11 Simple Ways To Make Cooking More Enjoyable

Although cooking can sometimes feel like a boring and never-ending process, there are many easy ways to make it more enjoyable. There are also many techniques that will help you save time when you cook. While eating out is fine every now and then, it can quickly eat into your savings. Moreover, it’s not the most healthy choice you can make every day. No matter how hard you try to avoid cooking, you will eventually find yourself trying to find some easy recipes online. To avoid frustration and disappointment, it’s best to learn how to make cooking more enjoyable and easier. Within this guide, you will find some of our top tips to have a better experience when cooking.

Create A Food Bar

If you often find yourself making separate meals for everyone in your household, it might be a better idea to create a food bar instead. As a result, you are more likely to cater to everyone’s conflicting preferences and make the whole experience more enjoyable. This way, it will be easy for your family and guests to choose whatever they like. Food bars are also versatile and customizable, as you can easily prepare them in advance. What is more, this will allow you to unleash your creativity and try something new.

Make Delicious Pizzas

There is hardly anything better than homemade pizza, so if you are looking for a new way to make delicious pizzas, you may want to get a wood-fired pizza oven. For example, at Ooni you can find the perfect outdoor pizza oven, which provides multiple fuel options. The Ooni Karu 16 offers an amazing outdoor experience, allowing you to make fantastic large pizzas, seared vegetables, roasted meats, or fresh bread. You will also enjoy great temperature control, visibility, as well as increased oven insulation. These outdoor pizza ovens also ensure maximum flexibility to make the most of your cooking experience.

Organize Themed Dinners

Themed dinners have recently increased in popularity and it’s easy to see why. Assigning a category to each day means that you won’t need to think about what to cook each night. Therefore, the cooking process will become much easier and you won’t need to spend hours searching for dinner inspiration online or leafing through your cookbooks and magazines. As things get simpler, you will find that you are enjoying the experience much more. Some fun ideas you can try include Meatless Mondays, Taco Tuesdays, Fish Fridays, or Sandwich Saturdays.

Find New Recipes

It can be helpful to look for new recipes every now and then to avoid getting bored, especially if you eat the same foods every week. Make it a point to search for new ideas every other week to keep things exciting. For instance, you can try cooking some globally-inspired recipes, such as Asian stir-fry recipes or classic Italian pasta. Nowadays, it’s easier than ever to find plenty of recipes online and adjust them so that they suit your preferences. Also, if you are not the most confident cook, be sure to look for easy and quick recipes, that feel more manageable to you.

Learn New Healthy Cooking Methods

Making healthy choices for your diet means that you will be able to nourish your body, increase your energy, and boost your mood every day. As a result, this will motivate you to learn more healthy cooking methods. For example, it might be beneficial to steam, bake, or grill your food instead of frying or deep-frying it. It’s advisable to keep your pantry stocked with healthy ingredients that are quick to prepare and easy to cook. You can also add flavor with herbs and spices, which are full of nutrients and can help you discover new ways of preparing your favorite dishes.

Invite Friends Over

Inviting your friends to cook with you is one of the best ways to make cooking more fun and pleasant. This can also be a great opportunity to bond with new friends and share some of your favorite foods with them. If you have children, it can be a good idea to get them involved in the process so that they can learn some useful skills for the future. Making cooking a social event can bring a variety of positive emotions for everyone involved, regardless of your skills or cooking experience.

Use A Sharp Knife

Another important factor you will need to consider is the type of knife that you usually use. If you are using a dull knife to chop your vegetables, you are likely to get frustrated. In fact, you may even have an accident, which wouldn’t happen if you had a sharper knife. This is because it’s difficult for a dull knife to break through the surface, which makes it more likely to slip. Therefore, it’s important to ensure that you have at least one good knife and a sharpener to make things easier.

Clean Your Kitchen

Having a messy kitchen makes it impossible to enjoy cooking, as you will constantly feel distracted and demotivated to use your creativity. What is more, a messy and dirty kitchen is more likely to lead to an unpleasant meal. Instead of waiting until dinner is finished to clean, be sure to clean as you go. Whenever you have a few spare minutes, you can give your kitchen some love. Also, make sure that everything is tidy and organized so that you can quickly find what you are looking for when you are in the middle of a recipe.

Listen To A Podcast Or An Audiobook

At times, you may feel like whenever you are in the kitchen, time seems to drag, so you may just need some entertainment while you cook. Listening to an interesting podcast while you are prepping your vegetables for a stew or washing the dishes after a big dinner can be a great way to distract your mind and even learn new things. You can find a wide range of topics from murder mysteries to comedy podcasts. Alternatively, you may want to check out some of the latest audiobooks and get lost in an exciting story.

Trust Your Instincts 

While it’s important to follow directions and read recipes carefully, there are certain cases when you might be able to break the rules. Not every recipe is perfect for everyone, so you should always trust your instincts. Instead of using recipes as rules, treat them as guidelines and allow yourself to be flexible from time to time. Also, it can be hard to always get the precise measurements and cooking times listed in the recipe. Therefore, you should remember to watch your food as it cooks and taste it as you go so that you can determine what seasonings you need to use next.

Let Go Of Perfection

Letting go of perfection is one of the most important things you will need to consider when it comes to cooking, especially if you are a beginner. It’s inevitable that some meals will not turn out exactly the way you expect them to. Therefore, you shouldn’t be hard on yourself if mistakes happen. Although it might feel frustrating at the time, you will only get better as you go. Moreover, stressing over little details can make it more difficult to enjoy the process.