be nice to have more of the products that we see in stores and advertisements. They sure do look appealing in photos. In the end, I realize that by saving money on our groceries, we can afford other life luxuries, such as vacations, a nice home, and a comfortable retirement someday.

I do what I can to provide tasty meals for my family while keeping to a small budget. In that light, it just makes sense to prepare several low-effort foods per week, then add in one or two high-effort dishes for variety and excitement.

As a perk, making more of the low-effort foods means that I have more time for some of my frivolous hobbies, like showering, sleeping, and vacuuming. I know. I'm really too self-indulgent.

Does this idea resonate with you? Do you opt for simpler foods if it means you save both time and money? What are some other simply-prepared foods that save your time compared to their labor-intensive counterparts?

You'll find this post, and many others like it, just a click away on this page -- a compilation of my recipes, shopping lists, and menu plans that illustrates how I feed my family of 4 adults on $125 to $135 per month.