How to Cook More

Welcome back! I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving! I am certainly thankful to each and every one of you who read this blog and I hope you enjoyed some time with loved ones this past weekend.

I have been mulling this topic over in my head for the past few weeks and wasn't exactly sure how I wanted to write about it. If you follow my instagram (@andreafontanabeauty) you probably see that I love to cook. Cooking is a way for me to express creativity and relax after a long day. I love to feed others and try new recipes but I realize this isn't the way that everyone feels. I can't tell you how many times people have commented on posts or told me in person that they wish they cooked more or even knew where to start. So I wanted to share some of my tips on how I really cultivated my love for cooking and where I look for inspiration. 

Let's be honest. I have weeks where pouring a bowl of cereal for dinner seems challenging, so don't think that I cook a 3 hour meal every night. However, I hope by reading this post you find some new inspiration for integrating cooking at home more into your lifestyle. Cooking at home can not only save you money but it can also help you create new memories and challenge yourself in new ways. 

First let's talk about how I find inspiration of what I'm going to cook.

Create a recipe book/binder. If I had to give one tip to someone trying to cook more, this would be it. There's a million ways to do this, but the main point is create a space that houses ONLY recipes that you love and enjoy making. I bought a notebook when I was 18 and created sections with tabs and immediately started writing family recipes into it. As I find recipes online or in cookbooks that I make and love, I always write it in. Now, almost 10 years later and it's filled with so many recipes. While I love my cookbooks (trust me I have quite the collection of at least 40), I love that if I'm ever drawing a blank on what to make, I can open this notebook and find tons of recipes that I know I love. I also cannot wait to pass it down to future generations. Some people like Pinterest for this, but personally I like a hard copy book to read while cooking. 

Read cookbooks. I know that you're thinking this is obvious but are you actually doing it? I personally hate reading recipes from my phone. Most of the time my fingers are messy and I end up having to unlock my phone 35 times, so it gets annoying. Having a hard copy book in front of me just makes things smoother for me when cooking so I find I enjoy it more. I also like to have cookbooks on hand because I will browse them for recipe inspiration at night before bed. If I know I have a lot of chicken in the freezer or I'm craving a soup, I'll search in the index and find new recipes to try. I know this seems old school in a world of Pinterest and Google, but sometimes I feel like those can be overwhelming and add to the stress of cooking. Try to simplify. 

Buy used cookbooks. This one is a must for me and  my secret to keeping my love for cooking within a sane budget. I could get lost in a used book store for hours. Many people don't think of looking for cookbooks at used book stores but there are so many goldmines waiting to be discovered! I love the fact that I never know what I'm going to find and I have found some MAJOR steals. There are often classic $40 cookbooks for $6 or $7 at my used book store, so start searching and I promise you it will be worth it. Plus sometimes you find notes from previous home chefs that add to the fun of trying new recipes!

Next, I want to share what I do in my kitchen to make cooking easier and less time consuming.

Stock your pantry. This one is huge for a few reasons. First, I know a lot of people who complain about cooking because if they don't keep much on hand, they are always having to buy almost all of the ingredients in the recipe every time they want to make something. Stocking a pantry is so important for this reason. If you always have your basic grains, spices, onions, garlic, broths, canned veg, and more on hand, you can cut your grocery list in half. This can make a new recipe seem less daunting because you don't have to buy as much. Usually when trying a new recipe out, I only have to buy 3-7 items, because I keep my pantry well stocked. Buying in bulk goes along with this, because you can save so much money. I like to store a lot of my things like oats, rices, lentils, flours, etc, in mason and decorative glass jars so they are always stocked. This allows me to buy them in bulk when I see a great sale and eliminates me purchasing products with extra packaging. Not only will you save money by doing this, but you'll also help save the planet! Sometimes if I'm too busy to grocery shop or simply don't want to spend money on groceries that week, I will challenge myself to create something delicious just by cleaning out my pantry. I usually do this one week a month.

Freeze leftovers. One of the best things I recently started doing was freezing my leftovers instead of saving them in my fridge. I used to put everything in the fridge and I'd find that I didn't want to eat it again so soon so the leftovers would often go to waste. If it freezes well, now I will pop it in a freezer bag to enjoy another day. I know some people don't enjoy cooking because the recipe makes too much and they don't want to eat it for 4 more meals. You can wait a few weeks until you're craving that meal again, defrost it, and you have a quick weeknight meal. 

Lastly, let's talk about planning my meals. How do I decide what to make and when?

Meal Plan. I know this probably comes as no surprise, but in order to save money and not waste food, you really have to meal plan. I like to start by reading my weekly ads for my local grocery stores to see what is on sale. Based on those sales, I will find recipes that use those ingredients. Because I'm usually reading so many cookbooks, I will have recipes in the back of my head that I want to try and will come to mind when I see something is on sale. If you don't want to read cookbooks, simply pop open that homemade recipe book and find all the chicken recipes when chicken is on sale, for example. If I find that a protein is on sale, I will often buy a lot, freeze half or base all of my recipes for that week on it. I usually meal plan every Sunday for one week and only grocery shop once a week. This allows me to not get too overwhelmed and get in and out of the store quickly. 

I hope this post helps you take the step to spend more time in the kitchen. There is so much that can be learned and treasured in my favorite room of the house. Please share your favorite tips for cooking below and share this post with someone you love.

AND GO COOK A MEAL FOR SOMEONE YOU LOVE!

Have a beautiful day,

Andrea