Would You Rent An Apartment Without A Kitchen?

[R@ptor]

Originally Posted by 10023

That people don’t find cooking to be a worthwhile and important use of their time is a public health crisis. And so many Americans (and Europeans) eat things that are just shamefully and disgustingly bad.

Why do you assume that eating out automatically equals unhealthy food? As I wrote above I eat at restaurants every single day, yet I stay well away from junk food.

You can eat healthy food when eating out, just like you can eat unhealthy food at home. It all comes down to your choice what you would like to eat, not whether you cook it yourself.

Originally Posted by Sun Belt

They claim they don't have time to cook...yet find time to go to the bar, gym, shop, make reservations to sit down at a restaurant etc.

It is not like we don't have the time, just that we rather spend the time doing something else.
If I have to choose whether I would prefer spending the time before eating dinner standing alone in my kitchen and preparing it or sitting in a restaurant with friends and having a nice chat, I will choose the later every single time.

[llamaorama]

I was just thinking.

I am single, live in apartment by myself. I use my range about twice a week at the minimum, same with the oven. You can't really cook meat or fish in the microwave, duh. The microwave gets daily use of course.

I wouldn't want to go without my generic, low end electric stove/oven, however why does it have to be so huge? I feel like basically every American owns an oven with 2 or 3 racks, big enough to make a huge turkey and some casseroles at the same time. Growing up a traditional 4-person nuclear family we never made a humongous amount of food simultaneously in the oven except maybe during Thanksgiving. A normal person could get by with some kind of apparatus that's deep like a normal convection oven so as to accomodate a frozen pizza, but squat like a toaster oven. Make it like one of those fancy fan-based ovens that cook faster. Then a range top with just one or two burners.

I blame the Brady Bunch and their dual ovens. Alice must have been baking stuff all damn day.

[10023]

Originally Posted by R@ptor

Why do you assume that eating out automatically equals unhealthy food? As I wrote above I eat at restaurants every single day, yet I stay well away from junk food.

I eat out a lot too. But I make enough money that I can pick up lunch at Whole Foods on the way back to my office, as I suspect you do as well. For a person who can’t afford to spend £8 on a salad, feeding their family might mean cheap junk food (burgers and fries, pizza) or actually cooking something from scratch.

Quality, price, and time are like three points of a triangle and you can generally only get 2 out of 3 when it comes to food. There are always exceptions to the rule, but taking the time to cook is often the key to inexpensive, high quality food.

[10023]

Originally Posted by Sun Belt

They claim they don't have time to cook...yet find time to go to the bar, gym, shop, make reservations to sit down at a restaurant etc.

You can prep and cook a healthy meal in 20 minutes, requiring far less time to be wasted than, getting dressed to venture out and find a place, order, wait, eat, pay etc.

For once we agree on something.

Yes, these people have no time to learn how to cook, but they can sit on the sofa and watch a TV show about dragons religiously. Misplaced priorities are the problem.

[Crawford]

Originally Posted by Sun Belt

They claim they don't have time to cook...yet find time to go to the bar, gym, shop, make reservations to sit down at a restaurant etc.

Why would someone cook at home instead of going out with friends or working out when they're already receiving meals from their employer as part of their compensation?

The whole point is to keep the employee working, and not doing things like preparing meals at home. And places that provide food will tend to provide on-site fitness too, and tend to be proximate to nightlife. They want to keep you there.

And I don't get the claim that eating employer-provided meals is inherently less healthy than cooking at home. You really think investment bankers and techies tend to be obese? In my experience, they go to extremes to be healthy and in-shape. Marathons and hockey leagues are typical off-hours activities.

Shopping and making reservations take seconds, BTW.

[jtown,man]

Originally Posted by llamaorama

I was just thinking.

I am single, live in apartment by myself. I use my range about twice a week at the minimum, same with the oven. You can't really cook meat or fish in the microwave, duh. The microwave gets daily use of course.

I wouldn't want to go without my generic, low end electric stove/oven, however why does it have to be so huge? I feel like basically every American owns an oven with 2 or 3 racks, big enough to make a huge turkey and some casseroles at the same time. Growing up a traditional 4-person nuclear family we never made a humongous amount of food simultaneously in the oven except maybe during Thanksgiving. A normal person could get by with some kind of apparatus that's deep like a normal convection oven so as to accomodate a frozen pizza, but squat like a toaster oven. Make it like one of those fancy fan-based ovens that cook faster. Then a range top with just one or two burners.

I blame the Brady Bunch and their dual ovens. Alice must have been baking stuff all damn day.

Have you watched House Hunters? People have literally complimented an oven or complained about it due soley to Thanksgiving dinner. They are basing their entire kitchen and home purchase on impressing some people .3% of the year. It's rather insane when you think about it.

[mhays]

You're right. Whether it's kitchen space that would be handy <1% of the time, or formal dining rooms they use a few times a year, or bonus rooms, whatever...people end up with cavernous underused spaces and don't even seem to like where they live.

[JManc]

Originally Posted by 10023

I eat out a lot too. But I make enough money that I can pick up lunch at Whole Foods on the way back to my office, as I suspect you do as well. For a person who can’t afford to spend £8 on a salad, feeding their family might mean cheap junk food (burgers and fries, pizza) or actually cooking something from scratch.

Quality, price, and time are like three points of a triangle and you can generally only get 2 out of 3 when it comes to food. There are always exceptions to the rule, but taking the time to cook is often the key to inexpensive, high quality food.

Burgers and fries are about as much as that salad now days. The "it's too expensive" argument really doesn't fly when it comes to eating right. The healthy section of the menu (fast food or casual dining) is almost always comparably priced as the fattier options. People simply don't want salads, vegetables or healthier options.

[10023]

Originally Posted by JManc

Burgers and fries are about as much as that salad now days. The "it's too expensive" argument really doesn't fly when it comes to eating right. The healthy section of the menu (fast food or casual dining) is almost always comparably priced as the fattier options. People simply don't want salads, vegetables or healthier options.

It’s a bit more complicated than that. Satisfying healthy food is more expensive than satisfying unhealthy food. A McDonald’s salad is pointless because the ingredients are of such low quality. The ingredients in the fries and burgers aren’t great either, but fat and salt make them satisfying.

[hauntedheadnc]

All I can say is that I watched that old movie Clue over the weekend, and never have I ever lusted after a kitchen as much as that one. Granted, people were killing one another all over the house, including the cook... in the kitchen... with the dagger... but still. I could tolerate that kind of behavior in my house if I had such a kitchen.

[eschaton]

Originally Posted by 10023

It’s a bit more complicated than that. Satisfying healthy food is more expensive than satisfying unhealthy food. A McDonald’s salad is pointless because the ingredients are of such low quality. The ingredients in the fries and burgers aren’t great either, but fat and salt make them satisfying.

It bears mentioning the average person who buys a "salad" at a fast food - or even fast causal - place slathers so much creamy dressing on it that it's just as unhealthy as a burger and fries anyway.

[Jonesy55]

Definitely not, seems like a terrible idea. You would probably spend way more on restaurants and deliveries due to not having any option to cook than any money saved by not having kitchen appliances, especially if you wanted to eat healthily.

[suburbanite]

I can't imagine eating takeout or at a restaurant for 2-3 meals consecutively let alone weeks at a time. I need control over the calories and macro splits, and I can do the majority of my meal prep in a couple hours on Sunday. Microwaved lunches may not be ideal, but I also don't need every meal to be a life-changing experience.

Edit: Should amend that statement to say that I can't imagine eating takeout consecutively while at home. Obviously it happens on vacation but towards the end of a multi-week trip I do look forward to getting back on a more regular diet.

[eschaton]

Originally Posted by suburbanite

I can't imagine eating takeout or at a restaurant for 2-3 meals consecutively let alone weeks at a time. I need control over the calories and macro splits, and I can do the majority of my meal prep in a couple hours on Sunday. Microwaved lunches may not be ideal, but I also don't need every meal to be a life-changing experience.

This will sound like a paid testimonial, but a few months back I decided to try out one of those newfangled dehydrated powdered meal replacement things which are on the market. You order online, get a 3.75 pound bulk bag, mix two scoops with water, and you're good to go.

I usually use it for breakfast and lunch during the week, and maybe one meal a week on the weekend. It's a lot cheaper and healthier than most options available for fast casual around downtown, and overating is basically impossible. I've lost like 15 pounds since doing this without really trying or restricting my calories in any other way. Basically I only eat out now if there's a social reason to do so, not just to fill my belly.

[jtown,man]

Originally Posted by suburbanite

Microwaved lunches may not be ideal, but I also don't need every meal to be a life-changing experience.

haha yes us simple-folk must deal with non-life-changing meals all the time eh?

Don't know why that made me laugh so much.

[Engineerding]

Originally Posted by the urban politician

As a landlord I would love to have kitchen free apartments. Less broken appliances that I have to fix.

If we really want to create affordable rentals in our cities then we should move away from hare-brained and punitive property-takings like Rent Control and get more creative.

Have tenants provide their own appliances and maintain them. Hell, probably one of the biggest expenses I have right now is appliance repair/replacement. Appliances these days are built so cheaply in overseas slave labor markets that you’re lucky if they last 5 years without giving you problems.

And you would pass those saving right to your tenants.

Right?

[jtown,man]

Originally Posted by Engineerding

And you would pass those saving right to your tenants.

Right?

As far as I can tell he wouldn't have a choice. That's how the market works. One unit with a full kitchen vs one without. How could he charge the same with all else the same consideration?

Like, how?

Theres a mindset out there that corporations and people who "control the means of production"(eh) have all the control. In reality, there is some truth to that but more so consumers usually have more say in what we get. Businesses fall because they don't meet customer demands(Sears, Kmart, ToysRus) and others gain because they offer what people want(Uber, Amazon, Walmart). Same with an apartment. Sure, there are forces beyond what customers can demand, but there isn't some overlord controlling rent. My dad's rental sat empty for nearly 4 months. So guess what he did? Instead of losing money every month he lowered the rent from 1,800 to 1,600(or 1600 something, I forget the exact amount). He rented it out within two weeks. If I am looking at for an apartment in say a city of 2 million people, how many options do I have? Thousands. I have a choice. I don't think thousands of landlords and developers are meeting secretly and agreeing to a monopolistic pricing system.

[Engineerding]

Didn’t toysrus fail due to some financial games, played by the owners?


Yes. Yes it did.


And apartments going empty, isn’t it better to have it empty, deducting those losses on your taxes, than lowering the rent, which lowers its value, possibly putting you in trouble with your loan on it?

[Jonesy55]

Even if you can deduct losses from your taxes you are still only saving the marginal tax rate surely, the rest of it is a real loss. Wouldn't it be better to take something rather than nothing?

If reducing the rent impacts on your loan then surely having zero income from the unit must also affect that loan?

I think Toys r Us failed because its business model was outdated, with a bunch of stores having expensive rent while customers could buy the same plastic crap online for cheaper prices. If US toys r us stores were anything like the ones we had here in the UK the customer experience was awful too. The local store I used to go to had big signs all over saying 'leave bags at the entrance', 'shoplifters will be prosecuted' etc which didn't seem very welcoming.

[Sun Belt]

Originally Posted by Crawford

Why would someone cook at home instead of going out with friends or working out when they're already receiving meals from their employer as part of their compensation?

Because normal people don't eat out for breakfast lunch and dinner, 7 days/week, 52 weeks/year [even if their employer provides a lunch room cafeteria].