Is ordering in becoming a style of cooking?

These days ordering in has become the most convenient way of feeding myself and my family. Back in the days we had to check if the restaurant we wanted to eat from had a delivery service, if so, are we within their delivery ratio, and if we were, hooray! If not, we had to get up and either get dressed to eat out or to go pick up the food which made us much less likely to do it. Now I can just grab my phone (just kidding I already have it in my hand) and order through a delivery service such as UberEats or DoorDash, or whichever other app has the restaurant I like or am in the mood for on that day. I have found that for about $20-$30 dollars I can have dinner delivered to me within minutes and I even have leftovers for my lunch the next day at no additional cost now that I am being more mindful about portion control.

So, the question is, should we adopt since maybe this is a new, better way to feed our family or should we fight it and continue the good old cooking ways? Our goal in the soon-to-be-Fernandez household is to cook at least 4-5 days a week. This goal is not met 80% of the time. In part because I can be a bit lazy and because sometimes I just “forget” to defrost the chicken (wink). When we do order in, I try to make healthier choices such as eating half of my meal and saving my leftovers for lunch and ordering leaner options overall.

Here I have summarized some opinions I have put together after a bit of thought on the subject:

Money saving

→ When eating out is cheaper than cooking this most likely means the quality of the food is not the same. If you are paying for the food and convenience plus the salary of everyone along the way, something must be sacrificed and more often than not it is the quality of the product.

Healthier choice of food and cooking methods

→ This is a bit tricky. I often find myself eating unhealthy foods because I feel like hey I’m out! You only live once! I don’t always get to eat this, and I cooked all week, so I am going to treat myself. When you eat out all the time this way of thinking is a bit different because you are not giving yourself the cooked-at-home meals during the week, so you may feel a little guilty, leading to order a grilled vs fried chicken and so forth.

When you cook, you know what you are putting on your plate

→ This is true. However, unless you are growing your own food, odds are you don’t know exactly where it is coming from. Yes, you do have more control over what the label of the products says but that is about it.

Increased Self esteem

→ Last but not least, this is actually my biggest motivator to cook at home. When I cook, the food is good, and my fiancé enjoys it, it is the biggest complement. I feel like my day is really complete now. I fed my family and I did it all by myself. This is one of the most rewarding feelings in the home-making department.

Ultimately, it is up to you to decide what your preference is. I have some weeks where I cook regularly, and I have some where I am lazy and don’t want to cook at all. There are also times where we get busy and it is just easier to order some food on the way home. For some of us, the thought of getting home to cook is more stressful than eating a not-so-healthy meal. So where do you draw the line? How do you prioritize? Like everything else, I say go with balance.

♦ Prep for the week as much as you can and defrost the foods that need to be defrosted ahead of time.

♦ Try and rotate similar meals so that you have the ingredients on hand versus trying to come up with different dishes that require a new set of ingredients that will only sit on your pantry to expire.

And when it all fails, order in and try to make it as healthy as you possibly can, enjoy the meal and prep so that you can put something together yourself the next day and minimize the damage.