What's Cookin'?
About a 5 minute read
How do you get motivated to cook when take out is calling your name? Here in Italy it’s not an issue like it was when we lived in the US, because eating out isn’t such an integral part of the culture - most meals are still made at home. That’s certainly true for us, especially because I love cooking and I’m pretty good at it, but it wasn’t always that way. I didn’t learn to cook until I was in my mid-40’s. I know it's hard to stop dialing for pizza or take out (or going out to eat many nights of the week), because in the US most people feel too busy to even think about preparing home-cooked meals. And healthy ones? Meh. Eating out is just easier.
How many of you have a list of take out restaurants at your fingertips at home and at the office? Or apps on your phone that basically do the ordering for you? It often feels so much easier to reach for the phone and order pizza, Chinese, subs…whatever. Or say to yourself and/or your partner - feel like going out tonight?
Yeah, I’ve been there too. So, how can you get motivated to cook when all you want do is dial out for dinner? Well, today I want to talk about how you can start eating healthier without missing a step.
First, healthy choices have to be easy to make, and second, they have to be fun.
There are three basic ways I make cooking at home more appealing than ordering out.
Get Motivated to Cook by Planning Ahead
First, I plan ahead.
I know, I know! It sounds awful and demanding and “how can you possibly plan a full week of dinners!” but let me tell you, meal planning is your friend! From your waistline to your wallet, your whole life is going to thank you for this one small act of organization. And it can be really simple.
Pick seven meals. If they require recipes, find them online for free.
It’s as easy as typing “healthy recipes” into the Google machine and BAM! You’ve got recipes. You also can go to websites like wholefoods.com and type in a few ingredients you have on hand and they’ll generate recipe ideas for you. How cool is that? And if you like receiving something in your mailbox other than bills and flyers for the local dry cleaner, subscribe to magazines like Clean Eating, Cooking Light, etc. I have a few favourite websites and cookbooks I’d be happy to share if you’re interested (just comment below).
Another tip: It's one thing to have recipes and another thing to be able to find them quickly. After years of never knowing where my favorite recipes were stored, I finally started using technology to help me. Brilliant idea, right? My favorite online tool for meal planning, creating shopping lists and storing recipes is Evernote. Whenever I find a recipe I want to keep, I store it there and use various tags to make it easy to find later. There also are a myriad of apps that can do the job.
Get Motivated to Cook by Meal Prepping
Second, I meal prep!
You can prep for a day or two at a time. Before you head off to work, defrost anything that needs defrosting. There is no better motivation to cook a chicken than having a fully defrosted bird sitting in the fridge when you get home. Give it a quick rinse and a rub down with olive oil and herbs and it’s into the oven at 350 degrees F (175 C) for the next hour and a half, which gives you plenty of time to do other things. You get the idea.
Another prep ahead tip is to start gathering your dinner ingredients while you are making breakfast. When you come home from work, the quinoa will be on the counter, ready for action. You’ll have zero stress over what to make and half the work will already be done.
You can prep by the week by doing whatever you can ahead of time. I am a HUGE fan of Sunday batch cooking so my week nights are more about assembly than cooking. I pre-cook chicken breasts, ground turkey, and roasted veggies. I slice, dice, and chop anything that will keep. That way I just have to portion out existing ingredients and add herbs and spices for meals during the week. It’s like turning your refrigerator into a Whole Foods Market-Style buffet!
I’ll let you in on a secret. I used to loathe doing meal prep, until I turned it into a kind of self-care ritual. I put on some good music, pour myself a glass of wine, and do all those things I mentioned in the previous paragraph. And you know what? It takes less than an hour to prep for the whole week. Even better, from time to time I do it together with my husband, and use the time to catch up and connect with each other. It’s a great way to teach your kids to cook too, and when they’re involved in the cooking, they’re more likely to eat healthier foods. It’s a win-win! Plus the whole process is done before you know it, you had fun doing it, and now you’ve got plenty of healthy choices at your fingertips, even if you haven’t done a formal meal plan!
Get Motivated to Cook by Getting Inspired
Third, I get inspired!
One of the things that can keep me out of the kitchen is feeling stuck in a rut, because I don’t like eating the same thing all the time. So, from time to time I try something new (usually on the weekends when I have more time to play). If you think about cooking as a creative outlet instead of a chore you’ll be much more motivated to cook at home. One word of warning, though, don’t overestimate yourself. Getting too ambitious can actually kill your motivation to cook. Like most things in life, it’s better to take it one step at a time and build your skills as you go.
When I want to find some new meal ideas, one of the things I like to do is take a few minutes to scroll through a few favourite cooking sites. I only look at recipes with a 4 or 5 star rating and I’m very picky about ingredients. The fewer the better! The pictures and descriptions usually motivate me to print out one or two and then I cycle them into my routine.
You can even try a new cooking toy. My very favourite kitchen toy of all time has been my Instant Pot. I make everything in it from boiled eggs to yogurt, pot roast, soups, and even chili with dried beans. It saves a TON of time and makes some really tasty meals with very little prep. Or how about a spiralizer? If you don’t own one, these little gadgets turn things like zucchini or sweet potatoes into a pasta substitute that is tasty and low cal. Top it with almost anything and you’ve got a homemade meal heavy on the veggies, and light on the prep. One caveat: I don’t recommend overdoing the kitchen gadgets - many of them take longer to clean than the time they save you from doing a task manually, and they take up a lot of storage space.
BUT, your kitchen needs to be well appointed with things that help you make meal prep easy and fun. First and foremost, I do recommend getting the best quality knives you can afford - a chef’s knife and a paring knife are essential kitchen gear. Good, sharp knives make food prep a LOT easier, and it’s fun to have beautiful things. And fun is always motivating!
Speaking of fun, music is universally inspiring. Make a killer playlist for cooking and rock out while you chop out. As I mentioned before, when I put on some music that gets me happy, cooking becomes like a party. Most of us use music to inspire our workouts. Why not let your favorite tunes motivate you to cook too?
The point is to take care of yourself with food.
Here are 5 reasons cooking at home trumps dialing or going out:
You’ll have more energy
When you’re in control of the food you eat you can make sure you are getting energizing foods like lots of fresh vegetables in your diet. Blueberries, dark chocolate, eggs, and fatty fish packed full of Omega 3s are all great for your brain. The nutrients in these foods actually supply motivation.
You’ll eat less table salt
In restaurants, chefs depend on fat and salt to boost flavor. On top of that, many chain restaurants use canned or frozen ingredients, loaded with processed salt and preservatives, as a base. And fast food is notorious for its sodium content because it’s such a quick, cheap, flavor- enhancing trick. When you cook at home you control how much and what kind of sodium you ingest. A sprinkle of unrefined sea salt at the table is so much better for you than a teaspoon of table salt in the restaurant kitchen.
You’ll eat healthy fats
Instead of consuming trans fats and cheap, low-nutrition, high-calorie fats that damage your heart and make you fat, you can cook with good fats like olive oil, avocado oil, and coconut oil. Healthy fats help to form cell membranes and build bone. They increase calcium absorption and boost your bone health.
You’ll be less stressed
Instead of thinking about cooking as a chore, start thinking of it as taking control of your life. Eating well is the cornerstone of good health. It’s also a creative daily activity that can help you focus, put things in perspective, relieve worries, and put you in an almost meditative state. Cooking is a great way to make yourself mindful.
You’ll save money
The salmon and brown rice you prepare in thirty minutes at home costs about $5 per person. If that same entree costs $21 at your favorite restaurant and you serve four people, you can save $64 in one night. Ca-ching! Savings like that can add up, and either leave more cushion in your savings account or allow you to afford non-food indulgences like a great pair of shoes, a weekend getaway, or a dozen other “extras.”
Not everyone loves to cook. It’s a fact. But everyone can find the motivation to cook.
We spend a lot of time and money maintaining all the things in our lives, from the car, to the house, and even our clothes. So why shouldn’t our health and well-being get the same attention? I mean, without good health, it’s pretty difficult to enjoy any of the other stuff.
Your health, your relationships, and your wallet all get a huge boost from a home cooked meal. So when you’re looking for motivation to cook over dialing for dinner, just remember to keep it simple and fun. The benefits you win just by putting down your phone and picking up your spatula should help keep you in the kitchen and out of your car.
Have a health of a day,
Juli