We live in an age of convenience… and it is slowly killing us. We’ve surrendered our nutrition (and therefore our health) to external forces. And until we learn to fall in love with cooking again, we’ll never get it back. We live in an age where food is abundant but many of us are actually starving. Oh sure, we’re getting enough calories, but in terms of the nutrients that our bodies need to keep us healthy, keep our systems operating at peak efficiency and keep disease at bay, many of us are severely malnourished. All over the country, kitchens are falling into a state of disuse. Cooking utensils are gathering dust and kitchens are simply becoming repositories for dishes and takeaway packaging. As a nation, we’re spending almost £10 billion a year on take away food and almost £50 billion on eating and drinking out. Every time we do this, the ingredients in our fridge go bad, the utensils in our drawers and cupboards collect a little more dust and we feel a little less inclined to return to the kitchen.
This is a collaborative post.
We’re cooking a lot less… but does it really matter? The statistics show that as a nation we’re cooking less. 1 in 8 of us rarely or never cooks for ourselves and around 25% of us can only cook 3 recipes or less. It’s possible that unless we reacquaint ourselves with our kitchens, we could lose our cooking skills entirely.
But would that be such a bad thing? Well, potentially, yes.
Ignore fad diets and anything that requires you to live on tea or drop an entire food group. The only way to stay healthy and in shape is with a balanced diet that’s either mostly or entirely comprised of whole foods and plants. And that’s virtually impossible to do when you’re living on takeout or restaurant food. When we cook, we can take control of our nutrition and cook according to our micro and macronutrient needs. What’s more, cooking for ourselves is infinitely more affordable. And when we make the mistake of filling the fridge with everything we need for a weeks’ worth of healthy meals then order a pizza as soon as we get home we risk contributing to the growing problem of food waste. So, why is it that so many of us aren’t cooking enough and risking irreparable damage to our health and our financial wellbeing? Is it because we’re inherently greedy or lazy? Far from it!
We have a number of perfectly plausible reasons.
We’re Working Harder And Longer Hours Than Ever Before
In a time of economic uncertainty and political instability (and we’re not even going to get started on the potential impact of Brexit), many of us are working extremely hard to maintain a comfortable lifestyle or simply keep a roof over our heads. We put in some of the longest working hours in Europe and when we get home are often too stressed and exhausted to do anything other than collapse in front of the TV.
While there are lots of shakes and other options to allow us a nutritious meal no matter how busy we are, when our blood sugar drops and the cravings set in, it can be incredibly difficult to maintain good habits. Especially since.
It’s Easier Than Ever To Get Any Cuisine Straight To Our Door
Convenience is the enemy of discipline. And in the digital age, there’s more to tempt us than ever before. No longer are we confined to simply calling the local pizza delivery outlet or chip shop. Today, we can get virtually any cuisine we want to be delivered to our doors in minutes through the miracle of JustEat and Deliveroo. Yet, while these are great as a welcome treat to reward yourself for a week of discipline on a Saturday night, it’s a slippery slope that can lead to these options accounting for virtually every meal. When we can get whatever foods our hearts desire delivered to our desks at work or our sofas at home, mustering the time and the energy to cook can be a genuine ordeal.
We Don’t Have The Right Utensils.
When we have an ill-equipped kitchen, we either don’t cook at all or fall back on a handful of familiar recipes and (inevitably) get bored. If it’s been a while since you treated your kitchen to some new goodies, maybe it’s time you invested in your future health and happiness in the kitchen. Take a look at this Zuperzozial range from Uniekliving. These implements don’t just look good, they’re robust and hardwearing and because they’re made from a combination of bamboo, corn and melamine they’re also completely sustainable.
You should also invest in a good set of knives and take the time to ensure that they remain nice and sharp. Cooking with dull knives is an ordeal, while newly sharpened knives make chopping, slicing and carving far more satisfying and enjoyable.
We Hate Doing The Dishes
It’s okay to admit it. There’s nothing more soul-crushing than finishing a delicious meal and then having to engage with the grisly aftermath. Between scrubbing roasting tins, scouring pans and wiping down countertops we can find that washing up duties can shave a significant chunk off of our hard-earned free time.
However, if you simply clean up after yourself as you cook, you’ll find that pile of dishes at the end of your meal far less daunting.
Our Parents Never Taught Us
Recipes used to be sacred and special things handed down from generation to generation. We knew that these recipes worked because we saw them being prepared and tasted them ourselves throughout our childhood. But if our parents aren’t teaching us the recipes that they learned at our grandparents’ proverbial knees, we don’t have as much of a recipe vocabulary to fall back on and have to rely on cookbooks and cookery websites.
So, what are we going to do about it? There is a multitude of good reasons why we aren’t cooking enough. But we need to ask ourselves whether or not they’re good enough. If cooking for ourselves is the surest way to ensure our health and financial wellbeing, perhaps we need to overcome these reasons (compelling as they may be) and fall in love with spending time in the kitchen once more.
*Disclaimer – This is a collaborative post. This post has been pre-written.