It’s never been simpler to eat takeout. With a single app, you can order virtually any type of food to your door, instantly satisfying any craving. However, many people are interested in cutting down on their dining out in favour of cooking more at home.

The Benefits of Cooking Your Own Food

The main reason why people often start cooking more meals at home is to eat healthier. Preparing your own food gives you greater control over the portions and the ingredients. You can make sure that you eat more fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and other fresh, wholesome foods. Even when restaurants do offer healthier alternatives, they tend to serve greater portions than recommended by dietary guidelines.

Ordering takeout is also the more expensive option, particularly when you take into account delivery and service feeds. Shopping for the ingredients to make your own meals will ultimately save you money.

3 Tips to Help You Get Cooking

Whether you want to save money, eat better, or both, here are three tips to help you get into the home cooking habit.

1. Keep Your Kitchen Stocked

You can’t cook at home if you don’t have the right ingredients. Set aside some time during the week to go on a grocery trip and pick up anything you might need. It’s true that part of the appeal of takeout is saving time on grocery shopping, but you’ll quickly get used to working a trip into your routine, especially if you stick to a consistent schedule.

Shopping for your own ingredients also allows you to keep healthier options on hand. This may include leafy greens for easy salads, frozen vegetables for quick and nutritious side dishes, and broth for healthy soups.

Remember that many grocery stores offer pick-up and delivery options now. Just as online ordering makes takeout easier, it makes shopping for your own groceries easier as well.

2. Cook More Than One Meal at a Time

Another way to save time when cooking from home is to cook for more than one meal at a time. Big batch meals like soups, chilli, casseroles, stews, spaghetti, and other pasta dishes make fantastic leftovers that you can enjoy later in the week without having to do more meal prep. Simply freeze meal-sized portions and heat them up for dinner.

Keep in mind that when you cook for more than one meal at a time, it doesn’t have to be the same meal. For example, if you are making chicken or turkey for enchiladas, you can make a little extra to use the next day in a salad.

3. Begin by Cooking What You Crave

Even if your goal is to eat healthier, you can find more motivation for cooking if you first focus on making dishes that you crave. Maybe you always enjoy a good steak or you’ve been wanting to eat a specific pasta dish again. Look up some recipes, find out what you need, and get cooking. As your skills improve and home cooking becomes a habit, you can focus more on creating tasty and healthy meals.

Like any other skill, cooking at home gets easier the more you do it. Start with some of your favourite recipes, make sure you always have the necessary ingredients in stock, and save time by cooking large batches.