There are many reasons why it’s easier to order and dine out. Not everyone was born to be the next top chef and that’s okay. Your roadblocks may include not having enough time, money, or skills. Like anything else in life, getting comfortable in the kitchen takes time and practice. Here are some tips to find the time, money, and get comfortable in the kitchen.

First, let’s talk about the benefits of cooking at home.

When you take control of what goes into your body it takes the power out of the hands of others. This allows you the opportunity to choose the ingredients to energize and fuel your body.

Eating take out or going out adds up. Let’s say you go out to dinner one night a week or order in. The food, service (delivery or waitstaff) it all adds up. If money is what's stopping you from cooking at home, limit how much you spend on dining out for one week and put that money towards a grocery bank.

If you aren’t busy you are not working hard enough. We’re all busy and setting aside the time to cook can take a lot of time. In this day and age of the internet, there are endless amounts of recipes online to try, especially ones that can support those with time restrictions. 15-mins or less, weekly meal preps with just a little research you will find there are plenty of quick and easy recipes to follow.

Now let’s get comfortable

Find one or two food bloggers that resonate with you. Look for people who speak your cooking language. Vegan, Dairy-Free, 9-ingredients, or less, find those recipes you can easily understand and follow.

Remember! Before your next grocery store trip write down those ingredients to tackle your first recipe.

Learn if you are a by-the-recipe kind of cook + baker or if you can free flow. As much as we’d all love to improvise right off the bat, if cooking doesn’t come naturally it's safe to say try to stick to the recipe. Only if you are out of an ingredient or have dietary restrictions should you venture off - that is the best time to do a little more research. What does this ingredient mean to the recipe? Can it be replaced, if so by what? Can it be removed, great! Taking 1-2 mins to research can work wonders (be sure to save your edits somewhere so you can come back to what you did before)

Be OK with not everything going according to plan. Sometimes the recipe is a miss for you. That doesn’t mean you are not good at it. There are many elements in the kitchen that can throw off your final product. Don’t stress, remember what went wrong and try again or try something new next time.

If the recipe is stressing you out, then it's not for you. Start small, stick to one or two meals you can make, and call your own. Keep at it and cook with a purpose, whether it is to make a nutritious meal for you and your family or fun.

We’re in the kitchen cooking daily and we want to see what’s cooking in your kitchen. Tag @dailyoriginkitchen on your next cooking adventure

Find Time, Save Money, and Get Comfortable in the Kitchen.