Do you ever find yourself throwing something in the oven direct from the freezer, or perhaps microwaving a packaged meal – or even calling for takeout? If you do, you’re not alone; many people do exactly the same thing because although we all know it’s not ideal, it’s better than nothing, and in today’s hectic, busy world, it’s something all we can do. 

However, the fact is that homemade food is always the best option, and even if you don’t think you have enough time to make something, it could be that with some extra motivation, you actually do – perhaps that motivation is in the blog post below. We’ll go through the reasons why homemade food is best, and you might find you’re much more tempted to cook a lot more.

Photo by Ella Olsson

Health And Nutrition

One of the biggest reasons why you should eat more homemade food and less processed food (or takeout, and so on) is that it gives you a lot more control over your health and nutrition. When you’re making something like a homemade cornbread recipe, you know exactly what goes into it, down to the smallest ingredient, including the seasoning, whereas if you were to buy the same thing from a store, you could never be one hundred percent sure about what you were eating. 

When you’re making your own food, you can choose fresh, healthy ingredients that give you all the nutrients your body needs to function properly and keep you fit and well. You’ll be able to avoid things like too much salt or refined sugars (you’ll get lots of those in processed food) as well, ensuring that not only are you getting everything you need, but you’re not getting anything you really don’t need. 

The Right Taste

They say there’s nothing like homemade food when it comes to flavor, and that does seem to be true. The fact is that when you’re making things for yourself and your family from scratch, you can add all the flavors you love – you can even experiment with different herbs and spices or entirely new ingredients, and in the end, you’ll come up with a range of dishes that really suit your preferences and that your taste buds are going to love. 

Not only that, but you can adjust the seasoning to your liking, which isn’t possible if someone else has already added it in the freezing process or in the restaurant. When that’s the case, you’ll enjoy your food even more, and you’ll be much more motivated to hunt down new exciting recipes and make time to create new dishes every day. 

Cost Savings

When you eat out a lot or order takeout on a regular basis, you’re going to be spending a lot of money, and it might surprise you just how much money you’re spending over the course of a month – add it up, and you’ll soon see that it’s probably much more than you thought it was. 

Although you’ll still need to buy the ingredients to make your homemade and delicious food, it’s probably going to cost a lot less than eating out or ordering in because there you’re not only paying for the food, but the overheads of the business as well. And if you cook in batches and freeze what isn’t used, you’ll save even more money by having meals ready to go that just need to be defrosted, warmed through, and enjoyed.