10 Tips to Make Cooking More Fun
The South Philly Food Co-Op asked for me to share my tips for their Healthy New Year round up of produce fun.
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If you’ve decided that cooking for yourself is a hassle…feels like a chore…or if you lack experience and don’t want to spend time in the kitchen…it’s a familiar struggle that feels all too real for many of us.
Don’t throw in the dishtowel! With a little inspiration and tips to make cooking more enjoyable, I want you to throw that mindset right out the freaking window.
Say this with me:
Cooking is not a chore, a job, or punishment. Choosing to nourish myself with delicious foods is an act of self-love and honoring myself.
One of life’s daily responsibilities is feeding yourself, and between balancing your job and keeping up with activities and relationships, cooking at home often falls to the wayside for convenience.
Look, I get it. We’ve all been told we should cook more at home – you’ll save money, eat better, yada, yada.
Cooking for myself felt like a chore after cooking for others all day. I would open the fridge only to stare blankly and feel anxious about what to make. So I’d slap together a cheese sandwich, order delivery, or eat eggs. But when I learned how food is medicine and nourishment in so many ways bigger than just sustenance, I realized it was worth it to cook for myself, and this truly changed my mindset.
I never want to take feeling energized, healthy, happy, and being able to move my body for granted. What’s more is that when I show up for myself, I show up for everybody else better, too. It also makes food shopping so much more fun when you do it with intention. I get giddy visiting my local shops and markets, like the South Philly Food Co-Op, to learn all about what’s in season and new for me to try.
I encourage you to set an intention to think of cooking as an act of love and care for yourself so that you can better serve yourself and those around you. It will transform into so much more fun, whether cooking for 4, 6, 10, or just 1.
Here are my tips to turn cooking into a fun and pleasurable ritual so you show up for yourself over and over again:
1. Set your pantry and freezer up for success and keep an inventory:
Stock your pantry and freezer with ingredients that allow you to always throw a great dinner together a la minute because we all know planning ahead of time isn’t always possible.
Cooking from complete scratch also isn’t always a reality, so don’t be afraid of including canned, frozen, or pre-chopped products. The best canned and frozen foods to have on hand should have minimal ingredients (without added sauces or sugars) and be as close to their natural form as possible. Think fish, chicken, beans, fruits, veggies, edamame, rice or quinoa bowls. Eaten in conjunction with fresh, they can make for very healthy and tasty quicker meals.
Keeping inventory will help you keep track of what you have on hand – try keeping a white or chalk board on your fridge or using my printable Kitchen Inventory sheets below.
2. Try planning a few meals out for the week, choosing exciting theme dinners, and prepping some items in advance.
Not only will it streamline your shopping experience, but also set you up for success for those last minute hunger pangs.
You could even assign a category to each day, so you’ll have a clear “blueprint” for dinner and have something to look forward to. Ie: who doesn’t love a taco Tuesday?
Choose foods that interest you instead of what you think you should eat.
Prepping some items in advance will save you time and stress when prepping dinners a la minute.
Planning doesn’t mean rules are set in stone, just there’s still some semblance of order and direction — with a tad bit of wiggle room if you’re feeling inspired.
3. Make cooking a social experience by joining a local or virtual cooking class.
Cooking classes can be a great way to meet new people, share cooking tips, and develop your confidence, skills, and creativity, giving you more free range to experiment.
4. Make the kitchen your happy place and create a positive environment that gives you pleasure:
Listen to music that puts you in a joyful mood
Dance – cooking is a prime time to express yourself and dance like nobody is watching!
Pour a glass of wine or cook with a cocktail
Set your kitchen up with things that bring you joy – plants, pretty plates, clear the clutter, light candles with fresh scents
Keep inspiring cookbooks nearby
Tie on an apron that makes you feel empowered and lively
5. Practice making the kitchen a meditative space where you can focus inwards and fully immerse yourself in the experience and engage your senses.
How does the act make you feel, how does the food itself feel?
Notice the textures, the aromas, the colors, the caramelization.
Taste often.
The idea that by being deliberate about where our focus is directed helps hone sensual awareness, savor the moment, and plays with the idea of working smarter, not harder.
6. Play with your food!
Get creative with plating
Choose colorful foods when planning your meals
Turn ordinary things into beautiful patterns, shapes, or rainbows of colors
It’s so true – we eat with our eyes first!
7. Experiment and get creative with how you repurpose meals and meal prep:
Try changing up one or two components at a time to add to something you already have prepped
No more eating the same boring meal for 3 days in a row
More cooking on one day can = less cooking the next
8. Learn about your food: Talk to staff at your local stores and markets, talk to farmers, talk to chefs.
Let them teach you about what you are eating and inspire you to try something new. There’s nothing like a chat with a passionate farmer, owner, or chef to reignite curiosity.
Explore different cuisines – you might just discover that you love new foods
9. Organize your kitchen in a way that makes it easier and more efficiently for you to cook. It’s way more fun that way!
Get kitchen tools that you’re excited to use and that can help streamline the process
Set your Mise en Place – literally ‘putting everything in its place’ so you don’t have to fun around looking for things at the last minute only to realize you don’t have something. And maybe use fun colored bowls to keep yourself organized.
Learn to work cleanly. Keep scrap bowls by your side – one for trash so you’re not making piles of scrap, one for scraps to be repurposed (scrap stock is a beautiful thing), and one for compost (if you compost). Yay for less clean up, and it’s truly rewarding to see how little waste you can have by repurposing and/or composting scraps!
Invest in quality storage containers so everything in your fridge is easier to locate
Start cooking the longest things first and then sprinkling in the shorter prep items so everything finishes around the same time.
10. Invite others into your kitchen. Food brings us together, and you don’t have to do it all on your own!
Cooking is a sensual experience, so share these moments with your lover.
Children love to feel as helpful and accomplished, too! Give them safe, small tasks that will make them feel a valuable part of the team.
Enlist friends and plan a weekly meal swap or start a cookbook club and work through recipes together.
Video chat and have a cooking date with a far-away friend.
If carried out successfully, cooking will no longer be an arduous task for one person to complete, but instead will be an enjoyable group activity where everyone can contribute.
Forget about perfection. Start simple and don’t stress if you make a mistake – mistakes are just a way to learn. And hey, failures sure make for funny stories! So let yourself flow and create magic in the kitchen.
Cooking for yourself and your loved ones is truly one of the greatest gifts you can give to your well-being.
