Learning To Cook Better And Healthier At Home

*This is a collaborative post on learning to cook better

I never cooked for myself when I was living at home, and I didn’t move away during university so my experience of cooking started much later than for others. When I first moved out at 21 I really struggled to cook and I’d constantly buy ready meals that simply needed to go in the oven. Simple really?! 

I always had an excuse as to why I didn’t cook; I had no time, it was too difficult or I didn’t like a lot of foods. But as I’ve grown older, expanded my pallet, and worked out more about the nutritional value of food things have gotten better. Although one thing I still struggle with is when I have American recipes that put all weights and measurements in cups, I mainly use grams or millilitres. But that’s where this conversion tool from Culinary schools comes in. You just input whatever measurement you have to start with and convert it. So if a recipe says 1 cup of milk I can change that to ml.

Learning about cooking when you’re younger

I remember having food technology classes in school but they were rarely taken seriously. Sure we’d cook, but never anything we’d replicate. I remember making chocolate bread but then putting it in the fridge so it turned into a brick. Or maybe it was because technology in general just wasn’t my thing. But it’s so important for kids to understand more about cooking. 

In a gamified world where kids are always connected to technology in some way, cooking-related games are a great way to get kids interested and learn about food. There are also games that show what it can be like to work in the hospitality industry which is super important as so many people will work in the industry at some point in their lives. 

For example, the Sweety Cooking Chocolate Cake is a game that helps young kids familiarise themselves with the kitchen and follow a recipe. 

Benefits of learning to cook

There are a lot of benefits associated with learning to cook from health to career ones. 

The health benefits are so vast that they are hard to list. But the most important ones are increased lifespan, increased mental performance, and lowered chances of degenerative disease. I know that if I eat the right things it can do wonders for my health, but I do love chocolate and pastries a bit too much. 

You might want to pursue a culinary career just because of the love of cooking and being in the kitchen so that’s a big reason to learn to cook. If your work doesn’t require any cooking skills but you want to pursue a culinary career, then there are many different avenues for this such as owning your own restaurant or making food with home-grown food products. Or you may just choose to cook and bake in your own time as a passion project. 

Getting Started with Cooking

Cooking is a great way to eat healthier and save money. But, cooking for one person can be tough. Some ways to get started with cooking include:

• Plan your meals ahead of time
• Cook in batches
• Invest in quality cookware
• Have the right ingredients on hand

Did you learn to cook from a young age?