Cooking at Home

Begin the conversation by reading the key messages

1. Cook your own food when you can.

2. Cooking can be an enjoyable activity.

3. Meals and snacks can be simple.

You can use this Cooking at Home goal sheet (pdf) to help guide the discussion.

Share important information about cooking at home

You may have heard the food you eat can make a difference in how you feel. You can support your health and well-being by gaining food skills and nutrition knowledge. The key is finding foods you like and setting realistic goals.

Simple meals and snacks can be tasty and help you feel better. Cooking doesn’t need to be confusing or time-consuming. It could be a cold sandwich or a hot meal. Do your best each day to make food choices that work for you.

Choose an open-ended question to reflect on cooking at home

1. Do you normally eat out or cook at home? Why? (time, money, family/friends, work, where I live, cooking skills.)

2. How can cooking at home help you feel better? (enjoyable activity, know better what is in my food)

3. What might be some meals or snacks you want to cook? (What comes to mind that you can try?)

Come up with ideas for a specific goal

Select a change (ideally goals come from the person, these are just ideas):

1. Use quick and easy recipes

2. Try new cooking skills

3. Find small ways to add fruits or vegetable into your cooking

Help make a plan (be specific -- time, day, action -- and start small):

• I will cook with a new herb or spice this week.

• Tomorrow I will try a new fruit for breakfast.

Ideas for recipes:

• Real Life, Good Food

• MyPlate Kitchen

Assess confidence in meeting the goal

On a scale of 1-10 how confident are you that you can meet your plan?

Close with quotes from what others said about this topic

“I make it a point to do my own home cooking because I live near three fast food restaurants, and I stay away from all of them. It doesn't do my health any good, so I make it a point to cook on my own and it's really, really healthy to cook because it gives me all the vegetables and nutrients I need to keep me healthy, and it's flavorful and full of energy. The kind you won't get from fast food, put it like that.”