How to Get Motivated to Cook When You'd Rather Order In for Dinner

Do you have a list of take-out restaurants that you regularly order from?  It often feels so much easier to order pizza, Chinese, subs, whatever. So how can you get motivated to cook when all you want to do is dial out for dinner?

First, you have to make it easy to make a healthy choice, and second, you have to make it fun.

There are three basic ways to make cooking at home more appealing than ordering out.

#1:  Plan Ahead

It may sound like a lot of work, but meal planning is your friend! From your waistline to your pocketbook, your whole life is going to thank you for this small act of organization. And it can be effortless.

Pick seven meals. If they require recipes, find them online for free.

It’s as easy as typing in “healthy recipes” into Google, and BAM, you’ve got TONS of hits. Or, if you like, subscribe to online recipe blogs and magazines and regularly get lots of good ideas.

It's one thing to have recipes and another thing to be able to find them quickly.  I keep all of my recipes on Pinterest.  If I find myself using the same recipe over and over, I import it into AnyList, where I can add it to my meal plan and shopping list.  Easy peasy!  There are many apps like AnyList that you can use.  Many are free, and some require a small subscription. 

#2:  Prep ahead

Before you start work, defrost anything that needs defrosting. There is no better motivation to cook the chicken than having a fully defrosted bird sitting in the fridge when you get home. Give it a quick rinse and a rub down with olive oil and herbs, and it’s into the oven at 350º for the next hour and a half, which gives you plenty of time to do other things. You get the idea.

Another prep ahead tip is to start gathering your dinner ingredients while you are making breakfast. When you finish work, everything will be ready for action. You’ll have zero stress over what to make, and most of the prep is complete.

Do whatever you can ahead of time. If you don’t have a lot of time during the week, try batch cooking on the weekend.  This will leave your weeknights more about assembly than cooking. Pre-cook chicken breasts, ground turkey, and roasted veggies. Slice, dice, and chop anything that will keep. That way, you just have to portion out existing ingredients and add spices to create a week’s worth of meals.

#3:  Get inspired

Once or twice a week, try something new. Try thinking of cooking as a creative outlet instead of a chore, and you’ll be much more motivated to cook at home. One word of warning, don’t overestimate yourself. Getting too ambitious can kill your motivation to cook.

I like to take a few minutes to scroll through cooking sites to find new ideas. I only look at recipes with a 4 or 5-star rating, and I’m picky about ingredients. The fewer, the better!  The pictures and descriptions usually motivate me to save one or two to Pinterest, and then I cycle them into my usual routine.

You can even try a new cooking toy. How about a spiralizer?  If you don’t own one, these little gadgets turn things like zucchini into a pasta substitute that is tasty and low cal. Top it with almost anything, and you’ve got a homemade meal heavy on the veggies. New knives or a novelty can opener can up your fun quotient too. And fun is always motivating!

Speaking of fun, music is universally inspiring. Make a killer playlist for cooking and rock out while you chop out. Put on some music that gets you happy and make cooking dinner a party. Most of us use music to inspire our workouts. Why not let your favorite tunes motivate you to cook too?  The point is to take care of yourself with food.

Here are five reasons cooking at home trumps ordering in:

1) You’ll Have More Energy

When you’re in control of your diet, you can make sure you are getting energizing foods like broccoli, cabbage, and kale in your diet. Blueberries, dark chocolate, eggs, and fatty fish packed full of Omega 3s are all great for your brain. The nutrients in these foods supply motivation.

2) You’ll Eat Less Salt

In restaurants, chefs depend on fat and salt to boost flavor. On top of that, many chain restaurants use canned or frozen ingredients, loaded with salt and preservatives, as a base. And fast food is notorious for its sodium content because it’s such a quick, cheap, flavor-enhancing trick. When you cook at home, you control how much and what kind of sodium you ingest. A sprinkle of sea salt at the table is so much better for you than a teaspoon of table salt in the restaurant kitchen.

3) You’ll Eat Healthy Fats

Instead of consuming trans fats and cheap, low-nutrition, high-calorie fats that damage your heart and make you fat, you can cook with good fats like olive oil, avocados, and coconut oil. Healthy fats help to form cell membranes and build bone. They increase calcium absorption and boost your bone health.

4) You’ll Stress Less

Instead of thinking about cooking as a chore, start thinking of it as taking control of your life. Eating well is the cornerstone of good health. It’s also a creative activity that can help you focus, put things in perspective, relieve worries, and put you in an almost meditative state. Cooking is a great way to make yourself mindful.

5) You’ll Save Money

The salmon and brown rice you prepare in thirty minutes at home costs approximately $5 per person. If that same entree costs $21 at your favorite restaurant and you serve four people, you can save $64 in one night. Savings like that can add up to a great pair of shoes, a weekend getaway, or a dozen other “extras.”

Not everyone loves to cook. It’s a fact.

But everyone can find the motivation to cook.

Your health, your relationships, and your wallet all get a huge boost from a home-cooked meal. So when you’re looking for motivation to cook over dialing for dinner, just remember to keep it simple and fun. The benefits you win just by putting down your phone and picking up your spatula should help keep you in the kitchen and out of your car.