Home-cooked meals are great for your wallet, family relationships, health, and more. So let’s talk about how to cook at home without overwhelm.
While we all know eating at home is great for so many reasons, the convenience of take-out is hard to resist, especially when you’re low on time. However, restaurant food is often highly processed, can be high in calories, and you don’t really know what’s in it. Not to mention the cost of eating out quickly adds up.
Cooking your own meals doesn’t have to be complicated, even with a busy schedule.
Here are some tips to to cook at home without overwhelm.
And don’t forget: when you cook, double the serving size so that you have enough for leftovers. If you don’t want to eat the same thing twice a week, portion your leftovers in containers and freeze them for those days when you don’t feel like cooking.
Okay, let’s jump in to the tips!
Batch cook the staple foods.
You don’t need to cook leftovers of your entire meal, but cooking extra of those staple ingredients will help make different meals throughout the week. Roast a whole chicken, cook a large batch of rice or quinoa, or bake extra potatoes.
Think of which foods you can add to any meal to make it more complete. Cook multiple portions of those foods so that they can last you all week. Keep the seasoning generic so that you can pair these foods with various side dishes and aren’t limited to one type of cuisine. This first tip is a great place to start to cook at home without overwhelm.
Plan your meals for the week.
When dinnertime comes around and you have no idea what to cook, there is nothing more inviting than simply ordering take-out. To avoid this, pick a day and plan what you’ll be eating for each day that week. I highly recommend starting to plan on Thursdays. This gives you plenty of time to meal plan and builds in a buffer before the following week starts just in case life happens and time gets short.
For example: Start planning on Thursday, make your grocery list based on your plan Friday, shop Saturday, and prep ingredients Sunday. This planning is especially helpful when you go grocery shopping because you can take the ingredient list with you and make sure that you buy everything you need.
(Want a weekly meal plan done for you? Grab yours here.)
Find what recipes you enjoy and write them down.
You don’t need to compromise on taste when it comes to home-cooked meals. If you aren’t confident with your cooking skills, start with easy recipes and learn the basic techniques, such as pan-frying or roasting in the oven. Often the simplest meals are also the tastiest — there is no need to over-complicate things.
Then, once you find simple recipes you like, write them down so you remember your favorites. You’ll soon have an arsenal of recipes you can make with confidence and that you know your family likes. With these recipes ready to go, you’ll find it easy to cook at home without overwhelm.
Keep your pantry stocked.
Keep your pantry stocked with non-perishable items that you can easily add to any meal for extra protein, carbohydrates, or fats. Stock up on canned beans and legumes, grains such as rice and quinoa, canned tuna, and even pickled or canned veggies. You can always throw in some canned chickpeas and grains to your salad to make it a quick and complete meal.
Take shortcuts when you need to.
It’s nice to make a home-cooked meal from scratch, but we don’t always have the time or energy to do this. Although pre-washed and cut veggies are more expensive at the grocery store, sometimes it’s worth it for the time it saves you. It’s still a lot better than ordering take-out.
You can also find frozen grains that warm-up in the microwave, meats already seasoned a cooked, and so much more! If you think it’s too much for your budget, don’t use it every week for every meal. Space it out. You are worth it and your family’s health is worth it. You can cook at home without overwhelm, so don’t let anyone tell you it’s not possible.
Invest in a slow cooker or pressure cooker.
Slow cookers are the most hands-off cooking tools— you can toss everything into the pot and leave it to cook all day without supervision. A pressure-cooker significantly cuts down cooking time, so even if you forgot all about dinner or don’t have much time, you can still eat something healthy and delicious. You can throw in veggies, lean meats, chickpeas, and rice and make a complete meal in no time (and with minimal effort).
Check out my easiest crock pot recipe here.
Let’s recap: 6 tips to cook at home without overwhelm.
- Batch cook the staple foods
- Plan your meals for the week
- Find what recipes you enjoy and write them down
- Keep your pantry stocked
- Take shortcuts when you need to
- Invest in a slow cooker or pressure cooker
All of these tips will help you cook at home without overwhelm, but please don’t forget to start small. You don’t have to implement all of these at one time. You shouldn’t even try. Choose one, master it, then choose the next one. It will get better and better as you have a sense of accomplishment and enjoy less overwhelm in the kitchen.
So, I know you are now going to start planning your meals, right? How about starting with a week of meals already planned for you? Grab your copy of a Week of Good Meals!
