Week 44 - 7 Green Reasons to Cook from Scratch (Part 2)
As promised here are 7 more green reasons you should be cooking from scratch and not buying ready meals or takeaways. The first 7 reasons can be found here.
7 Green Reasons to Cook from Scratch (Part 2)
1. Less salt and Sugar
Ready cooked meals and takeaways are often high in salt and sugar making them a pretty poor food option. Eating too many can lead to health problems whose treatment is a drain on valuable resources.
2. Avoids chemical additives
Likewise such food is often laden with all sorts so chemical additives. Whether these are unhealthy is argued at length elsewhere but do you really want to be filling your body with masses of man-made ingredients? Home-made food also tastes fabulous!
3. Greater understanding of where food comes from
If you cook from scratch you can start to understand where your food comes from and how it was produced. Buy a takeaway chicken dinner and you have no connection to the fact that the chicken probably led its entire life in a factory farm, was fed with all sorts of growth hormones etc before being killed in a huge inhumane abattoir and then the meat pumped with water. But make that same chicken dinner yourself and you can choose a outdoor reared bird that is not full of chemicals and was despatched quickly in a humane way and not full of water. You will also be able to choose food that is local and seasonal.
4. Slows life down a bit and holds friends and families together
The 21st century is a fast place where everything, including food is instant. Bung an over-packaged meal in the microwave and gobble it down a few minutes later. In contrast cooking from scratch helps slow things down a bit. It gives you time to really appreciate what you are eating and you are much more likely to eat the meal together with friends and family around a table - a simple way to foster great relationships with the people in your life.
You may also find yourself talking to food producers about the best way to cook certain ingredients, what is in season and how the food was produced. When you know more about who produces your food you are more likely to want to cook with and eat ethically produced food.
5. Puts you in control of where your food comes from
Much ready cooked food is manufactured by multinational companies whose interest is profit-centred not food-centred. They control what the farmers grow and how. They have huge buying power and can reject produce and force down the price paid to farmers who in turn cut corners to try and make a profit themselves. When you cook from scratch you can choose where your food is produced and how. You are in control and you can choose organic, ethical, fair-trade and local food
6. Retains vital skills
Popping a ready cooked meal in the oven may be quick and convenient but what if you can't do that? How are you going to feed yourself and your family if you don't know how to cook. What if ready cooked food becomes too expensive for you to buy? Cooking from scratch means you retain these vital skills.
7. It's fun and gives you a sense of achievement
And that has to be a good thing!
Do you have any more reasons why we should be cooking from scratch. Do please let me know in a comment.
Have you seen all the other posts in my #WeeklyGreenTips series? Click on "Weekly Green Tips" in the labels section in the right hand column for loads more green inspiration.
Yes, there are added salt and sugar in everything! Making from scratch is so much better in that regard. Thanks for sharing on the #WasteLessWednesday blog hop!
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