Reason #10: You want to impress your guests. Nothing says “Welcome” like an amazing home cooked meal. Your friends and family feel special when they know you have taken the time to prepare a meal for them.
Reason #9: You can only eat fast food for so long. Sure, it’s great to swing by and grab a burger when you’re in a rush, but every meal. Your poor tummy.
Reason #8: You can offer your children a healthy diet. No matter what those kids meals say, they can’t come close to offering the nutritional value of a home cooked balanced meal.
Reason #7: You control what goes into your food. If you place an order at a restaurant, do you REALLY know what they put in there? When cooking at home, you control everything. If there is a peanut allergy in your family, you know how to avoid any problems.
Reason #6: It’s not as hard as you think. If you’re just getting started, swing by and pick up one of those cookbooks that only require 3-5 ingredients. This is a great starting point. The more comfortable you feel with those recipes, the more you can experiment with them.
Reason #5: You don’t have to leave your house for dinner. Sure, eating out every once in awhile is nice, but wouldn’t it be great if you didn’t have to do it EVERY night! By the time dinner rolls around, I’d rather be home for the evening.
Reason #4: You’re teaching your children healthy eating habits. Your children learn a lot of things from you, and one of them is proper eating habits. By cooking at home, you can teach your children the “goods” and the “Bads” of their diet. This is something they will take into their adult lives.
Reason #3: Quality “Family time”! I’m a firm believer in sitting around the table for dinner. This is our family’s “Quality” time. we get a chance to catch up with each other, share stories, and enjoy each others company. Yes, when you go out to eat you’re sitting around the table, but your conversation is having to fight with the people at the next tables, conversation. This is fine every once in awhile, but why not use dinner as a time where it’s just the family.
Reason #2: Your weight!! We all know it! When you eat junk, your body will pay for it. Whether it’s gaining pounds and inches, or feeling sluggish all day. By learning to cook, you can ensure your diet is complete, and you know that there isn’t any extra fat, calories and sugars in places there doesn’t need to be.
Reason #1: The amount of money you can save!! Now, if none of the above have convinced you, maybe this will. I can feed my entire family of 4, a healthy, well balanced dinner, for 4-5 nights, on what it would cost for one take out meal. Imagine that! For one quarter, of the price!!
Here’s what that means…
If we ate out ONCE a day for a week, we’d spend roughly $175 for that week. If I cooked those meals at home, I’d spend around $40.
$175
-$40
$135- SAVED!!
And that’s just one week. Lets look at a year.
$135 (Saved)
x 52 weeks in a year
$7020 – SAVED, just by cooking at home!
Amazing, right?!
Image Credit: urbanhomesteader