July 06, 2022
Over the course of the pandemic, you’ve probably spent less time dining in restaurants, but that doesn’t necessarily mean you’ve been eating healthy home-cooked meals. Thanks to the countless delivery service options now available on your smartphone, nearly anything you’re craving can arrive at your doorstep within minutes.
If you’ve been relying on takeout meals, now is the perfect time to begin the transition back to a healthier routine. Home-cooked meals are less expensive and can even provide you with emotional and mental benefits that come from preparing your own food.
Ready to dial back on the takeout? Here are five easy ways to start:
When you finish with a long day at work, ordering takeout can feel like the path of least resistance. Attack that head-on by taking time each weekend to do meal-planning. Decide which nights you’re at home and want to cook, decide on a menu, and do your grocery shopping so you'll have all the ingredients you need. If you’re particularly busy, you can even batch-prepare some meals so they just need to be warmed up when it’s time to eat.
How many times have you come home starving, felt like you didn’t have time to cook, and just ordered takeout instead? Something as simple as putting a schedule in place for your week can help you achieve your goal of cooking at home more often. Set a daily dinner time each night, and then arrange your schedule to allow time for meal prep.
Challenge yourself to make your favorite takeout dishes at home! You’ll end up filling your spice cabinet and pantry with all kinds of exciting new ingredients to recreate the flavors you love. Not only will you discover what’s in them, you may even find healthier alternatives that still taste great.
When you’re trying to change a habit, one of the best ways to set yourself up for success is to avoid temptations that could cause you to backtrack. Deleting takeout and delivery apps on your phone is a simple, painless way to reinforce the change you’re trying to make. You can always order through a browser or re-download the app if you need to, but making it just a little bit harder to hit “place order” can go a long way.
Takeout is generally much more expensive than dining at home. If you want to use some of that newfound money to make your new cooking hobby even more fun, spend it on quality pots, pans, knives, and other kitchen tools. You’ll be amazed how a cast-iron skillet or nice knives make you more excited to spend time cooking in the kitchen.
Changing any kind of habit can be difficult. If you’re looking to make a change in how you eat, set a reasonable goal: limit takeout to a few days a week and slowly increase the number of meals you cook at home. If you stick with it, eventually you’ll grow more accustomed to cooking at home and those takeout orders will go from a daily, unhealthy habit to a rare treat you look forward to.
