In my very first post I claimed that, besides the impact on your personal finances, I could write ten more posts about other benefits of learning how to cook.  I wondered, Hmmm, can I really think of 10 other benefits?

Damn right I can:

1. Eating deliciously is one of life’s simplest joys.  ‘Nuff said.
2. Your health!  You cook majority of the food you eat, therefore, you know exactly what’s going into it, so, it’s likely to be healthier than restaurant/takeout/freezer-aisle microwave meals AND better short/long-term health.
3. Self-esteem!  Once you develop your cooking skills a bit, you will be proud of it.  (And you should be!)  You will want to set higher standards for yourself, ’cause hey, who can resist MORE GOOD FOOD?  Which results in more confidence-building.
4. Practice makes perfect (or at least really good).  I certainly know people who do not get better at things with more practice:  I have uncles who’ve been golfing for decades and still can’t break 100.  But in general, the more you practice, the better/quicker you’ll get.  And the better you get, the more likely you are to begin enjoying it (or at least hating it less).
5. Food is love.  Food brings people together.  I’ve always heard that relationships are

   

   made and sustained over the dinner table.  But it goes much deeper than that.  Anyone who cooks for family/friends is showering these people with loveas well as food.  Cooking for someone is a way of expressing how much you love them.

6. Learning to cook hones your planning/follow-through skills.  This might sound like BS, but it’s a HUGE life skill to develop.  Anyone can talk about goals, but actually coming up with steps to get there, then completing those steps is something many of us struggle with.
7. Variety is the spice of life.  The more you cook, the more likely you’ll want to broaden your horizons and eat/learn to make dishes from many cultures.
8. Parenting skills.  Even if you NEVER want kids, you may someday need to take care of someone for a while (and feed them).  And if you do want kids, ya gotta feed ‘em… every day… for a very, very long time.
9. Coordination/multitasking skills (sub-category behavioral therapy for ADD).  Different things take different amounts of time to cook – Having everything ready and hot all at once is a skill you learn to develop when you’re a cooking newbie.  And for ADD?  Cooking forces you to practice paying attention.  You don’t want to forget a key ingredient or overcook your meal because you got distracted by new comments on your Instagram posts.
10. Party-throwing/tailgating/camping skills (sub-category match-making skills).  Most people like partying, and most people like good food.  So of course, these two things go together like peanut butter and jelly.  And the people who cook well will have no problem getting people to show up to their party, especially dudes.  (Which is where the match-making fun begins, woo hoo!)

My name is Suzanne Jacobetz, aka The Cursing Gourmet, and I am Bridget’s older (not necessarily wiser) cousin. I’m Generation X all the way and do not enjoy it when I hear 80s/90s rock on classic rock stations. I live in the mountains in Colorado with Mike, my husband of 10 years, 15+ miles from a grocery store. It’s a very quiet, peaceful life, or at least it used to be:  a year ago we had our first kiddo, a sweetie pie named Isabelle ❤️