cooking at home Archives - Carma's Cookery

As much as I love to cook, I must also admit that cooking is not always as enjoyable as it could be. The fact is that cooking can be a lot of fun, but only when you approach it with the right attitude and take the right steps to make it enjoyable. Otherwise, it can end up being just another daily household task, which then becomes something that isn’t fun or satisfying.

That’s why it’s so important to actively take steps to make sure that cooking is as enjoyable as possible. By making it something that you enjoy, you can ensure that it remains a passion of yours and an activity that you actively look forward to engaging in.

Wondering what steps you need to take to make cooking more enjoyable? The good news is that there are lots of ways you can ensure that your passion for food preparation stays with you – to learn more, read the following tips and suggestions!

Experiment and Get Creative in the Kitchen

Hey, that’s what this blog is all about and I’ve provided plenty of tips on how to do that with each recipe I post. So don’t stick to making the same old dishes. Instead, be open to experimenting in the kitchen. If you simply repeat the same recipes, again and again, you’re going to find it hard to feel passionate and excited about cooking. That’s why it’s so important that you take the time to get creative in the kitchen and experiment with the dishes that you’re making. Take the time to look for new dishes to try online, such as looking at a salmon cake recipe on Feasting at Home, for instance.

Take Cooking Classes

You might think you already know all of the basics of baking, grilling, roasting and more, but that doesn’t mean that you can’t continue to learn. The fact is that if you want to keep your passion for kitchen creativity alive, it’s important to consider taking the time to actually learn new recipes and cooking skills, and cooking classes are the perfect way to do that. There are lots of classes to choose from, from themed classes that center on a specific cuisine, to classes that focus on a certain style of cuisine. Plus, there are both in-person and virtual classes to choose from.

Make Cooking an Event

Don’t just visualize your time in the kitchen as a must-do daily task, instead turn it into an exciting and enjoyable event. If you make cooking something you look forward to each day, then you will end up enjoying it more. Carve out plenty of time each day for cooking to be actively able to engage with what you’re cooking and enjoy the cooking that you’re doing. Perhaps you could invite your family into the kitchen to help you cook? Or maybe you could treat yourself to a nice glass of your favorite wine while you cook? Do what you can to ensure that cooking is an event that you enjoy.

There you have it, a simple guide to some of the simple ways that you can make cooking more enjoyable, interesting, and engaging.

Home Cooking and a Generational Gap

People love home cooking … they just don’t do it as often as they’d like. Yesterday I talked about meal delivery and meal-planning services. These kinds of services are growing in popularity and in diversity. I think a lot of this has to do with how busy Americans are. We work a lot. We commute a lot. And we don’t take much time off to just relax. We’re harried, but we want to be healthy, too.

But there is another reason that meal delivery services may be on the rise: Millennials.

Last year, Reportlinker conducted a survey to answer two questions:

Do Americans prefer to cook at home?
And if so, why?

What they found was enlightening. The vast majority of those surveyed replied with a big YES, they like to cook at home. 98% of respondents said they prefer to cook at home rather than being delivered or ordering a takeaway.

However, people are not cooking at home as often as they’d like. Only 36% of respondents said they cook at home daily. And 50% said they cook at home between three and six days a week.

The main reason people like to cook at home is price and health. 31% of respondents said the lower cost of home cooking motivates them to prepare their meals at home. While 22% said their desire for healthy food drove their home cooking preference.

When breaking responses down by age, something else came to light. Millenials (those born in the 1980s to 1990s and now in their 20s and 30s) are not as likely to cook at home. 24% of them admit cooking less than once a week and 32% of Millennials find inspiration on cooking blogs or websites.

In addition, meal delivery services appear to be more popular with this generation than other generations — 15% have used one of these services in the last year, compared to just 10% of all respondents.

So, do you like to cook at home? If so, why? Please share your thoughts in the comment box below.