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Suzie and I had a delicious meal last night – slow-roasted chicken, stacked on a bed of buttery Irish champ with a Bailey’s Cream-infused peppercorn sauce, very tasty! Top-quality restaurant fare. But the thing was, I made it from scratch.
I’ve always, for as long as I can remember, had a passion for cooking. It’s one of my favourite activities and brings me immense personal satisfaction seeing people enjoy the food I’ve created. Now that I am retired, I plan on cooking many more delicious meals. My wife Suzie is very happy about this!
As we age, and particularly in retirement, scratch cooking is something I believe we should concentrate more of our time and energy on. The benefits are numerous and deserve thinking about. Your health is arguably the most important asset you have in later years.
Scratch cooking gives you control over the ingredients you use, but critically it also gives you control of ingredients you don’t want. You can easily reduce excess salt, sugar, and unhealthy fats often hidden in processed foods or restaurant meals. If you’re managing conditions like high blood pressure or diabetes, this is invaluable. You can focus on ingredients like fresh vegetables, lean proteins, and whole grains, fuelling your body with the best possible nutrition and potentially boosting your energy levels, making it easier to chase the grandkids around the park.
There’s a large social aspect in cooking. It’s a great excuse to invite friends to dinner with the added benefit of social interaction and pleasing company, and can become the glue that knits a loose collection of friends together into an enduring social circle beyond the dining table. In my case, it’s led to organising holidays together and other fun activities, and although it goes against the grain of my article, it’s also involved real restaurants other than Mark’s kitchen.
But thinking about restaurants and other similar meal options like takeaway, have you ever considered the costs involved with making those your go-to options at mealtimes rather than a special treat? My favourite is an Indian takeaway, and I enjoy it on occasion. But even when I’m chomping my way down a spicy curry, maybe a cold beer beside me, I’m normally thinking about the cold hard cash I had to hand over for my dinner. I know I could make something very similar for a fifth of the price and enjoy the cooking process into the bargain.
I know it’s not for everyone, but giving scratch cooking a try could be a triple whammy for your health, social wellbeing, and a silent partner working with you in the ongoing battle against rising costs and the pressure on our wallets.
On a closing note I would like to give a big thank you to the most valued partner in my creative cooking journey. Dishwasher I thank you most sincerely!
Mark, your chicken/Bailey’s concoction sounds delicious. I am a bit concerned for your well-being should Suzie read that last sentence.
Dan, Suzie would nod along in agreement. We’re extremely compatible in most areas, but the kitchen isn’t one of them. The woman can turn a bowl of cereal and a cup of coffee into a full dishwasher load. Wisely, we’ve agreed that I will do the cooking. It’s also best not to bicker within reach of sharp, pointy implements. And Suzie is very happy to let me wait on her hand and foot in the dining arena! I’m also guilty of reracking the dishwasher after Suzie’s loaded it 😂
I have friends who constantly tell me I should enter some retirement facility because I won’t have to grocery shop or cook any more. I LOVE to grocery shop, and I agree about the advantages of home cooking others have mentioned. I’d add another— mental stimulation. When buying groceries, it’s necessary to assure all ingredients will be in the kitchen— I never have a list— and while cooking, there’s the need to assure the timing of the various dishes. But I am glad my husband does the cleaning up— I tend to use every pot!
Marilyn, I’m with you on the ingredient shopping. It’s one of my favourite parts of creating a meal.
Mark, your chicken and champ with Bailey’s sauce sounds absolutely killer, and I felt every word about that quiet satisfaction when you plate something that could hold its own in a restaurant. I started cooking from scratch about four years before I retired, mostly because I got tired of guessing what was actually in my takeaway containers, but it really took off once I had the morning hours to hit the market and the afternoon to experiment. The savings are real, and I ran the numbers one month, comparing my homemade lasagna to the local Italian place, and I was coming in at under a quarter of their price per portion. What surprised me most was how much better I felt after a few weeks, not dramatically different, just steadier energy and fewer afternoon slumps. The social side caught me off guard too, because I started inviting neighbors over for Sunday suppers, and now we rotate houses every month. I even got curious about how commercial kitchens handle large batches, which led me down a rabbit hole about bakery packaging and how professional setups keep bread and pastries fresh for transport, and it made me appreciate my simple storage tricks even more. The real gift of scratch cooking in retirement is that it gives you something to look forward to every single day, not just the eating but the doing, the chopping, the tasting, the adjusting.
Tim,
Regarding your first sentence: My wife gets frustrated when we go out and the quality of the food is inferior to her cooking which happens quite often. She is a great chef, and I have the physique as proof.
My favorite cookbook is an original 1970s version of “The Joy of Cooking”. It is well-worn and notated over decades. My most recent cookbook acquisition is “Let’s Get Started with Pepper Belly Pete: 100+ Recipes from a Texas TikTok Cowboy”. I first saw him on YouTube. Caution: There are some really horrible recipes on YouTube. I do have my mother’s copy of Betty Crocker. I have about a dozen other books, too. As does my spouse. (She’s currently writing a cookbook with memoirs).
I really enjoy cooking and got even deeper into it during the pandemic—things were shut down for a long time here in California. We’d pick up takeout from our favorite local place about once a week because we wanted it to still be in business when things opened up again, but otherwise it was all me.
I’m not entirely sure that I always save money by cooking over eating out—depends on the cuisine and the restaurant—but I completely agree it helps with healthier eating and portion control.
We’ve noticed a significant cost increase for our scratch cooking for a number of years.
G and I both enjoy cooking, grilling and baking. We’re very good at this and we’ve been cooking for decades; me since the age of 10. My parents put me to work as the family “short order cook” for our family of eight for Sunday breakfast. Dad turned all the grilling over to me when I was in High School. My grandmother was an excellent baker and teacher. G learned from her Italian grandmother and aunts.
In retirement we RV a lot and so we eat out more often. We have a couple of “lily pads” and we meet up with friends who are at the same location for months at a time. We go out to eat with them as this is a social experience. Every Sunday morning when we are in Tucson we meet up for a breakfast.
Tucson was the first Unesco City of Gastronomy in the US, so there is a range of restaurant fare. In MI we stay on the wine trail and yes, there are also all manner of restaurants, too. Yesterday we dined with friends at a really excellent Italian restaurant in nearby Michigan City IN.
Weather is a factor, too. We do most of our cooking outdoors at a “cook station” on which we use cast-iron or boil water, etc. I also use a grill which is electric and can also air-fry. A Panasonic HomeChef 7-in-1 Compact Oven indoors supplements our gas ranges. In the small RV there is a convection/microwave and propane range. I cook outdoors on a inductive burner with cast iron, etc.
Since I retired I do all the shopping and about 90% of the cooking. We eat out quite a bit, but honestly I’m getting tired of doing so. Nothing is exciting and the portions are too large.
Yesterday we stopped for lobster roll sandwiches which were $35.00 each and we were underwhelmed. This year on the Cape lobster meat is $60 a pound. I asked for a Black and Tan to go with it, but they didn’t know what it was.
But I do like being creative in the kitchen. In the last month I made bangers and mash and colcannon. Not complicated I know, but I also make potato pancakes, crab and fish cakes and a few of my own creations. Connie is the Italian cook.
It’s so much better and easy to make your own lobster rolls at home . If you don’t want to pay the price of shelled meat, grocery stores steam lobsters for free. Shell them at home, buy brioche rolls at the store. I now prefer Connecticut style lobster rolls ( sautee the lobster in butter) rather than cold lobster.
Even if you bought the shelled meat at $60 pound, you could make 3-4 rolls , cheaper than paying $35 each plus tip.Make the Black and Tan at home too.
I”ve also made lobster mac and cheese for a party (with a lot more lobster than a restaurant would) by getting steamed lobsters . It was a big hit.
We ‘re having supermarket steamed lobsters for dinner tonight. With the store coupon, $22 for the two crustaceans! Can’t beat it!!
“We eat out quite a bit, but honestly I’m getting tired of doing so. Nothing is exciting”
My wife is an excellent cook. Her beef with eating out is more times than not the dishes are not of better quality than what she creates at home.
You’ve made me really curious about this black and tan drink. I think I’ll wander down to the boat club later this evening and try one.
It’s Guinness on the bottom and Bass Ale on the top and if done right, they don’t mix when poured and served.
Guinness on top. (Specific gravity keeps it there)
I see you are right, but I would swear when I have it the black is in the bottom, but I’m going check again. I can’t think why I have it backwards
Well, I tried it. Took the barman two attempts to get it right, and he very kindly only charged for one. Certainly different, but I think I’ll stick to Guinness. By the way, it’s the stout on the top! Thanks for the experience!🍺
I just learned the phrase Black and Tan is not popular in Ireland.
Instead the few places that make it apparently call if half and half.
Being Irish, I already knew that, but I didn’t want to delve into the historical politics surrounding it.
Guinness in glass first, ale on top. The barman should have paid you for teaching him something new.
Spread the word among your friends and drive the barman nuts.
It may be an American thing like corned beef and cabbage.
I also enjoy cooking and share the duties with my wife. We take turns being the Executive and Sous Chefs and we each have a few favorite meals we like to make. I have a spreadsheet with links to online recipes that I am also adding to and a tab which includes my tweaks to the recipes which I frequently to tailor to our tastes. Lately I am into soups and stews. She has a food allergy so that tends to keep us at home more than some folks also. I agree on the benefits-I think one of the reasons we in a comfortable financial situation is the simple approach we have taken to meals at home. Very often when we were working our lunches were leftovers.
I have a spreadsheet…
Love this — plus imagining RDQ’s reaction. 😂
My wife is an excellent cook and baker.
When she is baking I stay completely out of her way until she asks me to help clean the dishes.
When she is cooking she kindly lets me vent my aggression against … whoever … by cutting or chopping things to her specifications. THEN I stay out of her way until she asks me to help clean the dishes.
I am supposed to restrict my sodium intake which is much easier to do when she’s doing the cooking.
And with scratch cooking, you have leftovers for the next day. Chris