Dining out is a disaster for most

Spending a lot more time at home over the past few months have challenged us to rediscover and experiment with more cooking! Though it does not come easily to everyone, the beauty of home cooking is that there is no one right way to do it. Whether you lean on culinary shortcuts like salad kits to make easy and flavorful meals, or microwave baked potatoes and frozen veggies, or if you’ve been baking up a storm and inevitably creating a lot more dishes than usual — there may be a silver lining to it all, especially when it comes to our health.

One study published in The Journal of Nutrition, suggests that eating out may have been detrimental to the diets of many Americans. Researchers evaluated the diets of more than 35,000 adults between 2003-2016 finding that 20% of calories consumed were from fast food or full-service restaurants – most of which were low quality (lacking in fruit and vegetables, whole grains and too much saturated fat). Only about 1% of all restaurant meals documented were considered ideal and dining out accounted for more than half of all food dollars! Lucky for us, studies show that homemade meals are both tastier AND healthier! So, if grocery shopping, meal planning and preparing several meals a day has taken a toll on you, remember the bright side to eating at home shines on your health.

If you feel like you need to add some excitement to your mealtime routine, check these out!

• Experiment with time saving tips of homemade frozen meals.
• Add a twist at dinner time try al fresco dining.
• Switch it up with Breakfast for Dinner try protein packed breakfast ideas.
• Shake things up with a simple tapas party by serving crudité, deviled egg white bitesalong.