Want to cook at home in New York? Think again

Packet of Ritz crackers? $5. Bottle of milk? $5. Single, half-mouldy green pepper at the bottom of a pile of old vegetables? Yes, that is also $5, ma’am. Holly Baxter recounts the struggles of not eating out

Grocery stores in the city tend to be a bit pricey (Getty)

When we lived in London, my fiance and I loved to cook. Well, I say we loved to cook: he hated cooking but was very good at it – he was even, at one point, a contestant on MasterChef. I quite enjoyed cooking but was, as everyone who knows me will willingly attest, pretty damn bad at it. I personally enjoyed my signature chickpea stew and under-seasoned bolognese, but I have had enough feedback to come to accept that I was pretty much alone in that.

Nevertheless, we cooked together most nights after work and usually split a takeaway on a Friday or Sunday evening. Our fridge was filled with the usual groceries: onions, pieces of garlic, tomato pasta sauce, whatever veg we could chuck in a stew. We would go down to the local Tesco once a week, or order a delivery. We were normal, functioning Londoners. Then we moved to New York, and everything was turned upside down.

You’ve probably heard that people don’t cook in New York City, and concluded that sounds like a wild exaggeration. It isn’t. You can’t even get an apartment with a proper kitchen. If you’re renting somewhere with more than a couple of hobs and a microwave, the estate agent will proudly tell you that you’re looking at a “chef’s kitchen”, which will of course come at an extra cost.