7 Ways To Fight The Boredom Of Everyday Home Cooking

Let’s face it, cooking every day is dull, boring and monotonous. Planning, shopping, cooking and clean up is no easy feat. Combined with a busy lifestyle it can be terribly stressful. When you cook breakfast, lunch and dinner every day for the family, it can add up to over 1,000 meals a year. No wonder it’s tedious!

But we all know it’s always a good idea to cook your own food at home from scratch. You, and your family eat better, which means you can take more control over your health. So, just how can we avoid the boredom of everyday cooking? Here are 7 ideas to consider:

Set Realistic Goals

It’s an overwhelming obligation to provide wholesome meals for the family day in and day out. It can lead to unnecessary guilt if you set your expectations too high.  Let’s be real. Sometimes it’s just not possible to provide fantastic, tasty and homemade meals loaded with fresh, whole foods every day.

The key is to cook guilt free. That’s why it’s smart to set realistic goals that you can reasonably reach. Give it a hard think. How many meals do you really believe you can make next week based on your schedule? Set yourself up for success and don’t overestimate.  

Say it’s just two meals. That’s great! Then only cook two meals next week and rest easy knowing you met your goal. If that went well, then consider going for three the following week.  

Cook Simple Easy Recipes That Require Little Clean Up

How To Avoid The Boredom Of Home Cooking

Do a deep dive on a recipe before adding it to your weekly meal plan. Read it from start to finish. Look at all the ingredients. If there are many, or full of ingredients you don’t often use, then find another recipe. Generally, the fewer the ingredients, the faster the recipe. Read the instructions, and see how long it takes to cook, how many dishes it uses. When you have little time to cook there’s no point in cooking a recipe that requires a lot of clean up.

Get Into the Cooking Flow

Commit to cooking like you commit to doing an exercise class. Pick how many days you’ll cook and for how many weeks. By setting an intention you'll have a better chance of getting into a cooking flow. Grab a weekly meal planner and plan your next few weeks of recipes. You’ll be surprised at how easy it is.

Allow Flexibility With Your Meal Plan

Meal Plans are the best tool for the home cook to alleviate cooking boredom. However the key to its success is building in flexibility. For instance, some days you’ll come home from work and you won’t feel like cooking or preparing what’s on your meal plan. That’s okay. This is when you allow for flexibility and prepare a super easy dish with ingredients from your pantry. You could even reheat a meal that’s in your freezer or perhaps even order-in (yep, that's allowed). All's not lost with the recipe you had intended on preparing that night because you can add it to next week's schedule.

Remember the Why

Share A Meal Together

Why are you cooking? Remember, it’s to help everyone be healthy. Feeding the family yummy meals exposes them to the taste of awesome, home cooked meals with fresh, whole foods. It also offers role modelling that sets a foundation for lifelong, healthy eating. Finally, food brings everyone together. Set the table, and share the day’s happenings over a good meal.

Share the Work

You don’t have to do all the work. Family members can be sous chefs and chop the veggies, clean the dishes, and sweep the floor. Jot down a list of what needs to be done and assign jobs.

Find Inspiration

I find talking about food always inspires people to cook.  Ask your fellow workmates what they’re making for dinner, or what their favourite foods are. Ask your family members what they want for dinner. Look at magazines and find a recipe to try. Peruse your cookbooks and be inspired to either cook a new recipe or to revisit a forgotten favourite.