There are a few reasons why people eat at restaurants. The most important reason is that restaurant food is really tasty. But you might also like the experience of eating at a restaurant, and you might definitely appreciate the lack of cooking and washing up.
While it’s good to eat out as a treat, it’s not always possible to always eat at a restaurant. The food is a lot more expensive and unhealthy than a home cooked meal. But if you change how you cook, you can make your meals far tastier so you won’t miss restaurant cooking anywhere near as much.
Healthy Tasty Food
One of the reasons that restaurants have such tasty food is that they don’t care about your health. Fat, salt, and sugar are all delicious additions to their meals that make the food so rich and moreish, but they aren’t great for you or your family.
One way to encourage children to appreciate healthier food is by finding the balance between taste and health.
You don’t need to add as much fat, salt, and butter to your food to make it delicious. Think about how you season it with spices and acids for more flavor. But don’t be afraid of a bit of salt and butter if it needs it. By using butter to finish food rather than start cooking, you can replicate that richness without having anywhere near as much fat as a restaurant cooked meal.
Instead, start cooking with just enough olive oil or other healthy fat to get things going. Drain or blot excess fat before serving.
Knowing When to Start From Scratch
Believe it or not, most restaurants don’t do everything from scratch. Fresh foods do often taste better, but not always. So the key is knowing when to go the extra mile and when to cut corners and save yourself time and effort.
For example, while dried pasta is nice enough, fresh pasta is a whole new experience. It’s also not too difficult to make, although it’s time consuming and can make a mess of your countertop.
On the other hand, homemade cornbread is amazing, but if you get the best corn bread box mix, you can enjoy the same cornbread that is served in a lot of restaurants, without expending a load of time and effort.
This way, you can focus on the parts of your meal that need a bit of extra love.
Finishing Touches
When you’re in a restaurant, it’s often the finishing touches that do a lot of the work. Presentation matters, we eat with our eyes first. While you don’t need to spend ages lovingly laying out each plate, it does pay to spend some time making sure the food looks as good as it tastes.
Finishing herbs and lemon juice can also add an extra layer of freshness that elevates your home cooking, all with very little effort. Grating parmesan instead of getting pre-grated cheese can also do wonders.