10 Reasons Why You Should Learn To Cook
It doesn’t have to be a chore after all
With the accessibility of meal delivery services, pre-made frozen meals and restaurant take-out, homemade food seems like a hassle and an unnecessary chore to many.
Not as many people nowadays see the value of learning to cook for themselves as they once did— in fact, a study carried out in the USA by Eddie Yoon found that in 10 years the people who “love to cook” went from 15% to only 10%.
There are various reasons why people may not enjoy cooking, ranging from not having time or feeling like “they can’t cook”. No matter what cons people come up with, I find there are way more pros that outweigh them. So, here I am to give you 10 reasons why this is something you should actually put an effort into and how this can be beneficial for you and your health — both mentally and physically.
1. You will automatically eat healthier
Cooking at home forces you to use fresh produce and raw ingredients — just the way it used to be back in the day. Why is this healthier for you? You can see exactly what goes into the food you consume and put into your body.
Take dessert for example: you can make desserts that are just as delicious (if not better) than one you can buy out, with the difference being you can choose healthier, natural ingredients and appropriate proportions.
It’s easy to know how much you are eating and come up with balanced meals when it is up to you to prepare them.
2. You can use ingredients you KNOW you love
Whether you’re a picky eater or maybe have certain dietary restrictions, by cooking yourself you can come up with dishes with all of your favourite things.
This means you’ll also find it a lot easier to reach those goals you set yourself in terms of nutrition. Many think it is hard to reproduce those delicious meals at home you would eat at a restaurant, but when you establish good basics and start trying out different things, you’ll see just how easy making impressive meals at home can truly be.
3. You will likely save money
It’s no secret that eating out can be expensive, but you probably don’t realize just how cheap cooking at home can actually be. There’s plenty of options for you in the grocery store to buy ingredients that can be used in nutritional meals that won’t break your bank account. Finding recipes that suit you, your wants and your budget can really optimize this.
4. You will likely end up wasting significantly less food
Once you have your goals figured out, know how many people it is for and what you’re preparing, it is super easy to buy and use only what you need.
Something simple like following a recipe for proportions can be a useful tool for this. Unfortunately much of the food people buy goes to waste, as Lana Bandoim’s study found that the average American family wastes 31.9% of the food they buy, adding up to about $1,866 in a year. Effectively this could help you be more conscious at the grocery store about only buying the ingredients you actually need and may keep you from buying unnecessarily and wasting foods.
5. You don’t have to dedicate hours to it
A lot of people fear that cooking delicious meals at home will consume a lot of their time. Truth is, finding inspiration from some quick recipes and experimenting, you will quickly find that you can have a meal ready to serve in absolutely no time.
Of course, there are things you can dedicate a whole day to, but if that’s not what suits you or your lifestyle there are plenty of alternatives anyway.
Another great tip is meal prepping. If you’re already cooking and preparing something, doubling/tripling a recipe or having a couple things going at once will be barely any extra effort and means you can have enough food for days.
6. You can turn it into a fun date or family activity
Cooking and baking have always been an exciting activity that people do to spend time together and get a treat out of it at the end. This is because it can be some real fun, it’s a way to pass some time and anybody can be involved.
You could try out those new challenging recipes with someone else and have a laugh in the process. Things that require you to use your hands can be especially fun, such as attempting to make a pizza, cookies or whatever you set your mind to. It’s a great way of engaging children in the kitchen too.
7. Or you can treat it as “me time”
We all need time to ourselves. Something we should strive to do is dedicate some time to doing hobbies or simply unwinding. Cooking and baking could be very relaxing for you and is a great way to get your mind off of everything else.
It’s something that can be very methodical and calming, while simultaneously allowing you to let out your creative and experimental side. Whether the peacefulness comes from making your go-to favourite dish or distracting your mind with a new challenge, there’s something for everyone.
In this way, I find that by not thinking of it as a chore or stress in your day, you can make cooking or baking a mechanism for mindfulness.
8. You can finally give those old family recipes a shot
There’s nothing more comforting than those traditional recipes your grandparents, aunts and uncles, or parents made that bring back all those memories.
More often than not, those recipe all are rather simple. If they made them, so can you and why wouldn’t you want to learn how? Picking up cooking and baking and experimenting with those old-fashioned favourites means you get to keep those memories alive and keep them as traditions for many more years to come — maybe one day you will be the one teaching them to others.
9. You’ll definitely feel proud of yourself
There’s no denying that once you see just what you can make for yourself at home, you’ll be overwhelmed by a sense of achievement. It may sometimes take some trial and error, but soon enough you’ll be able to make dishes you can confidently say you’re proud of.
You can also show off what you learned to impress your family and friends — because there’s nothing better than a healthy, flavourful meal shared with those you love.
10. You’ll never find it to be a “useless”skill
At the end of the day, we all need food to live and may as well make the whole process enjoyable and beneficial to our physical and mental heath. Making yourself food is no trend. Cooking and baking are skills that you can also continue to develop and escalate and will never run out of things to try to make.
Get creative, have some fun with it and find ways to eat in a way that takes care of your body and mind. You’ll see — if you’re preparing things that you love, you may end up finding you actually love cooking.
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