The Benefits Of Cooking At Home And The Downfalls Of Eating Out.
Going out to restaurants can become quite habitual after a while. You find your favorite restaurants and you go to them over and over again. You love their salad or their pasta primavera but there are just a few things you would change or add to it if you were to make it yourself. Unfortunately you can’t figure out that one ingredient in the recipe that makes the dish so amazingly good which is what keeps you going back there.
There are actually books out there that have copycat recipes for some major restaurants and fast food places. These recipes have been tested over and over again until the dish tastes exactly as it does in the restaurant. They are worth investing in if you can’t figure it out on your own because eating at home has so many advantages.
The first, and what my fiancé and I think is most important, is the ‘only your hands on the food’ benefit. I have worked in many restaurants and I have seen some stuff that might make you think twice about eating out. Like, people eating off of your plate before it goes out and those guys who go to the bathroom but don’t wash their hands before they dish up your food. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying all restaurants are like this, but if they were all like this where I worked, I’m assuming there are more out there. So making your own food at home assures that only your hands will be on the food and if you choose not to wash them then that’s your problem.
Second benefit, you know what’s going in or has been in your food, what it looks like, and where it’s been. I’m a vegetarian so I order all my food without meat, but sometimes there’s meat in it anywase. When I make it at home whatever I don’t want, like meat, has no chance of getting in there. Alternatively, if I want extra extra extra garlic then I get it! Also anything that may have tainted my food, like a bug for example has been removed and all food surrounding it. In a restaurant they’re too busy to see that bug and it might just become your added protein. Also, if you order their spinach canonoli and their spinach is not up to par, you’re probably not going to notice it. At home you would.
Another thing I have seen is food being accidently dropped on the dirty back room or kitchen floor and put back on the plate. I have seen this first hand with stuff that’s being chopped or added into the dish. I’ve also seen premade salads put back on the plates after being dropped. You may think I worked at some pretty low class places but you’re wrong. These were common restaurants that people go to every day.
The third reason is waste. At home most of your food becomes leftovers, composted, or food for the dog. At a restaurant it becomes garbage and lots of it. Orders that get sent back, unfinished plates, unused food for cooking, food that’s gone bad because they over stocked, food that’s just gone bad, and (cross your fingers) food that’s been dropped on the floor all goes in the garbage. Even if you take your food home you’ve added one more styrofoam container to the garbage that didn’t need to be there.
The last reason is of course money. Making five or more plates of your favorite pasta dish with sides as opposed to what two dishes would cost in a restaurant. If you’re looking for more for your money then cooking at home is it.
Once you start cooking at home regularly it becomes harder and harder to justify going out to a restaurant. There’s really no need for it except for convenience and if you have a high standard with food that’s just not good enough.
