Humans started cooking 1 million years ago and we never stopped.
Why don’t you cook? Maybe you have plenty of excuses. But be aware, these are just excuses. There are no good reasons not to cook. Because everyone knows that, everyone can cook and there are heaps of benefits that we reap from preparing our food at home.
So what more excuses do you have? No time or too lazy?
I know. I have had the same problems. Start it – then you will go crazy about it. When you are enjoying the food and sharing it with your love ones, you will get what I mean.
We have 8 reasons to push you to start moving and start cooking:
1. You save money – Normally taking meals in a restaurant, it always costs at least 40% more than if you cook it at home. The prices in restaurants have to include a variety of costs that you can save if you cook food at home. They charge you for the cost of labour, rental and charge you for a profit. Sometime, even for the basic food ingredients they will charge you more than normal prices. Other costs include transport, it costs you to get to the restaurant, for food delivery and maybe parking fee.
2. You reduce your sodium, fat and sugar intake – Consider having a healthier diet. People intend to reduce sodium, fat and sugar intake. But everyone have the same experience – you tell the waiter or waitress to reduce salt, oil and added sugars. But at the end, when you are eating your food, you know that the chef may have a different measurement from yours. It is still too salty, too oily or too sweet. You don’t have this problem when you control the seasoning yourself.
3. You eat the way you prefer – Maybe you like the meat to be tender, spicier, sweeter or less salty. You like the fish to be steamed, baked or deep fried. You always have methods of cooking or taste that you prefer, but it just not the same in the menus. You might instruct the restaurants on how you would like your food to be prepared. But it often turns out different from what you want. Cook it at home, you get exactly what you want.
4. You know what you eat – In a restaurant, you may enjoy a very delicious meal. But, do you know what you have eaten? What are the ingredients and what colours and seasonings have been added into your foods? Think about it. What you eat might not be what you think it is. Chemicals or processed food ingredients can make the dishes delicious but might not be that healthy for your body. In a restaurant’s kitchen, you are not sure that all the ingredients and everything else are even washed properly and stored clean. You don’t know the preparation and cooking processes. Cook food at home; then you have no uncertainties.
5. You have a better bond among family members – Taking a little time to cook simple, healthy and tasty meals will not only benefit your body, but will also boost your mood. Home-cooking can be a social event, so can sharing meals with beloved family and friends. Cook with your kids and teach them what you’re doing, even if it’s something as simple as how to cook a pot of whole-grains, they will be more likely to eat well later in life. People always have sweet memories related to signature foods that their parents or grandparents cooked for them. Foods create bond among family members when you are cooking and enjoying home cooked meals together.
6. You eat the right amount – When we dine out, foods often come in larger portions and people finish the foods in their plates to avoid wastage. In other cases, people intend to order more than enough, just for testing each dish. When they are dining out with a bunch of friends or family members, they always think that other people can finish the foods. In fact, the foods ordered is often too much. This always causes overeating at the end. Another problem is that we can’t really estimate the portion of foods served by restaurants, so we might order more than enough and overeat. Cooking at home enables us to cook the right portion. Also, if there are leftovers, we can save those for later.
7. Reduce waste, save our planet – In restaurants, they provide you the best parts of any food ingredients. Most of the time, they do dispose of some parts which we could still use at home. And in restaurants, if there are any leftover foods, we hardly ask for a take away. Obviously, restaurants have to throw away a lot of food every year. According to a study, Americans throw away nearly half their food every year; the wastage is worth roughly $165 billion annually. Cooking at home not only allows us to prepare the right portions but also we are more than willing to store the leftover foods for another time. Cooking at home reduces wastage of foods and fully utilises food resources.
8. Preserve nutrition and vitamins of food ingredients – More nutrition and vitamins are being lost if the food ingredients take longer time to be prepared and served to us. It include the time of transportation and being exposed to open air. In restaurants, most vegetables are peeled or trimmed before cooking to remove the tough skin or outer leaves in order to make the dish tastier. But, nutrients, such as vitamins, tend to lie close to the skin surface of most vegetables.
Restaurants also buy in bulks. During storage and processing of the raw ingredients, the food loses more nutrients than when we are cooking at home. We want to save the nutrients value for our love ones, but most restaurants care more about the food’s taste and the satisfaction of customers. So, cooking at home, always you can take in more nutritional value of the foods.
Are you ready to start cooking at home? Get going now.
By Yung P.
Christ & Co.
