4 great benefits of cooking at home

In fact, if you rely on meals out, there can be negative health effects if you eat too much. While prepping and preparing meals at home brings a lot of benefits in terms of health, time and economy.

1. Cooking at home is healthier

When you eat at home you will ensure a healthy diet, healthier than eating out. Since most restaurant meals, especially street food, often do not have quality standards, meaning they do not prioritize healthy foods such as: fruits, fresh vegetables, whole grains, fish, meat lean poultry, nuts. At the restaurant, sugary drinks, sweets, and processed meats are also off-limits.

Research shows that people who plan their meals are more likely to adhere to nutritional guidelines and increase food variety because they actively think about and make healthy food choices. to good health standards.

Furthermore, planning meals for several days or a week also allows you to use different ingredients and create a more complete and nutritionally balanced diet.

You can also actively cut down on unhealthy foods such as: packaged fast foods, processed foods that contain a lot of additives, preservatives, sugar, salt, and stimulants that can make you sick. Increases inflammation in the body, causing weight gain, obesity and many other health problems.

Cooking at home helps you make better nutritional choices.

Especially, if you’re looking to lose weight, this is a great way to start. Because preparing meals at home will give you the best portion control and calorie tracking. Plus, when you know what you’ve eaten, how much will help you control overeating later.

For people with chronic diseases such as high blood pressure, especially diabetes, eating at home is the best way to follow a diet that is suitable for their condition with foods that have been prescribed. selected according to standards, as well as minimizing the consumption of salt, added sugars are often found in processed outside foods.

2. You will save money when you cook at home

Planned grocery shopping is a smart way to save money. With meal prep, you’ll save a lot of money by buying only what you need, buying larger quantities with more fresh, tasty food.

Besides, because you have a plan for each meal and portion size, you will be less likely to throw away leftovers than eating out or buying take-out. This also saves you from wasting food and money.

Planned grocery shopping is a smart way to save money.

3. Save time

While it may take a while at first to plan and calculate the number of meals and meals for the day or week, it will save you time in the end. Once you’ve completed the first week, you can use that plan for the following weeks.

The important thing is that in a busy working day, you don’t need to worry because you can’t come home early to buy food, just open the refrigerator and you have all the ingredients for a nutritious dinner. care for the whole family.

4. Strengthen family emotional bond

In addition to the obvious health and economic benefits, meals at home are also a bridge connecting the emotions of family members.

Regular participation in family meals helps form healthy eating habits such as eating on time, eating enough. The exchange and sharing of everyone in the family meal also contributes to reducing stress and pressure of life.

Meals at home strengthen family bonds. Illustration

5. Tips for preparing, preparing and storing meals properly

Preparing meals is a simple process with proper preparation. You just need to follow these steps:

– Make a list of meals: You will need to consider what meals your family eats and how many servings.

– Determine the amount of food and the method of cooking suitable dishes before going to the market or supermarket to buy food. It is necessary to choose nutritious foods from the main food groups, prioritizing foods derived from plants, whole grains, lean meat, fish, healthy fats such as olive oil, etc.

– Store meals properly: If you can’t store food properly, it’s not going to help when you’re preparing large amounts of food.

First of all, after buying food, it needs to be classified and properly processed. Grains such as rice, nuts, tubers such as pumpkin, potatoes, sweet potatoes… can be left in the outside environment in dry conditions. Tomatoes should be stored at room temperature.

Milk and cooked food should be eaten immediately. Vegetables with leaves are cut clean, put in a food bag to keep cool. Eggs are kept in the refrigerator. Fruit should be kept separate.

Meat, fish and seafood should be prepared, divided into portions just enough for a meal, put in a bag or box with a lid and stored in the freezer.