PITTSBURGH — Arnisha Keyes admits she’s no Rachael Ray.
Until recently, she spent $30 a day to eat breakfast, lunch and dinner at restaurants.
But the high price of gas has her testing her cooking skills to save money, packing lunch for work and experimenting with dinner salads by microwaving frozen vegetables, mixing them with spinach and pouring ranch dressing on top.
“I’ve been going to the grocery store a little bit more frequently,” Keyes says, laughing sheepishly at her previous lifestyle. “It saves you a lot more money if you just buckle down and focus on eating at home.” Keyes’ cooking ventures aren’t unusual — they’re part of a national trend to eat at home to save money, according to market research firms. But after years of eating out, many people have found they don’t have a pot to cook in or a cookbook to guide them.
The sudden rush to buy basic cooking necessities has driven up sales of cookbooks, inexpensive cookware and the basic foods needed to concoct a meal. Cooking magazines and websites are booming even as magazine sales overall have suffered.
