When I was a kid growing up, there was nothing more sacred than the evening meal. It didn’t matter how late my parents got back, or how my day had been, or whether my siblings and I were talking: that night, we would all sit around the dining table, eat, and talk.
Nothing tastes as good as home cooking. Nothing brings a family together like home cooking. Nothing makes housemates smile like looking down at their plates, and seeing someone’s love and craft that has gone into the food that they are about to enjoy. And now scientific evidence is starting to back up what we have all known for so many years. Home cooking is just better for you, in two major ways: it is healthier for you physically, and it is healthier for you mentally. If you use slow cooker you can also save money and cooking time.
When you cook at home, you have the ultimate control over what ingredients are going into the pan. This means that you can immediately lower the salt content and the fat content of any recipe, by substituting different things in. Low fat cooking spray instead of oil, skimmed milk instead of full fat, and ignoring the salt that’s called for will automatically give your family better cholesterol levels, and this will help lower the risk of strokes and heart attacks. Eating a home cooked meal together means that you’ll eat slower because you are talking – perfect because your stomach takes twenty minutes to realize that you are full.
Families that eat together tend to eat more realistic portion sizes, and are less likely to be overweight. You can also pack a meal full of vegetables and fruit, instead of something processed and full of preservatives and coloring. Home cooked gives you the ultimate advantage: of tailoring your food to your tastes. Children that enjoy home cooked meals are generally fitter and more active, because they come from homes that are concerned with a healthy lifestyle, and home cooking fits into that mindset perfectly.
But home cooking does not just meal a healthier body. Studies throughout the world have demonstrated clear evidence that a family that eats a home cooked meal together will be happier, more united, and better able to communicate with each other. The simple act of eating a home cooked meal all together means that the family will have a moment within their daily lives where they can catch up with the people that they love. Children from homes such as this will often be more compassionate, and more likely to listen to someone else’s point of view. The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University have found that children that eat a home cooked meal with their parents are even more likely to excel academically.
If all of this was not enough, cooking at home is just simply cheaper than eating out, ordering in a takeaway, or purchasing ready meals. The portions are larger and the prices lower. For example making a Bolognese sauce from scratch at home will always be less money than buying one from a jar, and cooking bulk home meals will give you the opportunity to freeze some for another day. This means that the cost of the meal can be divided by half, or even less than that if you make enough.
So there you have it: home cooking can provide you will a better meal, and a well-rounded family life. It can make you fitter, healthier, and even potentially smarter. Home cooking is cheaper than getting someone else to do it for you, and will almost undoubtedly taste better. When is your next home cooked meal?
My tip for working moms if you are busy buy a crock pot to cook healthy meals at home
