Healthy Eating Goal: Cook More At Home
It’s very difficult to achieve a healthy eating pattern if you get most of your food pre-packaged or from restaurants.
Pre-packaged and ultraprocessed foods (like protein bars, microwaveable meals, packaged dinners, junk foods, sweetened breakfast cereals, canned soups, and many more) are often full of additives and preservatives, added sugars, salts, and unhealthy fats.
They are also designed to make you eat too much by activating strong reward pathways in your brain and overriding the delicate mechanisms that are supposed to keep your appetite in check.
Ultraprocessed foods are also missing many key nutrients that you need. The combination of unhealthy additives and missing nutrients makes it especially hard to achieve health goals if you eat too many of these types of foods.
Restaurant food is also often full of ingredients that may not support healthy eating, and you don’t know exactly what’s in your restaurant meal or where those ingredients came from.
Cooking at home with fresh ingredients, on the other hand, allows you to control what you eat and makes it much more likely that you will eat nutritious, balanced meals. If you can build a habit of preparing most of your food yourself, you will transform your life and your health.
I'm not saying you can never eat processed food or go out to restaurants. It's important to balance your health goals and sometimes choose to eat foods simply for enjoyment.
Overall, though, the more you cook, the healthier you’ll live!
What The Science Says About The Benefits Of Cooking At Home
One study of 9,569 adults found that people who rarely cooked dinner at home (one or less times per week) ate significantly more calories each day than people who cooked dinner at home often (six or seven times per week). The people who cooked more at home also ate more fiber, less sugar, and even chose to eat fewer calories when they did eat away from home.
A smaller study of 437 people found that people who cooked at home frequently had significantly higher quality diets (more nutrient-dense foods and less empty calories) than people who rarely cooked at home. This study also found that overall food expenditure was lower for people who cooked at home frequently, compared to people who rarely cooked at home.
Why Don’t People Cook At Home?
There are a few common reasons why people don’t cook at home:
They don’t know how
They don’t have time
They can’t afford the ingredients
If any of these apply to you, read on for tips to overcome these barriers.
Common Obstacle: You Don’t Know How To Cook or Have Struggled With Cooking In the Past
It’s easy to get overwhelmed in the produce section of the grocery store, be confused by recipe instructions (how exactly do you sauté something?!) or let a lack of confidence stop you from getting started at all. To overcome this obstacle, there are two strategies you should use.
First, start with the basics. Here is a list of basic cooking skills. Set aside some time each day or week to research and practice a skill. If you mess up, don’t worry. Think of each practice session, successful or not, as a learning experience and keep at it!
Learn how to:
Chop and cook vegetables. Roasting and stir frying are simple, tasty ways to cook veggies.
Prepare a variety of whole grains (brown rice, whole wheat pasta, quinoa, oatmeal, whole-wheat couscous, etc.). Cooking methods are similar, but each needs a different amount of water and time to cook. Take notes so you can easily recreate what you did next time.
Cook beans and other legumes. As with the whole grains, take notes so you’ll know what to do next time.
Grill or roast meat.
Make simple sauces.
Make salad dressing.
Use herbs and spices.
Store and handle food safely.
Keep your pantry stocked with essentials ingredients, such as:
Dried beans (black, navy, kidney, chickpeas, etc.) and lentils
Canned no-salt-added beans
Whole grains (rolled or steel-cut oats, quinoa, brown rice, whole wheat pasta, etc.)
Canned no-salt-added diced tomatoes
Low-sodium vegetable broth
Natural nut butter (peanut or almond)
Raw nuts (almonds, cashews, walnuts, pecans, etc.) pumpkin seeds and sunflower seeds
Tuna packed in water
Canned vegetables (make sure you rinse them once opened to remove the extra sodium)
Oil (Extra virgin olive oil, avocado oil, etc.)
Vinegar
Dried herbs and spices
Long-lasting fresh fruits and vegetables (garlic, onions, sweet potatoes, butternut squash, carrots, citrus fruits, etc.)
Second, set yourself up for success by starting with very simple, “cant-go-wrong” recipes to build confidence. Search for “quick and easy recipes”, or try “5 ingredient recipes” or a similar search. Early successes are crucial for building confidence, so start with the easiest recipes you can find.
Common Obstacle: You Don’t Think You Have Time To Cook At Home
Cooking at home can seem time intensive. You spend 20 minutes looking up a recipe, an hour going to the supermarket and picking up ingredients, another hour chopping, slicing, and cooking, and 25 minutes cleaning up the kitchen. Many people don’t have the time and energy for all of that.
First of all, most of us have more time than we think. How much time each day do you spend watching TV or browsing social media?
Log your activities for a day or two and identify some time you could use for cooking. This doesn’t mean you’ll need to give up your relaxation time, you could listen to your favorite music or a podcast while preparing a meal, or check social media while waiting for water to boil.
In fact, you could set up a reward system in which you can only do those things while cooking to provide extra motivation.
Cooking doesn’t actually require that much time and effort if you use some smart strategies:
Batch cooking. Cook once, eat for several days. Cook large batches of whole grains, roasted veggies, sauces, etc. at a time. Keep the seasonings simple, and you could use the same basic ingredients in different ways throughout the week, or freeze leftovers. A big batch of ground beef with basic seasonings could be used for tacos on Monday, pasta with meat sauce on Tuesday, and a casserole on Wednesday.
Meal prep. Getting the ingredients ready to cook is usually the most time-consuming part of cooking. Chop vegetables, trim meats, and measure out portions ahead of time. When it comes time to actually cook, all you’ll need to do is add ingredients to the pan or pot.
Spread out the prep. If you are looking at an hour of washing, chopping, peeling, and measuring out ingredients, you might be tempted not to start at all. Instead, break up prep into small tasks. Spend just a few minutes at a time on prep. Do you have 5 minutes in the morning before you leave for work? Chop an onion. When you get home, wash and peel veggies for 10 minutes, then do 10 minutes more later in the evening. You’ll get a lot done, but it won’t feel like such a burden.
Use a slow cooker. A slow cooker makes cooking so quick and easy. All you need to do is throw all your ingredients in and turn it on. There are many slow cooker recipes available that will save you time and effort. You can also cook big batches of food in a slow cooker, which will save you time down the road, and clean-up is usually a snap as well.
One pan/pot meals. As with a slow-cooker, “one-pan” meals make cooking easier, with less effort and clean-up.
Clean as you go. Cleaning up might be the worst part of cooking, but you can make it easier on yourself. Don’t leave a huge pile of dirty dishes to do after dinner. Just like breaking up your food prep tasks into smaller, more manageable chunks, cleaning in short bursts makes the mess of cooking easier to deal with. Load the dishwasher whenever you have a spare minute and scrub a few pots or pans at a time.
Get groceries delivered. Many large retailers offer online grocery ordering for pickup or delivery at no extra cost.
Shop with a list at the store, organized by aisles. When you do go to the store, bring a list. You’ll get what you need faster. Even better, organize your list by aisle or area of the store so you don’t waste time going back through aisles or crisscrossing the store.
Common Obstacle: Cooking at Home is Expensive
Yes, eating healthy food can be more expensive, but it doesn’t have to be. In fact, you can easily cook at home while spending less money than you would dining out. It all depends on the ingredients you use and how you buy them.
Here are some strategies for cooking on a budget:
Have a plan. When you plan your meals ahead of time you can use common ingredients, which will allow you to buy in bulk to save money and reduce wastage.
Cook with what’s in season.In-season produce is often less expensive. You can save even more by buying in-season ingredients in bulk and then freezing them.
Use inexpensive cuts of meat. If you eat meat, certain cuts are less expensive than others. Buy a whole chicken and learn to cut it up yourself. Chuck steak and flat steaks like flank, skirt, and hanger, brisket, pork shoulder, and lamb breast are less expensive than other cuts. They tend to be tougher, but they are perfect for the slow cooker, which is a great way to cook anyway!
Use non-meat sources of protein. Meat is generally more expensive than non-meat sources of protein. Beans and other types of legumes are inexpensive and very nutritious. You can make delicious and filling meals based entirely on beans and lentils. You can also use less meat and add beans to fill out the recipe.
Use whole grains and vegetables to add substance to your meals and make them more filling. Whole grains like brown rice and barley are inexpensive and can be bought in bulk. Vegetables can also add substance (and extra nutrients and fiber) making your meals more filling for less money.
Avoid ultraprocessed foods. Ultraprocessed foods may seem like a good deal because they tend to be low-priced, but there are a few catches: First, they don’t fill you up, so you end up eating (and paying for) more food overall. Second, if you don't prioritize your health you may end up paying more in the form of medical bills, medications, and missed work due to illness.
Example Goals To Start Cooking More At Home
You don’t need to start cooking all your meals at home from day one, and you don’t need to completely cook each meal from scratch. As always, it’s better to set a small, achievable goal and build from there. Here are some ideas:
Choose just one meal to cook at home. You might set yourself a goal of eating a home-cooked breakfast, lunch, or dinner each day.
Choose to cook one meal component for the week. You might roast some vegetables or cook a whole grain, then combine that with a store-bought roast chicken for a complete, balanced meal. You might decide to make a side salad and homemade dressing to have alongside your take-out, which would add some fiber and nutrients.
Prep ingredients for a certain amount of time each day. Your goal could be to spend 10 minutes each day planning meals or prepping ingredients. On Saturday, you might spend that time choosing two dinners that you will make for the week and writing out a shopping list and prepping plan. On Sunday, you could do your food shopping. On Monday, you could peel garlic and chop vegetables. On Tuesday, you could cook one of your dinner options, which will be quick since you already know what you'll be cooking and your ingredients are already chopped. On Wednesday you could eat leftovers from the night before, and spend 10 minutes prepping more ingredients for the following night’s dinner, and so on.
Learn to prepare a certain ingredient. Decide on a versatile and nutritious ingredient, like dry beans, a certain type of vegetable, or whole grains, and set a goal to learn how to cook it well. Start with a basic method, take notes and make adjustments, then graduate to more advanced methods or try different seasonings or flavors.
Choose your goal, then make a detailed action plan to achieve it and get started. Good luck!
If You Need Help
To learn more about how to build a sustainable, healthy eating pattern, download my FREE Guide To Healthy Eating eBook.
For personalized help setting goals and creating plans to achieve them, contact me! All of my one-on-one personal training packages include health coaching to help you stay on track as you work towards your goals.