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Cooking at home is both cheaper and healthier than ordering a takeaway, going to a restaurant, or buying frozen meals. However, it can often be hard to get motivated, especially after a full day at work or if you are short on time.
Here are four simple tips that should help you to control your meal budget, your diet, your pantry, and get you motivated to cook more at home:
There are no two ways about it, you need to commit to cooking more at home. However, once it’s in your routine, it’ll be easier. Groceries don’t just appear at your home and turn into a meal. You need to take some time to choose your meals, order them online or go to the store, prepare them, and get cooking. The best thing you can do is to choose a day and time every week to do your shopping this way it’s part of your routine. If you struggle with the planning, try choosing two weeks worth of meals and just mix and match them each week. This works great for online ordering as you can just add certain recipes in each, cutting down on time.
If you find yourself reaching for a takeaway as soon as your fridge starts to become bare, you can rectify it by ensuring you have a few staple items in your home at all times. Things that you use regularly can be bought frozen or in bulk such as pasta, frozen vegetables, herbs, and spices. You may also want to keep some chicken pieces or other meat in the freezer, this way you would never be left without.
Did you know many meals take less time to cook than ordering and waiting for a takeaway? Now really think about what you do with your time when you are waiting for your fast food to arrive? Could be cooking instead? Try this szechuan chicken recipe for an idea and you will soon stop ordering Chinese as often. You will be surprised how many you can find that take less than 30 minutes and taste amazing. You can also prep one pot meals in less than 10 minutes, whack it in the oven, and enjoy. Oh, and don’t forget to prep slow cooker meals like a stew. Just stick all the ingredients in before you head off to work and when you get home it’s ready to eat.
A lot of people think about bulk cooking as something that is linked to dieting. Although it is used to help people stay on track, it’s not the only thing that bulk cooking is good for. Bulk cooking is also great for people who don’t have much time for cooking. Instead of cooking every single, choose a day to prep and cook several meals at once and freeze them for later in the week.
These four tips will help you to get started with cooking at home more. Do you have anything else that could help? Why not share some tips in the comments?
Welcome to Birds and Lilies! I'm Lou: mother, blogger and freelance writer. This is my lifestyle blog, where I talk about motherhood, infertility and IVF, beauty, my love for food and wine, as well as my thoughts about stuff, and our real-life and travel adventures.
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