The recent health crisis has forced people to stay indoors and restaurants to close up shop for the time being. This combination has led to a marked rise in the popularity of home-cooking. As much as 55 percent of people are eating home-cooked meals, a vast increase compared to the 33 percent before the crisis.
If you plan on cooking more meals at home, here are five ways to make the activity more fun and engaging for everyone in your household:
1. Record Your Exploits
Social media has allowed people to stay in touch with one another despite lockdowns and similar precautions. These platforms have allowed your local food blogger or cooking enthusiast to grow their audience. You can do the same thing as well.
Showcase your improvement as a cook through videos and pictures. You can post photos of your progress through each recipe on your social media feed. You can also use it to make home cooking more challenging for yourself. For example, use the poll features of different sites to ask your family and friends what recipe you should try next.
2. Explore New Recipes
Lockdowns and other precautions can leave you at home for prolonged periods and provide you with the perfect opportunity to explore your culinary limits.
If you primarily cook one kind of cuisine, like Italian, try cooking food from a different country, like Japan. Are you more familiar with baking desserts? Try expanding your repertoire to casseroles and other baked meals.
You can make this even more enjoyable by setting personal challenges. You can try to make a different recipe every day or try making different versions of the same recipe over a week. The point is to challenge yourself and push your skills.
3. Experiment with Staples
Shopping for exotic food and ingredients can be challenging, given the state of the world. You can take this time to experiment with what you can do with the staple ingredients in your pantry. Open your kitchen cupboards and take stock of what you have in abundance. Do you have a lot of flour? Try more baking. Are you swimming in pasta? Maybe its time to explore Italian cuisine. Is sugar in abundance? Try your hand at preserves and jams.
4. Get Friends and Family Involved
If you live with other people, try involving them in your cooking exploits. You can try a cooperative and competitive approach, depending on your temperaments. For example, if you’re living with cooking novices, it’s better if you join forces and cooperate when cooking. If you and the people you live with enjoy a challenge, try cooking the same recipe and judging who made the superior version.
5. Recreate Personal Favorites
Do you miss your favorite pizza parlor? Hungry for that hamburger you used to chow down on? You don’t have to miss out on these flavors and meals. Go online and find out the closest alternatives for your favorite meals and try making them in your kitchen. You might be pleasantly surprised by how easy it is to recreate pizza, cake, or whatever food you usually buy from a restaurant.
Cooking at home is one of the most fun things you can do to take the edge off. These five pointers will help you make it even more enjoyable and delight your family and friends with new culinary experiences.
