Happy New Year!! One of the things my friends and I are focusing on in 2021 is cooking, so we have a collaborative post for you with some fun cooking resolution (or goals, if you don’t like the word resolution) ideas.
One of the plus points of 2020 was that it allowed people to reappraise their approach to home cooking. With fewer places to go, there was less pressure to get everything done “in an instant”. Instead, the focus shifted to the overall quality of the food and the experience of creating it. With that in mind, here are six cooking resolutions for 2021 and beyond.
Commit to trying new forms of cooking
It’s only too easy to get into the habit of cooking the same recipes day in and day out, especially if they’re family favorites. This might not exactly be a mistake but it does limit your horizons. What’s more, it’s such a shame when the internet is full of places where you can expand your knowledge of food, diets, and cooking. For example, you could make 2021 the year you learn all about recipes for carnivore diet. Or, on an opposite end of the spectrum, maybe it’s time to incorporate meatless Mondays into your menu?
Upgrade your cutting skills
If you’ve ever watched cooking shows, you may have wondered how professional chefs ever learn to cut so quickly and accurately. The answer is a combination of technique, practice, and equipment. With a bit of effort, you can acquire all three. It’s worth taking the time to do so because it can make home cooking both easier and more fun.
Downgrade your utensils drawer
Contrary to what you might see in adverts, most chefs tend to avoid ingredient-specific food tools. They know their cutting skills are good enough to handle anything they’re handed. This means that they don’t feel the need to fill up their kitchen drawers with stuff they “might” need – “just in case”. Take a lesson from them and purge your utensils drawer.
Learn what your spices actually do
It’s easy to acquire a rack full of spices without really understanding more than a few of them. You just buy what a recipe says because you don’t have the time or the confidence to look at what you have already and see if you have a reasonable (or even a better) alternative. Make 2021 the year you commit to learning your way around the wonderful world of spices.
Grow your own greens
If you already do this, grow some more. Herbs are the obvious place to start growing your own food but there are plenty of other options. For example, growing your own sprouts is really easy and the results are both tasty and massively nutritious. You can up your game even further by growing proper vegetables and even fruits. There are options for even the smallest of spaces. I’m a notorious plant killer but one of my 2021 goals is to defeat this self fulfilling prophesy and keep something green alive.
Use up all food
Food waste is one of the biggest issues on the planet right now. What’s more, throwing out perfectly good food means that you’ve totally wasted the money you spent on it. Promise yourself (and the planet) that you’ll do your best to make sure that 2021 is the year this no longer happens, at least in your house.
You can even turn expiring food into a way to expand your cooking horizons. Just look for a recipe to use it up and give it a try. It may not work out how you’d hoped (or it may work out better), but at least you can say you tried. If not, you’ll at least have a fun story to share over takeout!
Do you have any fun resolutions or goals for this year? I’d love to hear about them!!
-Kristen
This is a collaborative post and may contain affiliate links, from which I may receive income. All opinions are, as always, my own. While I am an ACE Certified Health Coach and Personal Trainer I am not a medical professional and the information provided in this post is not to be considered medical advice.
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