Ahh!! The good old cooking. This task never gets old. But is it being done more often? If you don’t cook or you don’t know how to cook, then you are missing out on something very innate when it comes to your health. Almost everyone would like a “decent healthy meal’ to go through the day. The main question is, do you cook it yourself or do you buy the cooked food to satisfy your hunger? I will share my experience with you about cooking anything and at the same time enjoying the benefits of a healthy long life. There are advantages and disadvantages of cooking your own vs buying them cooked. There will be no detailed recipes to follow, but the will to just cook anything that comes to mind without being afraid.

The good old cooking

The world has changed a lot over the years. Things are moving at a faster pace than ever. People who work a 12-16 hour shifts, don’t have the time to cook their own meal, which makes it easier for them to buy it from various restaurants to satisfy their hunger. There are people who have a regular 9-5 hour job and still they don’t take the time to cook their own food. They became so attached to ordering food than cooking it themselves. There could be many reasons for this. Those reasons can be that they don’t want to cook, don’t know how to, or maybe they have just acquired the taste of the foods from elsewhere. But I can tell you this, no matter where you buy your cooked foods, there’s no food like good old cooking at home.

Cook it yourself vs buy it cooked

This will be very controversial in its own right. When you cook your own food, you have this skill that no one can compare to. It is a unique skill. You and only you know what you put in your food. It is a fact by itself. The tastes, however, will be the deciding factor for all the food you cook. But over time, you will acquire your own cooking taste with joy. The more you cook, the more you will find it easy with no fear to cook anything that comes to mind. It’s just like riding a bicycle but on a much broader scale.

When you buy cooked foods from any restaurants, your knowledge of the exact ingredients are limited. I say this because almost everything in the cooked food you buy are not being labeled. Only the main ingredients are labeled on the outside of the cooked food containers. If you buy or dinned in from a restaurant chain, you certainly don’t know the exact ingredients, unless you asked for them. Even that alone will not be detailed enough. Take a look of the most common advantages vs disadvantages when it comes to cooking you own foods vs buying your cooked foods.

Advantages of cooking your own foods

1) You can put whatever you like in them 2) Only you know what’s in them 3) They are cooked fresh 4) There are no preservatives 5) They can be healthy for you 6) They can save you money

7) It can teach you to survive, instead of depending on restaurant bought foods.

) Makes you independent

Advantages of buying cooked foods

1) They save you time if you’re too busy to cook.

2) You can acquire the tastes easily.

Disadvantages of cooking your own foods

1) They can be time-consuming (like 10 minutes or more). 2) Washing dishes and pans after cooking, including overall cleaning up

Disadvantages of buying cooked foods

1) You don’t have full details about the ingredients 2) Most likely they are not fresh 3) Reused oils for cooking which make the foods unhealthy 4) Strange unwanted ingredients like animal hairs from mice, bugs, workers’ hairs and other “if they hate you” ingredients. 5) They cost can make a hole in your wallet. 6) Complaining if too cold or don’t taste good as expected.

7) Makes you dependable on others

Cook anything and live longer

I remembered clearly when I was about 14yrs old, I had cooked my first food. That first food was boiling eggs. Then I learned how to fry them with onions and peppers. After a while, I decided to go at it in a much more healthy way by just boiling them. I learned how to cook rice, stew chicken, Fish, gravy beans, broiled chicken, stir-fry vegetable dishes(with healthy oils), and many more dishes to date.

You see, I didn’t just know how to cook them, I experimented little by little and would add my own flavor of spices and ingredients to satisfy my taste. I would even have my friends do taste testing to see if they liked them. Little that I do realized is that I never looked at a recipe to follow. I would just cook. From then on, I began to cook with confidence.

The secret to cooking is that there is no big secret at all. Let’s say you want to cook stove top chicken(boneless chicken breasts). You would want to use healthy oils lightly like avocado(non-GMO), extra lite Virgin Olive oil(non-GMO), Grape-seed oils(non-GMO) or a blend of the three oils lightly in your pan. All you really need to do is to cut them into strips, wash them in vinegar, preheat the pan add oil or oils lightly, throw a pinch of salt on chicken, and mixed them in pan on low to medium till sizzled to content. If you have nonstick pan, no oils necessary should you not want to add any. If you want to add anything like onions or garlic or both then you would want to stir-fry them first in the pan or on separate pan then add to chicken when it is almost done. While you at it, you might want to add a pinch of herbs and spices of your choice to get familiarized with the different tastes. You can also buy fresh or frozen vegetables to add to your dish. It can’t be any easier than this. All this should be no more than 15 minutes time. Not only that you have fresh cooked foods, you have the power to control your taste without anyone to haggle with.

As you learn to cook, you will get used to your style and taste of different foods. All it takes is a little time to experiment and apply ingredients as you become more and more confident in cooking. Your health can also change as you become aware of what is healthy and what is not healthy to cook. This also can increase your lifespan as you cook healthy fresh foods without preservatives and other junk from outside cooked foods.

As you can tell, a pinch of salt can go with any foods to enhanced the taste of them. I like to cook with different seasonings like for fish or any seafood, I’d add seafood seasonings. For chicken, I’d add chicken seasonings, beef seasonings for beef, and so fort. You’ll be surprise to see how many different flavors you can come up with. It’s just a matter of you not worrying if it will taste good or bad. Matter of fact, you can try doing it blindly. Meaning that you can just add any flavor according to the kind of foods you want to cook. As you develop confidence into cooking, you will be able to cook foods like these at the bottom.
These may not be the best pics, but you have an idea what I meant by cooking your own foods.

Spinach and chicken dish with other vegetables included.

Home-made fried rice with chicken, shrimp, and vegetables.

My take on cooking your own foods

It is not a surprise to see how many different foods I can cook. I have the confidence to do it. I don’t need any recipes to look at in order to cook. Every food that I cook are that of my own thinking. I am so sure that anyone can cook if they put their what if’s aside. All you need is the confidence to do it without fear of cooking it. The best person to criticized your cooking is you yourself. As you practice doing it, you will build your tastes as you incorporate different foods along the way.

There are many devices available to cook foods faster and healthier. You might want to buy an air fryer to save time cooking. I have one and they are very handy when you want to cook something small to medium. So if you want to learn to cook, I suggest that you start experimenting with little portion at first. After that, you will find yourself inventing your own taste of foods. Also, try to buy them from non-GMO or organic sources if you can. That’s it folks! I wish everyone a healthy and happy life.

Happy cooking,

john@healthy-and-wealthy-lifestyles.com