Home Cooked Meals: Tips to Make It Easy
Eating at home is typically healthier and cheaper than eating out. So why is it so hard not to just pick up takeout on the way home from work sometimes? That’s because it takes time, planning, and let’s be honest – not all of us actually enjoy it. It doesn’t have to be this way, though! Check out some tips below to make cooking at home easy.
Meal Prep
Despite what social media may imply, you don’t have to dedicate your whole Sunday cooking in the kitchen and color coding your containers to meal prep! Make meal prep work for you. It could be simply prepping ingredients all at once and ahead of time. Clean and cut all your fresh veggies at once so you can snack on them whenever you’re hungry. Bake multiple pieces of chicken one day so you can easily add it to a salad or reheat it for dinner throughout the week. Another idea is to make breakfast egg muffins or a few batches of overnight oats so you can grab one while running out the door in the morning!
Cook in Bulk
Cooking in bulk is a great way to save time. Rather than having to prepare each meal every time, double recipes so you have leftovers! You can either reheat them throughout the week or, if you are someone who gets sick of eating the same thing more than a few times, freeze the leftovers. You’ll thank yourself later when you’re in a pinch and can just grab the leftovers from the freezer and thaw them!
Stock Your Pantry & Freezer
Keeping staples and non-perishables on hand can make making a last-minute meal easy! Think of the ingredients needed in your go-to recipes and which of those stay good for awhile. Some ideas are: brown rice, pastas, canned goods (e.g., beans), frozen vegetables and fruits, flour, and spices.
Invest in Kitchen Appliances
This is in no way a requirement, but some kitchen appliances can really make your life easy. For example, there are plenty of recipes where you simply put all the ingredients in a slow cooker and you have a finished meal after 6-8 hours! If you find yourself hating the process of chopping or spending a lot of time doing, it may be worthwhile to look into buying an electric chopper to do the work for you. Think about what part of the cooking process takes up the most time or you like least and see if an appliance out there can do it for you!
Take a Cooking Class
Hear me out – you may be reading this because you don’t like cooking – but a cooking class may help you dislike cooking less! It can help you improve cooking techniques like chopping, for instance, which in turn will make your meal prep easier, quicker, and probably less frustrating. You may also learn new cooking methods that you may find you like or make a new recipe you would’ve never tried otherwise. Who knows? Cooking may even become an activity you look forward to!
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Disclaimer
We want you to be well and to live your best life. The content in this blog is provided for the purposes to educate and entertain you: our very important reader. It is not intended as medical advice or as a substitute for medical advice from a trained healthcare professional.
If you have a medical condition or are under the care of a medical provider, please always seek the advice of a qualified medical professional before undertaking a new health care regimen. To that point, never disregard medical advice or delay treatment for a medical condition because of something you read on this site.
Listen to your care providers as they know you and your condition best. Thank you for reading!
The Team at BSDI
Great ideas!
Thank you, Dina!