8 Benefits Of Cooking At Home Instead Of Eating Out

Eating out seems easier and more convenient than cooking at home, which is why it’s so popular. In fact, the average person eats four to five meals out in a week. But is it as beneficial as we think it is?

Eating outside the home affects growing waistlines and shrinking budgets. Over time, that convenience may be causing your family more harm than good.

To help your family make better choices, let’s look at 8 benefits of cooking at home versus eating out.

1. Saves Money

One of the big reasons to cook at home instead of eating out is the amount of money you save. For families on a tight budget, that can make a real difference to the bottom line.

Lunch out at a fast food shop or a family dinner out on the weekend might not seem like much, but it adds up over time. In fact, the average household spends over $3,000 a year eating out.

Surprisingly, it’s not only restaurants costing you more money. Using a delivery service will cost you five times more. Preparing a meal from a meal kit is three times more money.

By cutting back on eating out and cooking meals from scratch, you’ll save a lot of money in the process.

2. You Know What’s in Your Food

Knowing what’s in your food is not only helpful for diet reasons, it’s critical for those with food allergies. This can be an actual lifesaver for those you love.

When you buy the ingredients, pick the recipe, and cook the food yourself, you know exactly what is going into your meals. Unlike at restaurants where hidden ingredients or flavor enhancers can cause adverse reactions.

Cooking at home allows you to have more control over the ingredients your family eats, keeping them safe and healthy.

3. Saves Time

Since someone else is cooking for you, eating out might seem like it saves you time. This is one of the most common reasons busy people decide to eat out. In reality, it takes you more time than you might realize.

Going out involves driving to the restaurant, standing in line or waiting to get seated, ordering, and waiting for the food. In that amount of time, you can whip up a quick meal at home and eat before you even get your ordered appetizer.

There’s a ton of recipes that only need 30 minutes or less in prep and cooking time. Many of which use a small handful of ingredients. Eating at home doesn’t have to get complicated and saves you valuable time.

4. Controlled Portions

We all know the feeling of having a waiter bring our dinner out on a plate the size of a platter. Portions at restaurants are large and seem to keep growing, making it difficult to control how much we eat.

One of the benefits of cooking at home is having more control over healthy portion sizes.

Whether you’re watching what you eat or want your family to eat healthier, controlling portions at home is a great way to keep everyone from overeating. You have the benefit of kitchen scales, measuring cups, and smaller plates to help.

5. Quality Family Time

In today’s over-scheduled, digital lifestyle, family time is more important than ever. Instead of sitting down to eat in a noisy restaurant, do some bonding time by preparing and eating a meal together at home.

Cooking together gives everyone a sense of camaraderie. With the TV turned off and everyone helping out, it encourages family bonding. Plus, dinner around a quiet table at home gives everyone a chance to talk without having to shout over the crowds.

It’s also a great tool for parents to teach their children the importance of nutrition. It also gives kids cooking skills they can take into adulthood with them.

6. Better Food Safety

When you eat at a restaurant or fast food shop, you never how your food is being stored, how it gets handled, or how it’s prepared. Risks for food poisoning and other safety issues increase when you allow others to prepare your meals.

At home, you have control over food storage, cooking temperatures, cleanliness, and other factors that affect food safety. It gives you peace of mind knowing the food your family is eating is safe.

7. More Nutritious Food

Aside from food prepared at home saving you money, it can also help save you calories, fat, sugar, and other nasty health sabotages. One of the benefits of cooking at home is preparing more nutritious food.

Even if you cook the same meal, chances are you’re not going to add as much butter, sugar, salt, and other ingredients into your food as a professional chef does. Home cooking is simpler and gives you control over how healthy your meals are.

In fact, eating at home can save you 50% of the calories you would get by going out. Over time, the health benefits become huge, especially if you’re watching your weight or trying to control other health conditions.

8. Improve Cooking Skills

More than half of Americans admit they hate to cook. A major cause of this could be because there are more Americans who don’t know how to cook than ever before.

Cooking at home instills practice makes perfect. The more experience you have preparing meals, the better your cooking skills will be. You’ll be able to understand the cooking process better and get creative with your own recipes to fit your tastes.

At-home appliances also help make cooking easier. Reading through this guide and others like it will help you pick appliances that best suit your needs and cooking style.