Remember that cheesy, succulent burger at the neighbourhood fast-food joint that you keep craving at midnight? Or the terrific, gooey-chocolate brownie at the roadside café? You know they’re not healthy for you, so you decide to supplement consuming those calories with a nice salad meal at your local deli. After all, your food intake needs to be monitored. You’ve considered cooking at home, but those homemade food recipes off the internet are not as easy to reproduce, are they?
What makes homemade meals better than the meals you get at a restaurant? Why would you choose your home cooked risotto over a meal at a Michelin star restaurant? The answers to all these questions are available, and after reading them, you will probably avoid your next bucket of fried chicken.
- Hygiene
Sure the restaurant has an incredible menu. Every item on that menu is delectable, that’s already been established. However, what happens behind closed doors will never be visible to you, the patron. So how do you know if the man who’s been slicing your salami in the kitchen does not have a cold? How do you know he’s washed his hands regularly or that the ingredients he’s using are fresh? You don’t, do you? That’s the point. Yes, food inspectors visit restaurants to check on hygiene levels, yes they advertise how they cook vegetarian and non-vegetarian meals in separate parts of the kitchen and with separate utensils, but, if you are prone to the odd bit of hysteria or are a germaphobe (the technical term is mysophobe), then you’d be worried. At home, you have the entire kitchen to yourself. You’ll use the best produce, ensure that your meats have been cleaned and refrigerated correctly and that the oil that you use is safe to use. You’re not worried about the water either and will not need to purchase a bottle of Evian to go with your meal. You will also save incredibly on restaurant bills, and an inflated bank balance is always well appreciated. Sure, your favorite restaurant will lose a regular customer, but cooking at home doesn’t mean you need to stop ordering take-outs. It’s just helping you balance your life, which is something that most individuals are trying to do anyway.
- Healthy food
Good food does not need to have an excessively high-calorie count. Sure, the fondue and bread-sticks are incredible, and your palate needs some love, but a great salad can refresh your taste-buds and give you that extra spring in your step that you’ve been looking for. If you’re in love of the perfect French-fries, or fried chicken and can’t go a week without one or the other, then there are healthier options. Even in terms of preparation, an air-fryer might help you reduce your oil intake while still giving the same amount of crunch that deep frying would. Too much pasta sauce might be a problem, especially if you take one straight from a tin. There are alternatives to taking the cheese-laden variety, and your arteries would thank you for avoiding the high cholesterol issues which were bound to happen if you continued down this dangerous path.
Also read: The importance of consuming a healthy breakfast
- Your cooking skills improve
When you first held a knife in proximity to an onion, your eyes welled up with tears, burned with an intense pain and your nasal passages were overpowered. The good news, with having a great homemade meal, is that it also helps hone your culinary skills. This begins on the chopping board, where when you slice through an onion initially at a rate that seems to slow time down, you improve over time to peel and slice through enough onions for an army in just under two minutes. Jamie Oliver starts influencing your kitchen, and you tend to experiment with better, healthier food. Your friends and immediate family will also attempt to spend more time with you. Some with the intention of understanding and learning a new technique, others with the sole intention of devouring everything that comes out of your kitchen. Nothing pleases a great chef than a clean plate, and once this starts happening, your confidence levels will increase exponentially.
- Time well spent
If you’ve been slaving away in front of the stove, trying to perfect the ratatouille that you saw a famous chef make, or if you are trying your hand at desserts, you’ll realize that you’ve learned a lot about food. One of the great benefits of honing your culinary skills is that you realize that you’re just as capable of producing a master-class at the table. For men, it’s a great way to impress the ladies and conversely for women, the ability to cook well helps draw male attention like flies to an open jar of honey. It can also serve as a lucrative career option. Food photographers are in demand and earn extremely well when they charge per project. The role of a food photographer demands an understanding of color, texture, plating, lighting, etc. Sure you’d have to try your hand at it first, and get comfortable with photography, but if you do, and you manage to acquire the skill, then the sky is the limit in terms of income. For those who are not at ease with a camera in their hand, or mounted on a tripod a career as a food stylist might also come in handy. Food stylists tend to make a lot of money out of being able to arrange foods to make them more visually appealing to audiences. They work in tandem with food photographers and help clients reach and entice potential target audiences with the quality of output that they produce.
Also read: Sushi- Healthy Super food
4. Time well spent
If you’ve been slaving away in front of the stove, trying to perfect the ratatouille that you saw a famous chef make, or if you are trying your hand at desserts, you’ll realize that you’ve learnt a lot about food. One of the great benefits of honing your culinary skills is that you realize that you’re just as capable of producing a master-class at the table. For men, it’s a great way to impress the ladies and conversely for women, the ability to cook well helps draw male attention like flies to an open jar of honey. It can also serve as a lucrative career option. Food photographers are in demand and earn extremely well when they charge per project. The role of a food photographer demands an understanding of color, texture, plating, lighting, etc. Sure you’d have to try your hand at it first, and get comfortable with photography, but if you do, and you manage to acquire the skill, then the sky is the limit in terms of income. For those who are not at ease with a camera in their hand, or mounted on a tripod a career as a food stylist might also come in handy. Food stylists tend to make a lot of money out of being able to arrange foods to make them more visually appealing to audiences. They work in tandem with food photographers and help clients reach and entice potential target audiences with the quality of output that they produce.
In the end, a lot of people swear by “good ol’ home cooking”. Yes, the occasional visit to your favorite restaurant won’t harm anyone, but in order to remain truly healthy, one must consider the art of preparing homemade meals and homemade food recipes to help get them to the required culinary level.
Also read: Non-Dairy High Calcium Foods
