Can cooking be a form of relaxation? Yes! Although for many of us, meal preparation is a daily necessity, cooking can be a time of relaxation. For those who plan their days and time well, cooking can actually have a calming effect. But for cooking to be a form of relaxation, you have to plan ahead. Taking the time to plan and prepare healthy meals, not only can provide a form of stress relief, it can also provide more healthy living. Many of you have schedules that are busy with work, or with kids and their activities, or with volunteer activities that took longer than anticipated. So you say that you have simply run out of time in the day. You have little extra time to hang out in the kitchen and prepare a wholesome home-cooked meal for you and your family. But that is not so. Let’s rethink this idea.
Plan Ahead
What’s for dinner? It is a question that is asked every day! Often we find ourselves struggling to come up with an answer-too little time and too little energy is left at the end of a busy day. Often our family members are scattered, and it is hard to find time to sit down to a meal together. One way to take the stress out of meal planning and cooking is to get into the habit of menu planning. Menu planning has benefits that make the effort worthwhile. For example: