I got an email from one of my readers; let’s call her Sarah (not her real name). Her story is quite a sad one.
The 22–year old lady told me of how she has found herself eating processed and quick meals like ramen noodles. These were foods she wouldn’t touch before getting into college.
But because she never learned how to cook, she chose the easy and “cheaper” way out which is to buy fast foods and heat up pre-packaged foods.
According to her, this has affected her because she never gets to eat healthy meals. She ended her mail by asking for help because she fears she will end up with a lot of health challenges if she continues on the same path.
It was her mail that prompted me to write this article.
You see, a lot of people don’t know the long term harm in eating unhealthy meals overtime.
While it’s okay to eat out once in a while, it shouldn’t become a habit. You will be doing yourself more harm than good.
My aim is to point out some important reasons why cooking is important. Hopefully, you will buy into the idea and start learning today.
Why Cooking Is Important
Cooking is a vital activity that everyone should get involved in. Since food is an important part of our lives, here are 11 reasons you should consider learning how to cook:
You won’t go hungry
If you have food ingredients at home and know how to cook, then you cannot go hungry except you choose to.
No matter how hungry I am, there is always something healthy and quick I can cook up within minutes.
I always make sure I have fish at home because it cooks quickly and is also very healthy. I just need to stir-fry it with a little oil, some diced onions, garlic powder, salt and black pepper. Then I grab my salad from the fridge (I always have them ready-to-eat in the fridge) and plate it alongside my stir-fry fish and voila! Food is ready!
For breakfast, I crack some eggs in a lightly-greased pan, and allow it to cook for a while. I toss two slices of bread in the toaster. Slice some onions and tomatoes. Get my lettuce from the fridge and stack everything together. With a cup of coffee in hand, breakfast is ready in minutes!
Tell me why I will go hungry when there are a thousand and one recipes I can quickly cook?
You save a lot of money
It might seem like I always mention this point in all my cooking articles, but that is the truth. Knowing how to cook saves you a whole lot of money.
On a yearly basis, the average American spends at least $1200 on fast foods alone. If you spend like $10 three times a week on fast food, that is $30 a week, $120 a month, and $1440 a year.
Can you imagine how much you spend on fast food? Imagine how much it will be if you buy fast food every day. Bear in mind that the cost will be higher if you also dine at restaurants.
When you add this amount to your grocery shopping cost, you’ll see that you spend a lot of money on food.
Relieves stress
I always look forward to cooking because it helps me ease off the stress I accumulated during the day. For me, cooking is fun and relaxing because I get excited watching my food creation come to life.
You decide what you want to eat
When you know how to cook, you can always make what you hunger for. No more will you have to settle for whatever is readily available. What this means is that you get to thrill your tastebud every time with new and delicious recipes.
You eat healthy meals
One obvious reason you should learn how to cook is to be able to make healthy meals. You will be able to make the right choices when selecting ingredients. And of course, you get to eat fresh, nutrient-rich foods.
You spread love
Cooking for other people can be an act of love. It’s not everyone that loves to cook not to talk of cooking for others. For me, cooking gives me the opportunity to give and receive positive energy from my family and friends. It also brings us together to share other aspects of our lives.
You expand your creativity
Knowing how to cook involves science. When you mix ingredients and spices, you are actually using your creative juice. You will notice this when you are creating a new recipe different from what you are used to. You can always tweak some ingredients; add other ingredients and herbs to arrive at a new recipe entirely. All these are ways you can expand your creativity in the kitchen.
Makes you popular
Everyone wants to have that friend that can cook. Of course, eating is one of the things we get involved in when socializing. Sometimes, people crave for homemade food and not all those restaurant foods that concentrate more on flavor. So, when they crave for homemade food, who do they turn to? You!
I get that from my friends a lot! Some of them just find an excuse to stop by my house because they know I will always have a homemade meal made fresh or tucked away in the fridge. My cooking skills have actually made me very popular among my friends and family.
Makes you money
In today’s world where a lot of people are making money from the comfort of their homes, you too can. You can take advantage of your cooking skills to make money by posting your cooking videos online. You can start a cooking channel and show off your cooking skills. Some YouTube content creators are making thousands of dollars every month by just posting their videos. You can also post it on Facebook, TikTok and other paying social media spaces and earn money from it.
Open up an eatery or restaurant
If you want to take things a bit higher, you can always open a mini restaurant, a café or an eatery. These might require some capital and professional training. But if this is something you’ve always dreamed of getting into, your cooking skills can pave way for that.
Boosts your confidence
Being good at something like cooking can boost your confidence.This is very true if you always get compliments from people that eat your food. Even when everything else in your life might be falling apart, you can always get some boost when you remember that there is one skill you possess that people love.
Conclusion
I understand that not everyone will want to learn how to cook even after my long sermon in this article. If you belong to the group of people that hate cooking, then you should make sure that you eat healthy meals as opposed to fast foods.
If you can’t make the food by yourself or are too busy, you can pay someone to make them for you.
However you want to go about it, the goal is to eat healthy. But cooking your meals by yourself surely is the best way to go.
And if there is anything I did not cover in this article that you would like to know about, kindly leave it in the comment section.