It’s super hard to find the time to cook a proper meal from scratch anymore. The cost of living crisis is affecting some people, and that means that finding the time to cook when you’re so busy with work is not easy at all. 

Cooking can feel like a chore, but it’s supposed to be a pleasure. In fact, cooking is supposed to be easy and with the prevalence of one-pot meals and other simple dishes out there online, you can make it as easy as physically possible to cook nutritious food. From the traditional Yorkshire pudding recipe that you can add to your Sunday roast dinner to chorizo and chicken pasta dishes, there are so many benefits to cooking for you – but what about cooking for others? We’ve got a list of the benefits of cooking for other people in your life below:

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• It’s the altruistic thing to do. Cooking for other people isn’t just something you can do for pleasure but a lovely thing to do for other people. Being able to help them eat a full meal is a wonderful thing to do and there is a lot of confidence and self-esteem boosting involved in cooking. Knowing what you create is going to be well received is half the fun!
• You get the chance to nurture other people. If you give people nutritious food to eat, you have the chance to nurture and help them to feel fulfilled. You’re fuelling someone to be able to feel healthier and stronger and you are providing them with amazing support by providing them with sustenance. Not only that, you create a sense of community and trust. This can really help if you have anyone in your life dealing with depression or emotional issues that prevent them from feeling helped or loved.
• You can create new bonds with others. Cooking is a wonderful bonding activity and it’ll be something that you do to help others. It’s the kind of activity that can help you to build a wonderful relationship. Cooking can be an intimate thing to do, especially if you do it with other people. It can help you to improve your closeness to other people and ensure that your relationship is a strong one.
• It’s a form of self-care. Cooking is a good way to take care of yourself. It’s a calming activity to create something from just a few ingredients, and it’s going to help you to feel centred and together. It’s a form of therapy to cook for yourself and for others and it reminds you that your health is important. Confidence is a very important part of self-care.

Cooking can help you to repair and build relationships, fuel your body to better health and allows you to feel connected and happy. You get the chance to incorporate cooking into your busy life and when you do this, you have all the motivation that you need to keep meal planning and making sure that you are healthy!