5 Reasons to Cook At Home

It's always fun to go out for a nice meal, but there are some compelling reasons to stay at home and whip up a nice home cooked meal. Check out my top five reasons to cook at home

1. Control of Ingredients
   When you cook a meal yourself you can hand pick every ingredient you want to put in that dish. You can even pick some special seasonal ingredients that may be a rare treat just to make your meal extra special. You can decide if you want local produce or imported, or fresh, canned, or frozen.
   
2. Control of Quality
   This almost goes hand in hand with control over your ingredients, but if you pick your ingredients you will be able to have a more steady hand over the quality of the ingredients you are using. If you go to a restaurant, you are never quite sure whether the ingredients are high quality or cheapo brands. If you are paying a lot of money at a restaurant for cheap food, you may as well cook cheap food at home. (And, no, i'm not totally apposed to cheapo brands all the time.)
3. Sanitation
   Have you ever seen someone around whose level of personal hygiene is questionable, then cringe when you see them walk back into the kitchen of a restaurant? Well it has happened to me, so I think this is one major reason to cook at home. You can be the one who decides how clean or unclean your kitchen will be when you cook, but let's hope you opt for the more sanitary option. Remember, cleanliness is next to godliness; but if you need a little help, check out this link.
   
4. Price Reduction
   The average meal eaten out will cost on maybe between $5-$10, but that adds up quickly over a week. Save a little money, which for me as a college student is hard enough to do, and start cooking at home. You can buy a whole mean for four people with the same money you would spend on one dish at a restaurant. If you need some inspiration to cook at home, try invite some friends over to help or bring a dish to share. Offer to cook the main course and they can bring some of the sides.
   
5. Accomplishment
   Even though some work is involved, you will certainly feel a sense of accomplishment if you start cooking a meal occasionally. It's nice to see the food nicely prepared, waiting for you and your dinner guests to dig in. And don't fuss about the dishes, they are just another sign of your great achievement.