Same experience here. Conclusion : if we'd educate people better on how to cook rather than showing them hours of advertising on the latest magical tool to cook a steak, we'd make their life easier and so much more minimalist.

So, in my experience, if you learn to cook and accept that cooking takes a bit more time you mainly need (for french cuisine) :

- 1 or 2 frying pan (buy a large one, multi-ply, heavy stuff, it's expensive : around 150 euro each, but will outlast you) - a cast iron casserole (for long cook) - just one teflon-like pan for frying fish (frying fish without that is possible but requires a lot of fat) - a few cooking pots (buy inox) - a short knife (buy expensive, around 60€, make sure the blade goes to the end of the handle) - a chef knife (ditto) - a big wooden cutting board (it allows you to use your chef knife efficiently) - 2 or three large bowls (inox or earthenware, no plastic) - a hand blender - a whisker - learn to use your oven if you have one, it's very useful - baking paper is very useful and cheap the rest just comes from regular stuff (glasses, regular knife, spoons, etc)

with that material you can go a loooooong way.

(forget about KitchenAid, Cookeo, and many other things)

etc.

There's plenty of alternatives to actually cooking.

That's like saying that you're lighting money on fire when you play video games or watch tv. You could have just went to the library and rented a book for free. It's the same logic and could be applied to almost any aspect of entertainment or really anything that could ever be considered "extra."

You're lighting money on fire by cooking all that food. Eat rice and chicken broth and take a multivitamin. You're probably getting more nutrients that way than most of America anyway. So anything extra would be lighting money on fire right? That steak cost way more than those eggs, that bread costs more than rice; light the money on fire.

See what I did there?

Just because there is a cheaper alternative out there does not automatically mean that the more expensive option is a waste of money...

So, by spending an hour every day (excluding going to the store to buy ingredients, which we all know takes no time, or browsing the specialist windowsill rice growing forums, which of course also take no time) I can save $10, give or take. If I work that hour, I will make, well, it doesn't matter, but it's more than $10. So, every time I order takeaway, I save money.

I know this reasoning may not apply to everyone, but saying that it's like "lighting money on fire" is quite simplistic.

(My local currency is not $, but whatever)

Of course there is a time cost in shopping, but the broccoli and rice made up a small part of the shopping runs that included them.

For a comparison, down here, we make 3 servings of a pizza which is around 10€. A McDonald is 8€ for 1 serving. A Chinese meal is around 9€ for 2 servings. French fries + meat balls are 10€ for 4 servings. SO the cheapest is more than the double of the price I pay to make my own stuff.

Today, I've spent 1.5 hours cooking (but that a more involved recipe, I do the usual stuff twice faster), and I'll spend an additional .5 hour on the dishes. Ordering takeaway, and going to take them at the shop is about 30 min. So that's much faster for the takeaways.

But as I said : I control what I eat (more vegetables, less salt, less fat, less sugar), I enjoy a lot of variety too (I can cook a hundred dishes, with various level of complexity). Also, I enjoy it, but as said before, that's quite personal.

Oh, btw, today's recipe :

- grounded pork/veal 600grams

- mince a big carrot and the equivalent volume of onions. Slowly cook them with olive oil (let the pan covered, it will cook with its water)

- heat a good glass of white wine to remove alcohol (say, boiling during 3 minutes). Put the white wine on the cooked carrot/onions.

- cook some green cabbage leaves, say 15 big ones in boiling water for around 7 minutes. Cold them in cool water, dry them.

- put the leaves on a big plate, then put the meat iin one layer on top of it.

- roll the whole thing, put it with the carrot/onions/whine

- add garlic

- cover and cook slowly for 30 to 40 minutes.

- instead of waiting, take 20 grams of wheat, 20 grams of butter and mix them together (no heating !).

- once the meat is cooked, remove the big roll, and put the cooking juice away, in another pan, bring it to a boil. Lower the heat. Put your wheat/butter (say 20 grams at once). Whisk that, the sauce becomes more creamy.

- and now, serve slices of the roll, the carrots/onions, add the sauce and some regular rice. Et voilà

To this point, there is a certain luxury in being able to keep stuff around, to even have the space for it to begin with. If I own a studio apartment I don't have room for random 2x4's to come save the metaphorical day.

Those 2x4s saved the literal day for us as the time away would've cost us a day's work ;)

I am inclined to disagree here and will say you're not making the full calculation.

One of the biggest costs that most people have in their life is paying for a place to live (be it rent or buying and maybe paying back for that). If you have fewer things this allows you to have a smaller space to live in. The reduced costs from that will more than make up for the occasional "I have to buy something that I might still have if I hadn't gotten rid of it a few years ago".

In general, the poorer people I know aren't almost-homeless poor. Maybe they're just bad at managing everything (money, time, assets). They tend to be paying for those storage spaces. I see those storage spaces everywhere. I'm kind of curious what the average demographic is--like you say, space is expensive. I have used them, but only during transitions for a few months at a time. The terms of the contract made me think I wasn't the norm.

Your comment reminded me that my brother travels significantly more than I do, but travels with so much. I travel a few times a year, but absolutely hate having extra stuff. For me it's not about the cost of having an extra bag. It's about not wanting to wait for checked luggage, slinging around another extra bag (or just one heavier one), and not carrying it around. I'm sure he has his reasons for over-packing (perhaps being prepared, having appropriate attire means more to him), but for neither it's about the money. I'm sure for some people is is, though.

Or you could be a minimalist who prefers the mostly empty feeling of a large home filled with few things, just like web designers who place huge margins everywhere.

Minimalism means not having a lawn which needs mowing, nor walls in need of painting.