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How to Eat in the New Normal
6 Calming Reminders If Cooking Is Stressing You Out
Remember the benefits — health-related and otherwise — of cooking at home. Then grab an apron.
This story is a part of How to Eat in the New Normal, a weeklong series about how the Covid-19 pandemic is changing the way we eat, with expert advice for making food choices that help you stay healthy and happy.
By all accounts — Instagram, my dishwasher usage, the line down the block at Trader Joe’s — everyone is cooking more right now. For some, this might be the first time in your life when you’ve prepared three meals a day. For others, you swung from overseeing cold cereal prep and packing school lunches to running a full-service fast-casual restaurant out of your home kitchen. With no a.m. prep cook. Even if you are an avid home cook, the contents and cadence of your cooking has changed.
One blessing in all this is that home cooking has measurable benefits. For one, it’s cheaper: In my own home, we are saving at least $100 a week on my husband’s lunch money. Home-cooked meals — and snacks — are likely leaner, too, the siren song of a commuter muffin or 3 p.m. coffee/cookie combo a fading echo. And it’s greener: no cardboard clamshells, no to-go cups, no plastic silverware, no straws. Beyond the quantifiables, deciding what you want to eat and when, and having an actual hand in its preparation, can offer a tiny sense of control and satisfaction at a time when so much is out of our hands and so many of life’s normal pleasures are out of reach.
So, take heart. The foreseeable future will probably continue to involve your budding (or sharpening) chef skills, but there’s a lot to feel good about in that. Whether you’re a new home cook or a seasoned one, providing for yourself or an extended fam, the following will help you cook smart, cook easily, and cook calmly.
If there were ever a time for the whole family to get down on chicken fingers and buttered corn niblets, it’s now.
