10 Reasons Why You Should Learn to Cook

I am all about picking up skills and hobbies that check multiple boxes. In my experience, nothing checks more boxes than learning to cook, so I wanted to take a moment to reflect on exactly why I love it. Let me walk you through 10 of my favorite reasons why you should pick up cooking.

It brings the family together

Any activity that brings the family together is worthy of my time. Whether we are making pizzas together, I am popping popcorn for my daughters, or my wife and I are trying out a new recipe, the process of cooking brings us into the kitchen and gives us a chance to interact without all the electronic distractions.

Experiment and try new things with almost no risk

There are an endless number of foods and recipes out there. If you think you’ve seen everything, simply turn on a show on the Food Network or Travel Channel and expose yourself to a whole new world of dishes.

When cooking at home, my risk for experimenting is essentially zero. If we don’t like it, we toss it. Or more commonly, it becomes my lunches for the week. We are only out the ingredient cost and our cooking time. Much better than going to a high end restaurant and dropping $80+ to find out we don’t like something.

You can do it all year around

We get all four seasons here, 6 months of frigid winter, 6 months of blazing and humid summer, and about 12 hours each of spring and fall, or so it seems. As such, it’s nice to be able to have something to do inside. Additionally, we cook different recipes with the seasons: chilies and soups in the winter, grilling in the summer, and so on. I love the variety.

Make healthier meals

Making food at home allows me much more control over what I eat. Specifically, it gives me the option to cut out ingredients that I don’t want, like sugar, oil, or carbs. Additionally, I have better control over portion sizes (which truthfully is a double-edged sword). I often use meal prepping to make myself healthy lunches for the week. Having these healthy meals readily available makes me much less likely to eat unhealthy options.

It ties well into other hobbies

I love hobbies that compliment others I already have. Brewing beer is another one of my hobbies and the knowledge gained from cooking helps me understand and formulate beer recipes. And the skill and nuance of managing the brewing cycle feeds back into cooking. I also love being outdoors. When the weather is nice, I take every opportunity to grill outside or run the smoker to maximize my outdoors time.

It’s a form of meditation

Once I’ve gotten the hang of a recipe, recreating it becomes a simple task. However, it requires concentration to get the right amount of each ingredients, chopping them to the correct size, and paying attention to ensure everything is cooked just right. The focus on preparing the meal takes my mind off of the daily grind. When I’m cooking I am living in the present moment… I’m not worried about project deadlines, conference calls and meetings.

It saves money on food

Cooking at home can feed you for pennies on the dollar compared to dining out. An average dinner with our family of four at at restaurant is usually $70-$80 and takeout pizza is roughly $25. A home-cooked meal is oftentimes closer to $10.

Where the savings really shines is in meal prepping lunches for the week. Running out to grab something usually costs about $10. A home-prepared lunch is closer to $2 or less. Extrapolate that out over a year and that’s nearly $2,000 in savings!

It saves money on entertainment

Sometimes cooking can replace a night out altogether. We love to have our friends over for the occasional BBQ. As I mentioned in my previous post, the Economics of a Backyard BBQ. This can save you big bucks when compared to hanging out at a bar.

It helps build confidence

The kitchen can be an intimidating place if you don’t know what you are doing. Getting a handful of dishes into your repertoire will give you a confidence boost. Who doesn’t want to impress their spouse, kids or friends? Additionally, it gives you a lot of subject matter to discuss with others. Having something to talk about can reduce your shyness and make you appear more confident with others. “Hey, have you ever tried X?” “I made Y the other day and it was delicious, let me tell you how…”

It usually tastes better!

Last but certainly not least, when making food at home you can ensure you are using the best, freshest ingredients. And once you gain some experience, you can cook food, such as steak and burgers to the exact level of doneness that you prefer. As an end result, it is quite common that the food tastes better than store bought or from a restaurant. I routinely see this with steaks, BBQ, and pizzas, but it is certainly not limited to those items.