If you have a partner, friend or family member who can’t cook, then share this post with them! It’s for their own good. After all, cooking is an essential life skill. Clinical Nutritionist and Food Scientist, Lisa Moane, says there are many reasons to learn to cook.

 

1. Make Healthier Choices

Eating a nutritious diet is difficult if you can’t cook as you’ll become dependent on processed foods. When you cook at home you can avoid chemicals like artificial flavours, colours, emulsifiers and stabilisers. These are detrimental to your health, but are impossible to avoid if you can’t cook.

 

2. Eat More Mindfully

When you cook, you have a greater awareness of what’s going into your body. You will know how much fats, sugar and nutrients are in the food you cook for yourself or your family. This means you’ll think twice about what you eat.

 

3. Save Money

It is much more economical to cook at home than buy pre-prepared food or takeaway. The money you can save is better invested in quality foods, such as organic produce.

 

4. Better for the Environment

When you buy processed and packaged foods a lot of it goes to landfill. Cooking at home with fresh vegetables and meat creates a lot less waste.

 

5. The Treat Economy

When you buy sweets and baked goods at the supermarket, you end up eating them far too frequently. If you have a policy to cook every treat at home, you’ll make them less often and eat less of the sugary stuff.

 

6. A Bonding Experience

Cooking with your partner, kids or friends is an educational and bonding experience. Kids will have a new appreciation for food and where it comes from if you regularly include them in cooking and baking.

 

If you’re still not convinced, here are a few more reasons that learning to cook is a necessity.  

 

7. It’s Easier Than You Think

Read recipe books, tune into a cooking show or get expert tuition via a short cooking course, such as the Advanced Certificate of Catering & Professional Cookery. You’re sure to be inspired by one of the many cooking courses on offer at Australian Online Courses.

 

8. Self-Sufficiency & Independence

As a grown adult, you should be able to shop for and prepare your own meals. If you can’t do this fundamental task, it’s time to learn. You’ll feel empowered by the ability to fend for yourself in the kitchen, ensuring your meals are healthy.

 

9. Boost Your Social Skills

Imagine being the perfect host and inviting friends and family over for a dinner party that you prepared yourself. They’ll be impressed by your culinary skills. If you cook with your partner, it can also spur positive communication and connection.

 

10. Recipe for a Healthy Mind

Did you know cooking induces calm? There’s something therapeutic and meditative about the repetition of chopping, slicing and measuring when it comes to preparing a meal. You can also practice mindfulness by being aware of all your senses while you cook. Maintain focus on the task at hand and feel your thoughts slow down. Plus, there’s a delicious meal at the end of it – win, win!