Cooking our daily meals can be one of the most difficult or tiring tasks that we might have to do when we start to live alone. Many people prefer to eat in restaurants or buy food in convenience stores and supermarkets, etc. rather than cooking on their own. However, there are a lot of benefits of home cooking, and it might not be that hard to start!  

Here are some advantages of home cooking that you may not notice.

1. It’s healthier.
There’s no doubt  that the food that we cook by  ourselves at home will be healthier than the processed foods that we find in supermarkets, or the meals served in fast food restaurants. We can make sure that it has lower calories and more nutrition. We are also in complete control of the portions, we can have just as much as we need, so  it can lead to a more balanced  diet and reduce the risk of obesity or other medical conditions that come with it.

2. Learn new things and save money.
Cooking is definitely a good way for us to learn new food-related things, such as the ingredients, techniques, tastes from different places and different cultures. We can learn about spices or seasonings, or we can even find meals that we’ve never even heard about before. It might be a way for us to discover a new personal favorite! And if we buy all the ingredients and cook by ourselves, it is definitely cheaper than eating in restaurants or buying frozen ready meals in the supermarket. 

3. Do it as you like it!
Cooking at home means that we have more freedom to choose what we want to put in our meals. We can control what we want to eat, we can adjust the taste to our preferences. It also works well for those who have certain food allergies as we can be sure that the food is safe for us to eat.

4. Time management skills.
Having to allocate some time to cook in the midst of our busy schedule is definitely a challenge that will require us to manage our time better. Not only that, the art of toggling between cooking and preparing the ingredients can’t be mastered without managing your time efficiently. It is certainly a good practice for our brains to plan ahead for the next cooking steps.

5. Happy!
After giving your best to make a meal, eating it will definitely bring us happiness and a sense of accomplishment. There have been studies that suggest that cooking can be a therapeutic activity, and it will stimulate our senses which contributes to getting more endorphins, the “feel good” hormones that will put a smile on our face.

It might be hard to start cooking because cooking can be seen as something difficult. Of course, it is complicated if we’re imagining it as something that we see in cooking shows, or restaurants. However, we don’t always need advanced  techniques, special  equipment, or a countless number of ingredients to make a good, enjoyable meal. Here are some tips that might help if you want to start cooking.

1. Search for some tutorials.
Nowadays there are so many cooking tutorials or recipes all over the internet. You can start from websites, videos, or even short videos in social media. Try to watch some videos to help you to learn some cooking techniques, or you can simply follow the recipes when you are having trouble deciding what to make.

2. Don’t be afraid to experiment.
It’s great to follow recipes, but don’t be afraid to add your own, personal twist to your cooking! For example, you can add some seasoning that you like, add your favorite ingredients, etc., to make the food more suitable for your taste. Aside from that, you can also substitute some ingredients from a recipe if you can’t find those ingredients. Sometimes there is also a lot of information on the internet on what to use as a replacement for a specific ingredient or seasoning, so make sure to look it up!

3. Learn the tips and tricks.
There are a lot of cooking tips and tricks that can make cooking feel easier and make your food taste better. Here are some references that might be useful, so please check it out.
https://www.buzzfeed.com/hannahloewentheil/small-but-important-cooking-tips
https://www.eatwell101.com/cooking-tips-for-beginner-cooks-start-cooking
https://www.cooksillustrated.com/how_tos/6297-seasoning-tips-for-improving-flavor

It might be hard to find time to cook in our busy daily life, but it can also be a pleasant activity to do, so don’t hesitate to try it, and hopefully the above tips can help!

Thank you!