Why You Should Cook From Home More Often

The Covid-19 pandemic has had an indirect impact on many things, and the way we eat is one of them. Lockdown restrictions gave us no choice but to prepare meals ourselves, and this has seemed to result in a spike of people igniting their passions for cooking. 

Although it’s great (and totally encouraged) to treat yourself to a restaurant meal or takeaway occasionally, it’s not healthy nor sustainable to rely on them. Homemade meals have a multitude of benefits, and I sincerely hope that we all continue to cook from scratch at least a few days per week once the world finally returns to normal.

If you're still in favour of eating out and ordering takeaway all week long, allow me to convince you!

When you eat out, you’re not only paying for the food but also the service provided to you, so of course, it’s going to cost more than whipping up something at home. It’s more cost-effective to make your meals for the week, particularly if you plan ahead of time and cook in batches.

Although it doesn’t seem expensive to grab a cheap, convenient meal from a fast-food restaurant a few times a week, it all adds up in the end. Try and work out how much money you would save per month if you started cooking vegan recipes from home more often, it might surprise you! 

I personally find cooking an essential form of self-care that helps me to wind down in the evenings after a long day of work. It’s such a mindful act that forces you to remain present in the moment. As long as your surroundings are somewhat calm and you have a tidy space to work with, then cooking should hopefully be a pleasant experience for you. Stop seeing it as a chore, and see it as an act of self-love or self-care, instead.

If you are new to cooking, don’t worry if you don’t find it relaxing the first few times; the more you practice, the better you will get at it. I’m sure it will soon become second nature to you!

Cooking at home is almost always the most eco-friendly choice you can make when it comes to food! Ordering takeaway or eating out increases greenhouse gas emissions via transport and increases the demand of single-use plastics.  Whipping up something homemade allows you to source ingredients sustainably and dispose of waste responsibly etc. If you'd like to be even more conscious of your carbon footprint, then include more plant-based recipes into your weekly menu.

Although many restaurants and food businesses now cater to special diets, it is undoubtedly much easier to stick to a new diet from home because you are in charge of all the ingredients. For example, if you're trying to eat less meat, there is much more variety in the shops in terms of plant-based meats and vegan snacks for you to try out. Or if you're trying to cut out oil, then it would be almost impossible to do this in most mainstream restaurants.

Cooking is such a wholesome and enjoyable way of spending time with the people that you love, it's low maintenance and also makes meal prep less of a chore! If you’re a parent, teaching your children to cook is something super valuable that they'll likely remember forever.

Making your own meals means that you know about every ingredient that’s being used, allowing you to control how healthy or unhealthy you eat. Eating healthily can sometimes be misconstrued as being boring, however, it doesn’t have to be. With a little research and experimentation, you can create something that’s delicious and nutritious.