When the kids were at home, the chances are that cooking became the bane of your life. As such, it’s hardly surprising that you’re keen to keep the kitchen door closed now that they aren’t around. It can certainly seem like a lot of work to spend an hour or more in the kitchen just for you or your partner. Instead, you’re more likely to eat out, order in, or even stock the freezer with the frozen pizzas you spent years telling your kids not to eat.
We understand, and your years of kitchen cooking have certainly bought you the right to splash out with an easier option now and again. In reality, though, ditching home cooking altogether may be the worst thing you can do at this stage in life. To prove it (because we know you don’t believe us!) we’re going to consider just a few of the benefits you can enjoy by continuing to cook from scratch.
# 1 – Ensuring that you get what you need
It’s not unusual for our diets to become a little more specialized as we get older, and meals prepared by someone else aren’t always going to factor in that. Whether you need to reduce your sugar levels in light of a diabetes diagnosis or wish to introduce more magnesium because of advice on hearing health that you’ve been given, home cooking brings these goals within easier reach. Sitting down to plan your weekly meals is especially valuable for ensuring a balanced diet according to any health complaints/special requirements that you can’t afford to leave out any longer.
# 2 – Ensuring portion control
While large restaurant portions might’ve felt like a treat when you were younger or had a family to share them with, the fact that digestion slows as we age means that you’ll probably struggle to deal with these same portions every meal. Not to mention that, as muscle tone more readily turns to fat, you could soon start putting on weight by indulging like this too often. By instead allowing you to implement portion control for every single meal according to your appetite, cooking at home is, therefore, way healthier and easier to manage than feeling like you have to force yourself into finishing those last painful bites.
# 3 – A hobby to get stuck into
Far from the stressful often-rushed cooking of your family days, getting stuck into an entirely new approach to the kitchen can also provide a fantastic hobby in your later years. Finally, you’ll have the time to truly appreciate your ingredients and how they come together, as well as be able to experiment without fearing that your kids will outright refuse to try your creation. Instead, you can really have fun here and highlight your days with the mindfulness, and general peace that can come from a great time in the kitchen.
Home cooking might be off the menu for now, but we think it’s past time that you put it back on there with these benefits in mind.
