Why Cook at Home?
Be Aware of What You're Eating
Studies suggest that people who cook at home lead healthier lives overall. There are a multitude of reasons why this is true, but it mainly comes down to the fact that cooking your own meals makes you more aware of what you are eating. When we eat food from restaurants, we often don't know the exact quantity or quality of the ingredients going into our meal. Meals from restaurants typically contain more sodium and fat than home-cooked meals do. At home, you can know exactly how much nutrients and calories you are consuming, and that awareness will help you eat healthier.
Cooking at home and having an awareness of your food not only benefits your personal health, but it benefits the environment as well. As mentioned before, you have more control over what you consume when you cook your own meals; this means that you can also decide from where the food you eat is sourced, and how it is produced. By cooking at home, you can consume more locally sourced and ethically produced foods than you would if you were eating out. In addition, cooking at home reduces your carbon footprint. Food delivery uses fossil fuels, and restaurants use many delivery systems to bring food to themselves or consumers. Cooking at home uses less energy overall, so it is better for the environment.
Help Your Mental and Social Health
Cooking your own meals can help your mental health in many ways. For example, when you cook at home, you are taking the time to create something that is beneficial to your body. Because of this, you may feel more connected with yourself, as you are performing an act of self-love.
Not only does cooking at home help you connect with yourself, but it can help you connect with others as well. Cooking itself is a fun activity that can be done with friends or family, and it is a great opportunity for bonding. In addition, sharing a home-cooked meal with others can help to reinforce your relationships with those people, as it can create a sense of belonging.
Save Money and Time
Eating out at restaurants is by far more expensive than eating at home. At restaurants, you not only pay a higher price for the food than if you were to make it yourself, but you also have to pay the tax and tip. If you cook your own meals, you can more easily budget your food spending, and you can take advantage of sales at grocery stores, which saves a lot of money in the long run.
Many people don't cook at home because they believe that it is too time-consuming, but this is far from the truth. Ordering take-out or eating at a restaurant requires time for delivery, production and general waiting. While cooking at home does use up time for grocery shopping and cooking the actual meals, it is easy to manage this time. For example, you can go grocery shopping once a week to get all of the food you need for the week. Furthermore, cooking at home saves time because you can cook enough food at one time to be eaten at multiple meals as leftovers. That strategy is known as "meal-prepping", which is very helpful when you are trying to eat healthy and control your portion sizes.