When choosing every meal, when people eat, and what they are going to eat over 20 times a week for a range of people, mealtimes, and cooking can get a little dull. And, even for someone who loves to cook, when they don’t have a lot of time or are running dry on inspiration, the love of cooking (or maybe you never loved cooking) begins to simmer down completely.
Current food trends say that we are more into tinned foods, take-out, and quick snacks than ever before – and big meals and a lot of cooking have been put on the back burner in favor of fast and efficient.
There has also been an increase in people trying out vegetarian and vegan meals too!
So what can you do to stoke the fires of your passion for cooking?
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Is it the kitchen?
Sometimes it isn’t your problem; it is a space problem. If your kitchen is what you feel is letting you down, it might be time to take a look at the layout. The kitchen, for many, is the heart of the home, and if you spend a lot of time in there but don’t love it – make some changes if you can.
- Take stock of all of the machinery and other items that are taking up the space on the sides – could you move them elsewhere? Do you even use them?
- Is it decorated how you would like it? And if not, could you put a budget together to have it look like a place you want to spend time in?
- Perhaps you have a bigger budget, and what you really need is a kitchen remodeling team to come in and make your perfect kitchen come to life.
- Are your cupboards filled with out-of-date spice jars, causes you’ve used once, and other dried goods you never got around to using?
If the space you have to work in doesn’t fill you with inspiration and happiness, it will be difficult to translate that into the food you create.
Food Shows
You might not be lacking in the passion for making great food – but you might’ve run out of ideas! That is where cooking shows can make a huge difference to you. When you see people traveling across the world and trying new foods, it is hard not to find a few delicious dishes that you want to replicate.
The street food shows are often some of the best, and they offer up food that can be made on a tight budget too. There are also shows where they show some dishes that are part of the culture, and those flavors can give you something exciting to look forward to at meal times.
Here are a couple of shows to get into:
- The Chef Show
- Chef’s Table
- Salt Fat Acid Heat
- Ugly Delicious
- Somebody Feed Phil
Although you might get so absorbed into the show that you end up watching the whole season or series!
Ditch the Meat
If you’re a big meat eater, then you might be relying on that hunk of protein to bring the wow factor and excitement to the meal. When you ditch the meat and have to think outside the box and create meals just with veggies, it can be the challenge you are looking for!
Gone are the days when every meat-free dish was made with mushrooms or tofu – instead, there are meat-free alternatives that look and even taste like meat.
You can learn to make vegan mozzarella, huge salads, big tray bakes, cakes, and more. TikTok is a great place to look for simple and delicious recipes, and they are condensed into short videos so you can quickly find something that suits your creative levels.
Some of the most popular vegan foods are chickpeas, beans, rice, pasta (not fresh or with eggs), grains, and of course, plenty of vegetables!
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Mealtime boxes
When it is the decision-making process you’ve had enough of, meal boxes make it simple. Instead of choosing from thousands of options every day, you will be offered a smaller selection. They usually have balanced meals and come with almost everything you need to make a meal in no time at all.
Meal boxes often come with a discount or free first box and a few weeks at a reduced price, so it gives you time to work out if it is something that is cost-effective and works for your family.
Here are some of the best meal box delivery services:
- Home Chef
- Dinnerly
- Green Chef
- EveryPlate
- Freshly
- Hello Fresh
Make sure that you look for first-box deals and set a reminder to cancel when the deal runs out, though.
Set a challenge
There are thousands of ingredients that you haven’t used yet, and that can be a challenge that you set for yourself every week. Find a recipe for an ingredient that you want to try out, and build a dish around it.
Often when we try recipes from different cultures, there are spices and herbs that aren’t part of our everyday cooking, and they can be a lot of fun to use. You might only cook chicken breast or steak, but stepping outside your comfort zone and using thighs or tender cuts of beef can expand your cooking horizons.
One of the challenges could be to cook foods that you might find in your favorite readings: Guest Post: Bible Foods: 4 Foods Mentioned in the Bible.
Kids
While kids can make a lot of mess in the kitchen, they can also bring some of the experimentation and excitement that adults often miss from the cooking experience. If you aren’t keeping the kids in the kitchen, maybe due to their age or ability – ask them if they have a dream dish. What might it be? You might find that they have a few really great ideas about what you should be eating!
Fake-away
We all have a takeaway that we just can’t get enough of; they arrive hot, flavorful, and, most importantly, don’t take any work for us to do. However, there is a huge amount of pleasure to be found when learning how to make the dish yourself – and sometimes, it can even taste better because you put more care into getting it right.
This is a contributed post.