If you frequently cook from home you probably already reap the benefits that come with it.  Cooking from home can be more than just preparing a meal. You can use cooking at home as an activity to relax and unwind or you can use it as an opportunity to create family time in your household. Not to mention, cooking at home can save you time and money, and you can easily cater to your family's taste preferences and dietary needs. If you don't already cook from home most nights of the week, give it a try and see if you notice any positive changes.

Related: Does Home Cooking Impact Our Environment?

10 Save Money

Cooking from home saves you money in the long run. If you were to calculate the amount of money you spend eating out each week and compare it to a grocery receipt for a week’s worth of groceries you will see a difference. When eating out you have to also figure in the cost of tips and tax and those numbers start to add up. When cooking from home, you can plan your shopping list and coordinate recipes so you can use up all of your ingredients and get your money’s worth. Cooking at home also creates leftovers, which saves you from spending money on making another meal.

Related: Trim The Costs of Your Grocery Shopping With These 10 Tips

9 Family Bonding Activity

If you are looking for family activities to bond over, try cooking together. Not only will a team effort make the meal prep faster, but you can share in conversation with your loved ones. Cooking together is a great way to build relationships and keep up with what’s going on in everyone’s life. Not to mention, you all get to enjoy the delicious meal you prepared together.

8 You Can Control What You Eat And How Much You Eat

The best part about cooking at home is that you have full control over what you eat. This means you can alter recipes to fit the dietary needs of people with food allergies, diabetes, vegan diets, and so on. Having control over what you eat can also include the amount of food you eat. By cooking at home you can also ensure that your family is eating the proper portions.

7 Save Time

Cooking at home saves you time! No, not every recipe you make at home will save you time, but for most recipes, it is quicker to make it at home than get it at a restaurant. Think about the amount of time it takes you to get the family ready, drive to the restaurant, get seated, and then finally be served. It takes a decent chunk of time, right? Save yourself the stress and running, and cook at home. You can save even more time by making an Instant Pot recipe at home. They are quick to prep and hands-free, giving you all the extra time you need to get things done.

6 Fosters Creativity

As mentioned before, cooking is more than simply making a meal for dinner. Cooking is a way to foster creativity. Play around with ingredients until you have mastered a recipe or practice your plating skills by creating a beautifully plated masterpiece. Cooking should be fun, use it as your new creative outlet.

5 Tastes The Way You Like It

How many times have you eaten out and not liked what you ordered? Cooking at home is a sure-fire way to ensure you will enjoy your meal. Sometimes restaurants mess up orders or include ingredients that you don’t really like. By making this dish at home you have full control over every ingredient that goes into your meal.

4 Master The Art Of Cooking

If you are afraid to cook at home for fear that what you make won’t taste good remember this, you won’t get better unless you practice. Take cooking at home as an opportunity to learn and grow. Not only will your cooking get better, but you will enjoy eating it that much more. Take the time to master your skills in the kitchen and watch how impressive your dishes will turn out.

3 It's Healthier

Cooking at home allows you to control the quality and nutritious value of your meals. Cooking from home is overall healthier because you get to choose how the food is handled, how much salt or sugar is added, the quality of meat or produce used, and so on. You don’t often know what goes on in the kitchens at the restaurants. Sometimes it’s pure chaos and food is being touched with bare hands, too much salt goes into recipes, and cheap quality products are being used. If that doesn’t convince you to cook from home more often, we aren’t sure what will.

2 Beneficial For The Environment

Do your part in saving the environment by cooking from home. Cooking from home helps to reduce a lot of unnecessary waste like material and food waste. Less take-out boxes are used when you cook from home and less food is wasted in the kitchen too. Cooking at home gives you several opportunities to have a zero-waste kitchen.

1 Great For Your Mental Health

The best reason of all reasons to cook at home is that it’s great for your mental health. Cooking at home is both stimulating and rewarding and helps to produce “happy chemicals” in the brain. Take your mind off the bad day you had and enjoy creating a delicious meal.

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