Apr 04 2008
Cooking: Why Bother?
In this day of fast food, microwave meals and food fusion restaurants, why should the average person bother with actually cooking their own food? There are many arguments for learning how to cook, including personal empowerment, expressing your creativity, health issues and cost. Food also seems to taste better when you have put your own effort into it.
Personal Empowerment
Being able to feed yourself is a crucial survival skill. When you let other people do all of your cooking, you are depriving yourself of being able to take care of yourself. When you learn the basics of cooking, you learn not only learn how to feed yourself, but also increase your self-confidence. You are not subject to a restaurant’s opening hours, a large factory still making your favorite flavor or even on traffic patterns that might keep a delivery person from your door. You have the power to feed yourself without the cooperation of others.
Expressing Your Creativity
Everyone is artistic, whether they realize it or not. The human race seems to have a need in order to express itself in many ways through art. One of the best and most practical art forms in the world is cooking. Making a meal is a lot like making a painting – blobs of different colors in different shapes and textures come together to make up an entire painting. Cooking uses different tools, but the effect is the same.
Health Issues
You can’t control what a company puts in their foods. You can add to it – but you can’t subtract. Many processed and refrigerated foods are loaded with sugar, salt and fat that your body really doesn’t need. When you do your own cooking, you control the amount of salt, sugar and fat that you consume. Making this adjustment to your diet can help ease or prevent many health conditions.
Cost
The best reason for learning the basics of cooking is that you will save yourself so much money! Going out to eat is a luxury – and a very expensive one. Not only do you have to factor in the cost of the meal, but the gratuity, the parking, the gas to get there and back and any applicable sales tax. You just pay for the food, cooking utensils and the stove when you do your own cooking. You can also pay for cook books, but you can also get free recipes off of the internet, from the newspaper, magazines and well-meaning relatives.
Holiday Menus
(NC)—Try making this delicious Homegrown Ontario Pulled Pork simple slow cooker recipe this holiday season and see the difference a little planning makes. Great as an appetizer served on a crostini, this savoury morsel will save you time in the kitchen while impressing your guests. More delicious appetizer recipes can be found online at [...]
(NC)—Adding new flavour to traditional foods can be fun and be a great way to get family members to try new foods. Indian flavoured products are becoming widely available and provide a great opportunity to create mouthwatering recipes for the whole family. This shrimp korma recipe is a quick and easy one for the entire [...]
(NC)—Mulligatawny soup originally became popular with the British stationed in India (employees of the East India Company) during Colonial Times. When they returned home, they brought the recipe back with them to England, and to other members of the Commonwealth. In fact Mulligatawny is the Anglicized name of two words for “pepper water,” molegoo (pepper) [...]
(NC)—Here are two easy ways to bring some excitement to your next children’s party – Wacky Waikiki or Purple Razzle Dazzle Shakes. For dozens more delicious treats to thrill your child, visit www.homebasics.ca.
Wacky Waikiki Shake
2 large ripe bananas, peeled and quartered
1 can frozen pineapple or pineapple-orange juice concentrate, thawed (6 oz)
1/2 cup milk
4 scoops Breyers [...]
Savor the Flavor Every Day, Every Way
Â
(ARA) – Long overlooked, mushrooms are nature’s hidden treasure for helping those focusing on living a healthful life. To promote the nutritional benefits of fresh produce this back-to-school season, Weight Watchers continues Pick of the Season, a public health initiative spotlighting seasonal fruit and vegetables, with recipes this quarter [...]
Skyrocketing gas prices and escalating grocery costs have put getting more for a dollar top-of-mind for many consumers. Many Americans are tailoring their grocery shopping lists to ensure they get more bang for their buck. That means purchasing items that provide the best nutritional punch for their value.
Luxury items like prepackaged or single serve meals [...]
Blueberries are most abundant and least expensive in the summer, making it an ideal time to get your fill of these little blue gems. Stock the fridge and freezer with blueberries to make meals, snacks and desserts that are easy on the cook. Blueberries never need to be peeled, pitted, stemmed or chopped –just a [...]