Here are reasons to stop ordering delivery
15 Reasons To Stop Ordering Delivery - Page 3
Gettyimages.com/Shot of an unidentifiable businesswoman accepting a pizza delivery from a delivery man in the office
So you’ve fallen into the delivery trap. You were doing so well with cooking for yourself. You had a system—a set day when you’d hit the grocery store, and perhaps the Farmer’s Market. You were getting into a rhythm of walking the dog while the oven was pre-heating and chopping vegetables while listening to the news. But one night you just didn’t have it in you. Traffic on the way home was worse than ever. Cleaning even one pot sounded like hell. So you thought, “Why don’t I just order delivery? People do it all over the world, every night! And they look so happy when those ready-made cartons of food arrive at their door! I could be one of those people!” And so you were, and you have been ever since. It’s hard to go back to cooking for yourself once you’ve experienced the convenience of delivery, but you should break the habit. Here are 15 reasons to stop ordering so much delivery.
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It’s absurdly expensive
By the time you meet the $25 delivery minimum (you usually get at least $30 worth of food at that point because you’re already ordering a lot), add the delivery charge and add the tip, you spend $40. You split that into two meals—sure—but that’s still $20 a meal. You can cook for yourself for around $5 a meal. By ordering delivery, your per-meal cost just went up around 400 percent.
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You’re giving out your address
Each time you order delivery, a new stranger has your address. You don’t know anything about the delivery person showing up at your door. You never know if they’re peeking inside when dropping off your food.
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You dedicate no time to acquiring your food
You don’t even so much as drive to pick it up, let alone cook it. When you don’t put time into your food, you don’t fully appreciate your food.
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The litter
Oh the litter—the litter is terrible. One little meal can easily produce seven or eight pieces of trash. And if the restaurant uses Styrofoam, well, you’re basically an enemy of the environment at that point.
Bigstockphoto.com/Anchovies in breadcrumbs and fried in oil. Cooked and ready. Italian culinary specialties.
You always add the unhealthy thing
If you cook for yourself, are you going to have deep-fried egg rolls? Flaky, cheesy pastries? Battered shrimp? No. Those things are too complicated to make from scratch, but they’re so simple to add to your delivery order.
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You use the coupon, to get more than you need
There’s always that evil little coupon—the one that gives you a free appetizer or a free soda if you spend X amount of dollars or more. So you do spend X amount of dollars but you didn’t really need the calories of that free appetizer.
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You rush through your food
You have no appreciation for your food when it just shows up at your door, ready to eat. You rush through it. You leave the TV on. You don’t pay attention to what you eat or how much you eat the way you do when you’ve cooked your meal.
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The more you do it, the more you want to
The more you order delivery, the more you want to. Each night, when you grab that chopping board and oven tray, you just think, “I could spend this time folding that laundry/reading that book instead of cooking.”
Bigstockphoto.com/Pile of Deep fried battered onion rings
That darn appetizer section
You can’t even get to the entrée section of the online menu until you’ve scrolled past the appetizer section. That’s just how they have things laid out. But you never do scroll past that section, do you? You always get an appetizer—something you wouldn’t have if you were cooking for yourself.
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They hound you with promotions
Once the restaurant gets you on the hook, they hound you with promotions, pulling you deeper into the cycle. Your receipt for one order comes with a $5 coupon for another.
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You get worse and worse at cooking
The longer you stay out of your kitchen, the less you know what to do in there. Cooking is like speaking a second language; you need to practice regularly to stay fluent.
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You miss out on cooking with your partner
Cooking with somebody is a fun and bonding experience. But you don’t get that experience if you order delivery. Instead, you and your partner go to separate rooms until your food arrives.
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Your grocery store gives you rewards
You’re missing out on the rewards your grocery store gives you—like gas rewards. Many major chains give you anywhere from 10 to 50 cents off per gallon each time you shop.
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The veggie to carb to protein ratio is off
Your plate should be half vegetables, one-quarter protein and one-quarter carbs. But is it ever when you order delivery? Drunken noodles are 60 percent noodles, and 20 and 20 percent protein/veggies.
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What if you have kids?
If you have children, you don’t want to set a bad precedent of always ordering delivery. Then they won’t learn how to cook, and they’ll have some delusion that delivery is going to be affordable to them when they’re in college. Yeah right.
