9 Reasons You Should Eat at Home

As you probably know, I quit my corporate job back in December to focus on teaching yoga and my yoga health coaching business. Because my salary is now a bit lower than it was (and by a bit lower, I mean a lot lower!), we have cut way back on eating out. At first I was really worried about this change in our lifestyle. Growing up, eating out was considered a treat and was something that I always looked forward to. Once I got married, Steve and I continued this practice. Soon though, eating out began to serve as an emotional crutch, and it wasn’t long before we were eating out to celebrate any and all successes, any and all bad days, and any time that I was bored or just didn’t feel like cooking. This meant that we ate out several times a week, for years. Actually, we probably ate out more than we cooked in. So to say that going from eating out several times a week to only once a month was tough for me, would be an understatement. But I decided that I would embrace the change and finally pull out all those cookbooks that have been collecting dust and actually start cooking. And you know what, eating at home is so much better than eating out! This is why:

1. Let’s start with the obvious benefit, we are saving a ton of money by eating at home. I have even embraced bargain shopping!
2. Meals made at home taste better. I think this is because I am making exactly what I want (if a recipe calls for cilantro, I just leave it out, because frankly I think it tastes terrible!) and I am using the freshest possible ingredients.
3.  I can be really choosey about where my food comes from. We make a weekly trip to the farmer’s market to buy great, local, responsibly grown produce.
4. I know exactly what went into the meal, so we can easily avoid the foods that don’t agree with our stomachs.
5. It is so much easier to control the number of calories that we are consuming, which has been great for our waistlines!
6. No loud, crowded restaurants. And you get to choose the background music!
7. You can eat in your pajamas! 
8.  It is so much fun to prepare a lovely meal for the one that you love.
9. Finally, I am positive that no one has spit in my food!

So if you are trying to save some money, lose weight, or uplevel the quality of your food, avoid the crowded restaurants and eat at home. Bon appetit!