Korean Job Discussion Forums

[robinsoncrusoe]

this may sound like a silly question (probably is), but i'm asking cuz i really don't know:

Is it cheaper to cook at home in Korea or to just eat out?

It's definitely less time-consuming to eat out, and you can get really good healthy korean meals for 5,000 won or even less. If you get those 3 times a day, you can make it on just 15,000 per day. Just wondering if it's still cheaper to cook at home? In the long run?

[hakwonner]

I think you'd go mad if you attempted to live on kimbap nara food 3 times a day for a year.

I only cook western food at home, which I need sometimes.

Box pasta is 2000 won, sauces say 5,000... that's 7000 for three meals. Just one example.

[sojusucks]

You can mix in some of both, but, on a regular basis, you'll save more money by cooking at home if you do it economically. You can shop at Costco, or any other larger store, and plan meals you like for the next month. It's better to plan ahead because we only get paid once per month and you should always make sure you have food for that last week before payday. Then, make something different each day of the week. For example, make Monday spaghetti day, and Tuesday grilled ham and cheese with soup day, and so on. Include frozen vegetables and rice or potatoes to add vitamins and also to stretch your food budget. If you also make omelets one night of the week you can save even more money. But make it foods you like so that you'll want to eat it.
You can also go out to eat on the weekend to keep things from getting boring. Just don't blow your budget and you'll be fine.

BTW, most people don't blow their money on food. They usually have money issues because of overpriced alcohol. That's a whole different budget battle.

[NYC_Gal 2.0]

I blow it on food, but I love cooking, and always cook for at least two. I second what Sojusucks says. Check out costco, or, if you either live too far away or are lazy (*ahem*) order off of nicedeli.com or ezshopkorea.com and you'll get the same products for a few thousand won more, delivered straight to your door.

[Ninjaniki]

I find eating out is cheaper, and that's only with less than desirable korean food. If you like Korean food then you will be good. From my experience it is more expensive to buy the food ingredients and other groceries you need to make a meal. Grocery prices here give me sticker shock every time, especially the fruit. 15-25 bucks for a small watermelon, in America you can get double the size for like 5 bucks.

[Binch Lover]

Definitely cheaper to eat at home, especially if you buy local/seasonal ingredients to make western food.

Someone was on here recently complaining about how he couldn't cook Italian food because the ingredients weren't available or too expensive. You can make good pasta sauce with onions, garlic, tomatoes, bacon and herbs. If you buy the bacon and herbs at Costco, onions, garlic and tomatoes are not expensive, especially when tomatoes are in season. In winter, you can just use canned tomatoes from Costco.

To the person who said 15,000 for a watermelon, that's because you're buying your fruit at the wrong time or at the wrong place. You should buy fruit that's in season at the market, not supermarkets. I remember buying good, decent-sized watermelons for 4,000 each last summer.

[Zackback]

Cheaper for me to eat out because the female cashiers will sometimes give me free food

[walter235]

I lived in Taiwan for 2 years and hardly ever cooked. I lived in Hsinchu, it had several uni's close to each other. I could go down the street and eat great Chinese food for just a couple of bucks. But I cook at least 90% of the time in Korea for several reasons.

I get tired of the monotonous spicy taste of Korean food, I get that enough at lunch in public schools I work in every day. I'm not real keen on seafood, either. I'm a pretty fair cook and like to cook lots of different things. Korean food doesn't hold a candle to Chinese food.

[creeper1]

I like cooking at home but there are 3 major drawbacks to this

- the supermarkets tend to sell stuff in bulk. Like you can't buy a small cut of beef. It's got to be a pack with 5 pieces and some of those go to waste.

- many ingredients are difficult to find here

- cooking and ( the cleaning up afterwards ) is very time consuming.

Having said all that I wouldn't stop. I couldn't eat Korean fod 7 times a week.

[carpetdope]

For me it's not so much the expense of eating out but the salt content of most of the stuff in the kimbap places (and others like Nolboo and galbi places) that make me shudder. Recently I've had to seriously watch my salt intake cos it creeps up easily but it's not as easy to roll back.

So to answer your original question: I don't know.

[jdog2050]

[Ninjaniki]

[NYC_Gal 2.0]

I make big pots of tomato sauce or onion soup, depending on my mood, then freeze double-sized portions in ziplock bags. It helps cut the costs a lot, and those foods freeze well.

[southernman]

I cook in large ammounts as well, then freeze things down and just add the extras with each of my frozen portions. It makes it very economical.

I'm at PS and I agree with others having 5 PS meals a week is enough for my Korean tastes, I like it but it is full of salt. I then have a good local chicken place that I get takeways from 1-2 a week.

I've also cut back on the ammount of meat I eat since I've been in Korea. I have far smaller portions of meat when I cook than I would have back home. When I firts got here I used to go to a local butcher and a decent cut of meat for srying would cost between 30-45 000.

So now I just by my beef frozen. It's from NZ and you can pick it up for about 20 000 for 1.5--2 kg's at Asian marts. It's the thickend of (unpickled) brisket cut so it makes awesome stews or casseroles

[jlb]

It's for sure cheaper to cook at home, if you shop seasonally. I only buy fruit that is in season and on sale. I buy huge quantities of it and freeze it for smoothies in the morning.

For vegetables, I usually shop the discount rack or buy whatever is on sale.

I make big quantities of things and eat it for a few meals, or freeze it. I never use processed food, but make my own stuff from scratch, which is much cheaper. I make my own beer and bread, which cuts down costs. If you're serious about eating cheap, but healthy, get some dried beans and soak/cook them yourself.

Examples of things I've made in the past month:

-Chickpea curry

-tacos with equal parts of ground beef/dried kidney beans. I ate them with brown rice, salsa, fried veggies and cheese.

-tomato sauce, which I used for baked pasta and cheese. Then, I made lasagna with homemade noodles.

-chicken vegetable soup.

-black-eyed peas, southern style with some samgyupsal (bacon).

-pancakes (not a mix, but with flour, baking powder, etc). I add the cheap fruit on top. And French Toast, with my homemade bread.

-omelets with salsa.

-steak, with stirfried veggies (one 5000 Won steak for 2 people).

-and for a splurge: homemade hamburgers, with homefries.