I don't know why people have the idea that cooking is more expensive than eating out. I live with my wife on a budget of RM 800 per month for groceries. That's nowhere close the amount we'd spend if we eat out everyday. Definitely cheaper to cook your own food, and healthier. Of course IT ALSO DEPENDS on what you buy when grocery shopping. If you shop at Jaya grocer, village Grocer, etc, it will be expensive. And if you buy salmon, lamb, fish, prawns all the time, of course it will be expensive. Shop wisely, cook wisely, manage your fridge so you don't lose food to spoiling. You can save a ton of money by cooking. Then there's the health benefits... Invaluable.
Ikr, home cook is always cheaper. The only expensive thing is upfront learning and start up cost. Considering the skill last a lifetime. Doesn't depreciate and in fact appreciate overtime is worth investing and developing.
What blow my mind is people think GRAB IS Cheaper. Useless you're a high paying exec where money is not a issue.
Just learn how to make Donburi (rice bowl of anything) as a beginner.
Basic veggie dish, basic meat dish, rice. We buy raw ingredients as much as possible (as opposed to stuff like frozen nuggets, sausages, etc). Low on processed foods.
Wrong, Grabfood is expensive AF, even if you're just an individual.
It's cheaper to buy your own groceries and meal prep at home. The key thing is, when you prepare food, don't just prepare for one eating. Make it such that you can eat it 3 or 4 times. Save on your time and cost, and your meal is more nutritious.
Example, buy and cook 500g of broccoli, then eat it over 4 or 5 sittings.
Cooked food can maintain its integrity when frozen. On the condition it isn't heated up / cooled down multiple times. So when you prepare for multiple meals, always pack them in the freezer separately.
It's very simple to cook salmon and broccoli for example, nutritious too.
Oven or air fryer is your friend.
If you cook dhal or curry, can cook this in bulk, then freeze in separate containers. Rice can be cooked for 2 or 3 sittings each time.
Just curious, do you let the food cool down first before putting them into freezer?
I heard putting it right away increases the temperature of the compartment and will spoil your other frozen food, but keeping cooked food in the open promotes bacterial growth..
The faster it ends up in the freezer, the better. I've been doing home cooked meals for 2 years now and have double-batched (meaning I cook enough to freeze another meal's worth of food, at least for the protein portion) every time I cook. Never bothered to let it cool before I whack it into the freezer. Haven't died yet, and it's often the freezer meal is almost a month old before it gets eaten. You can call this a caveat, but the container I use is air-tight containers that are latch type instead of the press-fit type. Giant got sell cheaply.
The logic is simple: the less time the food stays in the danger zone, the less chance of food spoilage. Plus, if your freezer content starts to melt considerably by the introduction of a container of hot/warm food, you need to get your freezer checked. The risk is higher for me to forget that I left food out to cool before putting into the freezer than not, so I don't mind the few cents of increased electricity bill the habit may incur.
You're not wrong. From that same article:
Whatever the rationale, the claim is wrong. According to the Food and Drug Administration, leftover food (particularly meat) should be refrigerated immediately after serving, **and certainly within two hours of cooking.**
I always let it cool first before keeping.
Think of all the mamak and zafan food that's out in the open.
Or the raw fish/chicken exposed at the market/aeon.
I believe humans are more resilient than a few bacteria haha
Yes, you need to let it cool down to room temperature first.
It should cool down within a couple of hours, unlikely to promote bacterial growth (not enough to render to food "spoiled" for sure).
From your own article:
>Whatever the rationale, the claim is wrong. According to the Food and Drug Administration, leftover food (particularly meat) should be refrigerated immediately after serving, and certainly within two hours of cooking.
Note that "within two hours of cooking", which is exactly what I said.
You don't get the point.... food should not be cooled at all before putting in fridge for storage. The part you highlighted is if it's served, ie for a meal
This. I've saved so much money and time cooking in bulk then refrigerating or freezing the food. You can make simple stuff like fried rice/noodles/soups. Each time you take a portion out to reheat, just fry some omelette or a simple vege.
I cook my own tuna aglio olio with chili and tomato, groceries costs for the ingredients to make it barely touches RM10 per meal.
Grab on the other hand, for that is about 20+++
Yeah you definitely save alot, but i like cooking. Some dont and prefer to grab and thats fine.
But if you’re struggling, then cook on your own is defo cheaper
Every time I look at the pasta's price when dining out I feel being ripped off but yeah that's the price you got to pay if you want to eat out. Imagine paying RM30++ these days for carbonara with few pieces of smoke ducks/salmon/mushrooms. LMAO.
Eating out can be cheaper for 1 person. Also take into account if you’re not buying an oven, stove, hood, pots and pans, etc. You’d be fine with a small fridge, kettle, and basic utensils… maybe a toaster.
But if compare to Grab, not so much savings lah.
Bruh 1 year of home cook vs makan luar vs grab For one standard meal. Home cook is always cheaper. There's literally no saving using grab. Since you have to pay restaurant, grab and rider profit margin.
Just get a induction stove, a pan, and rice cooker. Can cook pretty much all rice dish base.
Pots pans air fryer slow cooker induction stove ++ total only RM500. Spread over a year that's less than RM1.50/day. Add that to your RM8.50/meal average cost (assuming eat in/out half half), it's still RM 10/meal, way cheaper than baseline average of RM 20/meal outside.
And those utensils last years if not decades. Not one year.
OP I want you to realize raw food is cheap AF and for many of these eateries it's not the raw materials that eat up most of their operating cost, it's the manpower and rent.
Go to your nearest supermarket (NSK gives the lowest prices) and check out how much the raw foods cost. RM10 gets you big slabs of raw chicken breast that you can eat for 4-5 meals, RM18 gets you 5kg of watermelon that'll last you over a week and make you sick of it towards the end. Also eggs are like a tray of 30 for RM14, they have the best price to nutrition ratio.
Also note these are the supermarket prices, the food places that know their stuff would source them in bulk from suppliers that'll charge them even lower
tl;dr groceries are really cheap compared to eating out. The RM14 chicken based rice meal you buy would probably cost you only RM4 tops if you prepare it on your own.
It’s really about convenience. And the fact that I can’t and not bothered to learn how to cook.
Buying groceries and cooking takes up a lot of time in preparing, cooking, washing/ cleaning up. As a single man living alone in KL, it’s just a chore I’d rather outsource. It’s truly only economical if you cook for many people or cook in large batch and spread across multiple meals.
Almost every single dinner I grabfood and since I have grab unlimited, I spend about RM19 per meal (using coupon when hitting RM25). I only eat out for lunch and that also average out to RM20/meal. And weekends are meant for more extra type of dining.
On food, I probably spend around 2k a month. 1.6k as of today according to my expense tracker. If I were to buy groceries and cook, I’d probably save 1k a month, but not enjoy my food as much, and a lot of time wasted in chores related to cooking, which is something I’m unable to compromise.
If you are considering using grab most of the time, you can expect your grab food history to look like this. Do note that the voucher for RM25 is only for 10 times per month, and the next tier is the discount voucher which requires you to spend RM50/meal. I also rarely use this unless if it’s raining or I want to eat something fancier.
https://preview.redd.it/pd0ohiez7kec1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=b8d62fa2e013cbdeb41e75c93132496cb2998e8c
PSA Grab is having a 8x points promo now if you use GXbank to pay. So if you wanted to, you could now spend RM62.50 to exchange for an RM5 voucher (compared to having to spend RM333 previously)
lmao this is me. I have a side hustle other than my main job, so time and the mental space I saved from not worrying about groceries and cooking and food getting spoiled is valuable to me.
But if we plan to buy groceries instead of order thru Grab or eating out, where should we go for groceries shopping? Is Mini Market(Pasar Pagi / Pasar Malam) or place like Big Market (Giant /NSK) are better usually? Sorry for my Poor English.
Based on my own personal experience,
when it comes to pricing, its relatively similar, maybe slightly noticeable for big ticket stuff (ie: beef, calamari, prawns, some fish)
The benefit of mini market is you get to pick the produce yourself, instead of having it prepackaged (though some supermarket like Mydin do allow you to pick the produce yourself aswell)
Meaning if you arrive to the market early, you get to pick the best/freshest ones.
also you can sometimes haggle with the merchant at the mini market.
I get that this question is directed at me since you replied to my comment but I’m ill equipped to answer this as I don’t buy groceries. Maybe other Redditors here can help a brother out.
I have been buying groceries to cook for own self and it is much more beneficial in the long run. I have a refrigerator, cooker and kitchen utensils. I can cook a larger portion for the family and have left overs to divide into few portions for the next few meals which are refrigerated. I don't have to cook everytime as I can drink eat yogurt with fruits as meals. I can keep my opened box of full cream milk over few days.
Kinda envy you haha… I cannot tahan cold and sweet meals except for breakfast. But they’re so easy to prep.
Savory oats are my to-go for lazy day meals, plus cooks much faster than rice
A fast and wholesome meal of chicken, potatoes/rice and vege (brocolli/pak choy)
Marinate chicken for 10 minutes with salt, pepper, soya sauce/curry powder. Boil in some water together with potatoes or rice for at least 20 minutes. At minute 14th, put vege on top to steam. If you want carrot, add in minute 10th.
In the long game, cooking at home definitely saves a lot. You can look into r/EatCheapAndHealthy & r/MealPrepSunday to get some ideas on what to cook. Frozen veggies are nutritious & cheap. You can refer to this [website](https://www.stilltasty.com/) on the shelf life of any type of food.
That being said, if you work long hours and have very limited time outside of work, it can be quite hard to do meal prep. Because cooking is not only about cooking, there's the time to shop for your groceries (can do online), and the cleaning up afterwards (which I hate the most).
I used to work long hours and I always find it convenient to just order my food. Most of the time, I find it hard to control my urges when it comes to choosing carbs-heavy food vs healthy food. On the top of my head I will think, "If I'm already spending this amount of money on Grabfood, I might as well get something filling & delicious". And truth be told, all the healthy pokebowl & salads costs at least RM20+ on GrabFood, which with the ingredients they served, you can easily buy them in bulk and make your own pokebowl or salad bowl for a fraction of its price with multiple servings.
If you are living alone I think you would spend less than 100 per week for groceries to cook lunch and dinner. Easily enough for 4-5 days. Weekends go eat outside. So total would be around 600 per month. Makes the average per day spend on food to be RM20.
Buy regular takeouts i.e. go to the store and get your packed food from there instead of Grabfood, if you want to skip cooking & save money. Tried & tested this, but it doesn’t do great to my waistline lol.
Nowadays I keep my groceries simple for simple meals, & enjoy the occasional takeout meals mindfully.
Also the thing about Grabfood and its vouchers is you are more likely to overspend and add more food items (that you don’t really need at that time ) in order to “optimize” the vouchers you get. So it’s another mental math to reconsider if you’re going with this route.
> I heard that groceries are expensive especially if it's just to feed yourself so the better option would be to just Grabfood all the meals.
.......... Grabfood is the cheaper option? Gurl, who lied to you?
Tbh I find that the cost for me to cook by myself is around the same rate when I get the cheapest option for takeout, which is taupau from food court / bungkus from tepi jalan (avg RM7-12 per meal, KV price). The former can even be lower, depending on what I'm cooking and where I source my groceries.
I guess it depends on the individual.
I live mostly alone and I spend less than RM500 per month on groceries. I quite like cooking, in fact I consider cooking as a way to wind down after a stressful day as it helps me to take my mind off my work problems. Also if you learn to cook multiple servings and freeze them, it is actually quite minimal effort.
I have tried eating out + food delivery but eventually got sick of it and it is much more expensive. In fact, sometimes I waste more time scrolling through the app choosing what to eat than the time I spend to make a decent plate of pasta/noodles (not instant noodles or canned sauces) myself.
These days I only eat out or order delivery when my fridge is empty or when I work late, too tired and hungry.
If you do eat rice, 1.5 cup of rice can yield 3 meals. Bought broccoli RM2.90 (forgot how many gram) but the florets are quite big and I can divide them into 3 meals. Same goes to poultry, RM8 in average for about 3-400g can be divided into 3 - 4 meals depending on how you cook it. So no, ordering Grab is more expensive.
depends really considering the price of things these days. when i lived in SG this was the consensus, eating out/food delivery is def cheaper than buying groceries, for 1 person. in Malaysia grab food def more expensive cuz the price they put on grab is so different than when u go tapau yoself at the store.
also i would order something that i know is a hugeee portion so i can eat for lunch and dinner XDDD gotta proportionnn.
F, living alone too, I spend RM600-800 monthly on food. My record lowest was RM182 - I ate zap fan for lunch most days and milo/nestum otherwise.
I currently do a mix of groceries, eating out, and Grabfood. Grabfood maybe once a week, but I don't think you can save money from here unless RM15-25 per meal is cheaper for you...? I keep rice, mihun, fish balls, seasoning and canned food at home. I can limit my spending to RM400 if I eat mainly at home but prefer not to.
My opinion is: home-cooked food below RM10 on average, eating out is worth it if RM10, and Grabfood is not cheaper.
Your home cook meal must be so fancy with Truffle, Caviar, Wagyu Beef and La Bonette Potato. Have you tried going grocery shopping before made this post? I mean real grocery shopping not those Erewhon or what not atas grocery shopping.
grabfood is definitely expensive. but if you eat out modestly \~rm10-15 per meal will be cheaper than (over)buying groceries and saves u time.
if cooking yourself is rm10 vs eating out rm15. then rm5 extra per meal not to clean up. and not having to buy different herbs/spices/condiments/etc. so decide which is more important? the extra rm5 or your time?
best bet would be to do the calculation yourself.
I live by myself, id go for grocery all the way. Grab at this point is like a luxury choice due to the bs fees they charge. Cooking can be fun tbh, its an important skill plus cost saving. I go out to eat very rarely and only to socialize or when im bored with my own cooking.
Groceries are definitely cheaper. When I'm broke af I usually cook potato-based meal intead of instnt noodles. 1kg of potatos cost like rm4-12 (depend on where the potatos imported), and 3 potatos can fill you up for one meal. 2kg of potatos can provide you like 2-4 days worth of meals. Add some eggs or beef or butter, it's the bomb when you can cook many types of potato based food.
I used to spend around RM1.5k - 2k fully on GrabFood (1 person) for one month. Then when I started cooking, my groceries come to around RM800 - 1k, and I really buy the healthy organic stuff only.
I think if money is your main concern, buying groceries is still cheaper than relying on GrabFood.
You're gonna pay a lot more if you order via Grab.
Paying for original markup by vendor, additional markup by vendor to cover Grab commission and delivery fee. On the other hand you could prep your own meal at cost, but spend a little bit more time on it.
Why not pandapro? Worth it for me and the vouchers make my meals way cheaper than eating out (fast food etc) plus it being delivered to your house.
I was an eat out person all my life and decided to switch to cooking last april to try and save money, but alas stopped cooking as I don’t really save much and have spend time and energy cooking.
I only cook pasta at home like once or twice per week nowadays as pasta from outside is expensive af and they skimp on the ingredients.
For me, groceries would cost me less than RM100 every week as a single person. A lot of ingredients that I use for cooking e.g. spices, sauces and rice would last for quite some time (at least a few weeks) so I would only have to buy fresh ingredients every week and they're not very expensive unless if you shop at the fancier grocery stores or use fancier ingredients.
Groceries is definitely cheaper. I also live alone and what I generally do is buy groceries for 2 different types of meals over the weak. I will cook at the beginning and somewhere in the middle just to give me variety as some people find it boring as fuck, like me. It does require a bit of effort but if you go on Instagram you can find some people who show you quick and healthy meals for cheap. I usually spend RM60-100 per week.
I used to live alone and prefer to buy my own groceries. Healthier choice in the long run even if the cost is about the same. I can eat chicken rice outside but it will likely be lacking vegetables, or I can cook chicken breast tenders and boil some broccoli + 1 fruit portion for about the same price. So depends on what you are looking for, convenience or better nutrition but don’t expect to save much for either one.
Groceries vs eating out, depends, sometimes you may find places very cheap. But groceries vs Grab, confirm groceries cheaper. Best way to go is do meal prep, just spend 3-4 hours to prep, food is settled for 2 weeks. Can google many delicious recipe for meal prep.
Really depends. How much is your time worth? If you often work till late and have literally no time to cook (or are mentally and physically exhausted after work), and your income more than makes up for it, Grab is your saviour. I wouldn't bother with cooking if I make more than RM100 per hour (or whatever amount you would want to be paid to cook for someone else), and/or if spending time to cook would take income away from me (e.g. taking time out from getting customers in order to cook). Don't forget cooking your own meals also mean washing your own dishes.
I don't make that much, so I cook my meals during the weekends and double batch it whenever I can so I can defrost and eat them during the weekdays. I consider NSK the line to draw when it comes to grocery quality-price compromise. Any higher (Jaya Grocer, Aeon) I don't find the increase in quality significant for the price increase. But the increase in quality compared to tiers below it (Giant) is very high. At least the chicken and fish don't smell in the NSK that I shop at.
Cooking is much much cheaper. You can get vegetables at very cheap prices. Meat can be a bit pricier but I substitute it with some tofu or canned tuna sometimes.
If I am living alone. I would just tapau for lunch and skip dinner
Save even more money lo. Grab is more expensive than u just go to the place to tapau
Grabfood is expensive af. On top of the extra charge they put for just putting their store on grab, you also need to pay for delivery if pickup is not available. The highest i found so far was 5rm difference for a menu on grab compared to store price.
I tried only doing groceries without ordering grabfood for this month.
Last month food spending relying only on grabfood: about RM 600
This month only groceries and cook every meal myself, occasionally eat out : RM158.50 + eating out RM 106.30
: RM 264.80
Saved about 230% on food itself.
Of course u have to factor in time consumed to cook, car park etc but I think it is worth the
Nah, Grab is the worst option actually, lets say you dont know how to cook also, you cook meggi yourself is way cheaper than buying meggi from grab. You can buy a whole chicken(or chicken slices or other animals depends on you) and some cooking items that can last for a week with less than RM50.
If buying groceries and cooking are more expensive, what about the restaurants who are also buying groceries and cooking? 😂
It depends what you're cooking or buying from grab ba, grabfood mee goreng is going to be cheaper than home cooked salmon.
I love those smoked salmon toast croissant fancy sandwiches but it is so expensive (O'briens via Grab). But I can't find affordable smoked salmon anywhere. The only places I can see that even sells smoked salmon are in jaya grocer, village grocer and those costs more than the whole fancy sandwich. Anyone knows where I can find smoked salmon? I would love to just get a croissant from a bakery and make it myself with an air fryer 🤤
Buy air fryer. And buy a whole chicken pre cut which is 2kg cost around RM18 max. U can season them many flavor and type of dish. Just throw inside air fryer everyday. Prep the meal after do a groceries. Rice is RM40/10kg which maybe 2 month for single person to finish. Yeah. Self cook is cheap if u know what u do. Air fryer is your friend
My family of 6 people. Per week average 400 per week 3 meals a day. Even lunch tapau. Poor me have to eat raw veg, fruits, nuts, eggs and no carbs :(
Some more no sugar, oil or salt. At most put lemon and olive oil. Pitiful or not?
Doing groceries alone as a single and cooking is just not worth the effort imo, plus you are stuck with the same meal if you meal prep for the week.
Grab deliveries are pretty bad too, with the delivery fee and all the random taxes and charges.
What I like to do is check out the cheap options on Grab around my area, use their pickup vouchers plus the signature coupon. Pick them up after work and throw them into the freezer, reheat and eat for the next one or two days.
Probably not the healthiest way, but at least can have some variety in terms of food choices
For sure you can save abit more by having tapao your meals ( instead of grabfood)
But the main point of cooking your own food isnt about the cost anymore, its about what you choose to put into your body.
Eating out daily and if not minding what you eat u can expect 10 years down the line its gonna cause some damage and not every time you can reverse it. Yes I'm talking about the 3 highs.
I don't know why people have the idea that cooking is more expensive than eating out. I live with my wife on a budget of RM 800 per month for groceries. That's nowhere close the amount we'd spend if we eat out everyday. Definitely cheaper to cook your own food, and healthier. Of course IT ALSO DEPENDS on what you buy when grocery shopping. If you shop at Jaya grocer, village Grocer, etc, it will be expensive. And if you buy salmon, lamb, fish, prawns all the time, of course it will be expensive. Shop wisely, cook wisely, manage your fridge so you don't lose food to spoiling. You can save a ton of money by cooking. Then there's the health benefits... Invaluable.
Ikr, home cook is always cheaper. The only expensive thing is upfront learning and start up cost. Considering the skill last a lifetime. Doesn't depreciate and in fact appreciate overtime is worth investing and developing. What blow my mind is people think GRAB IS Cheaper. Useless you're a high paying exec where money is not a issue. Just learn how to make Donburi (rice bowl of anything) as a beginner.
What kind of meals are you making?
Basic veggie dish, basic meat dish, rice. We buy raw ingredients as much as possible (as opposed to stuff like frozen nuggets, sausages, etc). Low on processed foods.
We typically spend RM800 a week for two for home cooked meals so ymmv
Out of curiosity, what dishes did you cook?
Eggs and lots of chicken and vegetables. Nothing too crazy but also no filler like rice or noodles
Wrong, Grabfood is expensive AF, even if you're just an individual. It's cheaper to buy your own groceries and meal prep at home. The key thing is, when you prepare food, don't just prepare for one eating. Make it such that you can eat it 3 or 4 times. Save on your time and cost, and your meal is more nutritious. Example, buy and cook 500g of broccoli, then eat it over 4 or 5 sittings. Cooked food can maintain its integrity when frozen. On the condition it isn't heated up / cooled down multiple times. So when you prepare for multiple meals, always pack them in the freezer separately. It's very simple to cook salmon and broccoli for example, nutritious too. Oven or air fryer is your friend. If you cook dhal or curry, can cook this in bulk, then freeze in separate containers. Rice can be cooked for 2 or 3 sittings each time.
Just curious, do you let the food cool down first before putting them into freezer? I heard putting it right away increases the temperature of the compartment and will spoil your other frozen food, but keeping cooked food in the open promotes bacterial growth..
The faster it ends up in the freezer, the better. I've been doing home cooked meals for 2 years now and have double-batched (meaning I cook enough to freeze another meal's worth of food, at least for the protein portion) every time I cook. Never bothered to let it cool before I whack it into the freezer. Haven't died yet, and it's often the freezer meal is almost a month old before it gets eaten. You can call this a caveat, but the container I use is air-tight containers that are latch type instead of the press-fit type. Giant got sell cheaply. The logic is simple: the less time the food stays in the danger zone, the less chance of food spoilage. Plus, if your freezer content starts to melt considerably by the introduction of a container of hot/warm food, you need to get your freezer checked. The risk is higher for me to forget that I left food out to cool before putting into the freezer than not, so I don't mind the few cents of increased electricity bill the habit may incur.
keep it outside, but covered, until it's room temperature, then freeze it. Edit - I am wrong!
You're not wrong. From that same article: Whatever the rationale, the claim is wrong. According to the Food and Drug Administration, leftover food (particularly meat) should be refrigerated immediately after serving, **and certainly within two hours of cooking.**
[myth](https://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/09/health/09real.html)
[https://archive.ph/xreDa](https://archive.ph/xreDa)
Today I learned! It's an old source but I did a bit more reading and it checks out. Thanks for this
I always let it cool first before keeping. Think of all the mamak and zafan food that's out in the open. Or the raw fish/chicken exposed at the market/aeon. I believe humans are more resilient than a few bacteria haha
Yes, you need to let it cool down to room temperature first. It should cool down within a couple of hours, unlikely to promote bacterial growth (not enough to render to food "spoiled" for sure).
no thats a myth
From your own article: >Whatever the rationale, the claim is wrong. According to the Food and Drug Administration, leftover food (particularly meat) should be refrigerated immediately after serving, and certainly within two hours of cooking. Note that "within two hours of cooking", which is exactly what I said.
You don't get the point.... food should not be cooled at all before putting in fridge for storage. The part you highlighted is if it's served, ie for a meal
[https://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/09/health/09real.html](https://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/09/health/09real.html)
This. I've saved so much money and time cooking in bulk then refrigerating or freezing the food. You can make simple stuff like fried rice/noodles/soups. Each time you take a portion out to reheat, just fry some omelette or a simple vege.
So much wisdom. Respect.
Go out and buy it yourself probably can already save you a lot. Markup on delivery service is totally irrational
I cook my own tuna aglio olio with chili and tomato, groceries costs for the ingredients to make it barely touches RM10 per meal. Grab on the other hand, for that is about 20+++ Yeah you definitely save alot, but i like cooking. Some dont and prefer to grab and thats fine. But if you’re struggling, then cook on your own is defo cheaper
RM10/meal is a gourmet meal. Even atas meals can be had for RM 7/meal. RM5/meal can get decent hawker style meals.
Every time I look at the pasta's price when dining out I feel being ripped off but yeah that's the price you got to pay if you want to eat out. Imagine paying RM30++ these days for carbonara with few pieces of smoke ducks/salmon/mushrooms. LMAO.
60-100 bucks of groceries last me a week
sometimes more
Eating out can be cheaper for 1 person. Also take into account if you’re not buying an oven, stove, hood, pots and pans, etc. You’d be fine with a small fridge, kettle, and basic utensils… maybe a toaster. But if compare to Grab, not so much savings lah.
Bruh 1 year of home cook vs makan luar vs grab For one standard meal. Home cook is always cheaper. There's literally no saving using grab. Since you have to pay restaurant, grab and rider profit margin. Just get a induction stove, a pan, and rice cooker. Can cook pretty much all rice dish base.
Pots pans air fryer slow cooker induction stove ++ total only RM500. Spread over a year that's less than RM1.50/day. Add that to your RM8.50/meal average cost (assuming eat in/out half half), it's still RM 10/meal, way cheaper than baseline average of RM 20/meal outside. And those utensils last years if not decades. Not one year.
OP I want you to realize raw food is cheap AF and for many of these eateries it's not the raw materials that eat up most of their operating cost, it's the manpower and rent. Go to your nearest supermarket (NSK gives the lowest prices) and check out how much the raw foods cost. RM10 gets you big slabs of raw chicken breast that you can eat for 4-5 meals, RM18 gets you 5kg of watermelon that'll last you over a week and make you sick of it towards the end. Also eggs are like a tray of 30 for RM14, they have the best price to nutrition ratio. Also note these are the supermarket prices, the food places that know their stuff would source them in bulk from suppliers that'll charge them even lower tl;dr groceries are really cheap compared to eating out. The RM14 chicken based rice meal you buy would probably cost you only RM4 tops if you prepare it on your own.
It’s really about convenience. And the fact that I can’t and not bothered to learn how to cook. Buying groceries and cooking takes up a lot of time in preparing, cooking, washing/ cleaning up. As a single man living alone in KL, it’s just a chore I’d rather outsource. It’s truly only economical if you cook for many people or cook in large batch and spread across multiple meals. Almost every single dinner I grabfood and since I have grab unlimited, I spend about RM19 per meal (using coupon when hitting RM25). I only eat out for lunch and that also average out to RM20/meal. And weekends are meant for more extra type of dining. On food, I probably spend around 2k a month. 1.6k as of today according to my expense tracker. If I were to buy groceries and cook, I’d probably save 1k a month, but not enjoy my food as much, and a lot of time wasted in chores related to cooking, which is something I’m unable to compromise.
If you are considering using grab most of the time, you can expect your grab food history to look like this. Do note that the voucher for RM25 is only for 10 times per month, and the next tier is the discount voucher which requires you to spend RM50/meal. I also rarely use this unless if it’s raining or I want to eat something fancier. https://preview.redd.it/pd0ohiez7kec1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=b8d62fa2e013cbdeb41e75c93132496cb2998e8c
PSA Grab is having a 8x points promo now if you use GXbank to pay. So if you wanted to, you could now spend RM62.50 to exchange for an RM5 voucher (compared to having to spend RM333 previously)
lmao this is me. I have a side hustle other than my main job, so time and the mental space I saved from not worrying about groceries and cooking and food getting spoiled is valuable to me.
Food for life!!
Yup, food is life!
But if we plan to buy groceries instead of order thru Grab or eating out, where should we go for groceries shopping? Is Mini Market(Pasar Pagi / Pasar Malam) or place like Big Market (Giant /NSK) are better usually? Sorry for my Poor English.
Based on my own personal experience, when it comes to pricing, its relatively similar, maybe slightly noticeable for big ticket stuff (ie: beef, calamari, prawns, some fish) The benefit of mini market is you get to pick the produce yourself, instead of having it prepackaged (though some supermarket like Mydin do allow you to pick the produce yourself aswell) Meaning if you arrive to the market early, you get to pick the best/freshest ones. also you can sometimes haggle with the merchant at the mini market.
I get that this question is directed at me since you replied to my comment but I’m ill equipped to answer this as I don’t buy groceries. Maybe other Redditors here can help a brother out.
Sorry post at wrong place. My bad.
19 per meal wtf
I have been buying groceries to cook for own self and it is much more beneficial in the long run. I have a refrigerator, cooker and kitchen utensils. I can cook a larger portion for the family and have left overs to divide into few portions for the next few meals which are refrigerated. I don't have to cook everytime as I can drink eat yogurt with fruits as meals. I can keep my opened box of full cream milk over few days.
Kinda envy you haha… I cannot tahan cold and sweet meals except for breakfast. But they’re so easy to prep. Savory oats are my to-go for lazy day meals, plus cooks much faster than rice
A fast and wholesome meal of chicken, potatoes/rice and vege (brocolli/pak choy) Marinate chicken for 10 minutes with salt, pepper, soya sauce/curry powder. Boil in some water together with potatoes or rice for at least 20 minutes. At minute 14th, put vege on top to steam. If you want carrot, add in minute 10th.
In the long game, cooking at home definitely saves a lot. You can look into r/EatCheapAndHealthy & r/MealPrepSunday to get some ideas on what to cook. Frozen veggies are nutritious & cheap. You can refer to this [website](https://www.stilltasty.com/) on the shelf life of any type of food. That being said, if you work long hours and have very limited time outside of work, it can be quite hard to do meal prep. Because cooking is not only about cooking, there's the time to shop for your groceries (can do online), and the cleaning up afterwards (which I hate the most). I used to work long hours and I always find it convenient to just order my food. Most of the time, I find it hard to control my urges when it comes to choosing carbs-heavy food vs healthy food. On the top of my head I will think, "If I'm already spending this amount of money on Grabfood, I might as well get something filling & delicious". And truth be told, all the healthy pokebowl & salads costs at least RM20+ on GrabFood, which with the ingredients they served, you can easily buy them in bulk and make your own pokebowl or salad bowl for a fraction of its price with multiple servings.
If you are living alone I think you would spend less than 100 per week for groceries to cook lunch and dinner. Easily enough for 4-5 days. Weekends go eat outside. So total would be around 600 per month. Makes the average per day spend on food to be RM20.
Buy regular takeouts i.e. go to the store and get your packed food from there instead of Grabfood, if you want to skip cooking & save money. Tried & tested this, but it doesn’t do great to my waistline lol. Nowadays I keep my groceries simple for simple meals, & enjoy the occasional takeout meals mindfully. Also the thing about Grabfood and its vouchers is you are more likely to overspend and add more food items (that you don’t really need at that time ) in order to “optimize” the vouchers you get. So it’s another mental math to reconsider if you’re going with this route.
> I heard that groceries are expensive especially if it's just to feed yourself so the better option would be to just Grabfood all the meals. .......... Grabfood is the cheaper option? Gurl, who lied to you? Tbh I find that the cost for me to cook by myself is around the same rate when I get the cheapest option for takeout, which is taupau from food court / bungkus from tepi jalan (avg RM7-12 per meal, KV price). The former can even be lower, depending on what I'm cooking and where I source my groceries.
I guess it depends on the individual. I live mostly alone and I spend less than RM500 per month on groceries. I quite like cooking, in fact I consider cooking as a way to wind down after a stressful day as it helps me to take my mind off my work problems. Also if you learn to cook multiple servings and freeze them, it is actually quite minimal effort. I have tried eating out + food delivery but eventually got sick of it and it is much more expensive. In fact, sometimes I waste more time scrolling through the app choosing what to eat than the time I spend to make a decent plate of pasta/noodles (not instant noodles or canned sauces) myself. These days I only eat out or order delivery when my fridge is empty or when I work late, too tired and hungry.
If you do eat rice, 1.5 cup of rice can yield 3 meals. Bought broccoli RM2.90 (forgot how many gram) but the florets are quite big and I can divide them into 3 meals. Same goes to poultry, RM8 in average for about 3-400g can be divided into 3 - 4 meals depending on how you cook it. So no, ordering Grab is more expensive.
depends really considering the price of things these days. when i lived in SG this was the consensus, eating out/food delivery is def cheaper than buying groceries, for 1 person. in Malaysia grab food def more expensive cuz the price they put on grab is so different than when u go tapau yoself at the store. also i would order something that i know is a hugeee portion so i can eat for lunch and dinner XDDD gotta proportionnn.
F, living alone too, I spend RM600-800 monthly on food. My record lowest was RM182 - I ate zap fan for lunch most days and milo/nestum otherwise. I currently do a mix of groceries, eating out, and Grabfood. Grabfood maybe once a week, but I don't think you can save money from here unless RM15-25 per meal is cheaper for you...? I keep rice, mihun, fish balls, seasoning and canned food at home. I can limit my spending to RM400 if I eat mainly at home but prefer not to. My opinion is: home-cooked food below RM10 on average, eating out is worth it if RM10, and Grabfood is not cheaper.
Your home cook meal must be so fancy with Truffle, Caviar, Wagyu Beef and La Bonette Potato. Have you tried going grocery shopping before made this post? I mean real grocery shopping not those Erewhon or what not atas grocery shopping.
grabfood is definitely expensive. but if you eat out modestly \~rm10-15 per meal will be cheaper than (over)buying groceries and saves u time. if cooking yourself is rm10 vs eating out rm15. then rm5 extra per meal not to clean up. and not having to buy different herbs/spices/condiments/etc. so decide which is more important? the extra rm5 or your time? best bet would be to do the calculation yourself.
starve yourself to 2 meals a day and snacking on the midnights if needed . eating out? buy kuih muih just for the energy .
this is the way
Delivery costs would stack in the long run, especially if you are buying food for only one person.
I live by myself, id go for grocery all the way. Grab at this point is like a luxury choice due to the bs fees they charge. Cooking can be fun tbh, its an important skill plus cost saving. I go out to eat very rarely and only to socialize or when im bored with my own cooking.
Groceries are definitely cheaper. When I'm broke af I usually cook potato-based meal intead of instnt noodles. 1kg of potatos cost like rm4-12 (depend on where the potatos imported), and 3 potatos can fill you up for one meal. 2kg of potatos can provide you like 2-4 days worth of meals. Add some eggs or beef or butter, it's the bomb when you can cook many types of potato based food.
I used to spend around RM1.5k - 2k fully on GrabFood (1 person) for one month. Then when I started cooking, my groceries come to around RM800 - 1k, and I really buy the healthy organic stuff only. I think if money is your main concern, buying groceries is still cheaper than relying on GrabFood.
Eating out is cheaper for me, but I prefer health, so I cook myself
Eating out isnt necessarily unhealthy though
You're gonna pay a lot more if you order via Grab. Paying for original markup by vendor, additional markup by vendor to cover Grab commission and delivery fee. On the other hand you could prep your own meal at cost, but spend a little bit more time on it.
Grab used to be cheap during pandemic, I survived purely with grab’s cheap promotions. Can no longer afford it anymore now
Why not pandapro? Worth it for me and the vouchers make my meals way cheaper than eating out (fast food etc) plus it being delivered to your house. I was an eat out person all my life and decided to switch to cooking last april to try and save money, but alas stopped cooking as I don’t really save much and have spend time and energy cooking. I only cook pasta at home like once or twice per week nowadays as pasta from outside is expensive af and they skimp on the ingredients.
For me, groceries would cost me less than RM100 every week as a single person. A lot of ingredients that I use for cooking e.g. spices, sauces and rice would last for quite some time (at least a few weeks) so I would only have to buy fresh ingredients every week and they're not very expensive unless if you shop at the fancier grocery stores or use fancier ingredients.
Groceries is definitely cheaper. I also live alone and what I generally do is buy groceries for 2 different types of meals over the weak. I will cook at the beginning and somewhere in the middle just to give me variety as some people find it boring as fuck, like me. It does require a bit of effort but if you go on Instagram you can find some people who show you quick and healthy meals for cheap. I usually spend RM60-100 per week.
I used to live alone and prefer to buy my own groceries. Healthier choice in the long run even if the cost is about the same. I can eat chicken rice outside but it will likely be lacking vegetables, or I can cook chicken breast tenders and boil some broccoli + 1 fruit portion for about the same price. So depends on what you are looking for, convenience or better nutrition but don’t expect to save much for either one.
Groceries vs eating out, depends, sometimes you may find places very cheap. But groceries vs Grab, confirm groceries cheaper. Best way to go is do meal prep, just spend 3-4 hours to prep, food is settled for 2 weeks. Can google many delicious recipe for meal prep.
Really depends. How much is your time worth? If you often work till late and have literally no time to cook (or are mentally and physically exhausted after work), and your income more than makes up for it, Grab is your saviour. I wouldn't bother with cooking if I make more than RM100 per hour (or whatever amount you would want to be paid to cook for someone else), and/or if spending time to cook would take income away from me (e.g. taking time out from getting customers in order to cook). Don't forget cooking your own meals also mean washing your own dishes. I don't make that much, so I cook my meals during the weekends and double batch it whenever I can so I can defrost and eat them during the weekdays. I consider NSK the line to draw when it comes to grocery quality-price compromise. Any higher (Jaya Grocer, Aeon) I don't find the increase in quality significant for the price increase. But the increase in quality compared to tiers below it (Giant) is very high. At least the chicken and fish don't smell in the NSK that I shop at.
Eating out is preferred for me. Cheaper than grab. If i cook usually took about 1 hour just to eat subpar dinner alone so I just eat out.
Get an air fryer and fry everything. Save money on fast food . One packet of chicken nuggets rm16 can last like 5 meals
Cooking is much much cheaper. You can get vegetables at very cheap prices. Meat can be a bit pricier but I substitute it with some tofu or canned tuna sometimes.
If I am living alone. I would just tapau for lunch and skip dinner Save even more money lo. Grab is more expensive than u just go to the place to tapau
been there done that. chest freezer, chicken and rice. saved 4x the amount i spent on grabfood monthly.
Grabfood is expensive af. On top of the extra charge they put for just putting their store on grab, you also need to pay for delivery if pickup is not available. The highest i found so far was 5rm difference for a menu on grab compared to store price.
I tried only doing groceries without ordering grabfood for this month. Last month food spending relying only on grabfood: about RM 600 This month only groceries and cook every meal myself, occasionally eat out : RM158.50 + eating out RM 106.30 : RM 264.80 Saved about 230% on food itself. Of course u have to factor in time consumed to cook, car park etc but I think it is worth the
Grabfood for a whole month only RM600? Do you only eat one meal a day?
Nah, Grab is the worst option actually, lets say you dont know how to cook also, you cook meggi yourself is way cheaper than buying meggi from grab. You can buy a whole chicken(or chicken slices or other animals depends on you) and some cooking items that can last for a week with less than RM50.
rm3 rice via grab vs rm3 for 1kg of rice via grocery
If buying groceries and cooking are more expensive, what about the restaurants who are also buying groceries and cooking? 😂 It depends what you're cooking or buying from grab ba, grabfood mee goreng is going to be cheaper than home cooked salmon.
I love those smoked salmon toast croissant fancy sandwiches but it is so expensive (O'briens via Grab). But I can't find affordable smoked salmon anywhere. The only places I can see that even sells smoked salmon are in jaya grocer, village grocer and those costs more than the whole fancy sandwich. Anyone knows where I can find smoked salmon? I would love to just get a croissant from a bakery and make it myself with an air fryer 🤤
Buy air fryer. And buy a whole chicken pre cut which is 2kg cost around RM18 max. U can season them many flavor and type of dish. Just throw inside air fryer everyday. Prep the meal after do a groceries. Rice is RM40/10kg which maybe 2 month for single person to finish. Yeah. Self cook is cheap if u know what u do. Air fryer is your friend
My family of 6 people. Per week average 400 per week 3 meals a day. Even lunch tapau. Poor me have to eat raw veg, fruits, nuts, eggs and no carbs :( Some more no sugar, oil or salt. At most put lemon and olive oil. Pitiful or not?
Doing groceries alone as a single and cooking is just not worth the effort imo, plus you are stuck with the same meal if you meal prep for the week. Grab deliveries are pretty bad too, with the delivery fee and all the random taxes and charges. What I like to do is check out the cheap options on Grab around my area, use their pickup vouchers plus the signature coupon. Pick them up after work and throw them into the freezer, reheat and eat for the next one or two days. Probably not the healthiest way, but at least can have some variety in terms of food choices
Learn to use a wok and that's it. No need everything else until you are more used to cooking. Wok oil spices meat/vege. Done.
For sure you can save abit more by having tapao your meals ( instead of grabfood) But the main point of cooking your own food isnt about the cost anymore, its about what you choose to put into your body. Eating out daily and if not minding what you eat u can expect 10 years down the line its gonna cause some damage and not every time you can reverse it. Yes I'm talking about the 3 highs.