Cooking fresh: advantages, shopping properly, tips and interesting facts

Cooking fresh: the many advantages

Freshly prepared food simply tastes better than ready-made meals. (Photo by: Goodluz / Depositphotos)

The advantage of fresh cooking – you really know what is in the dish.

If you do not use spice mixtures, but only use individual products such as salt, pepper, herbs, etc., the risk of chemical substitutes and flavor enhancers is very low.

And: fresh cooking is fun and communicative. Just bring your blackheads into the kitchen and let them take part in the sumptuous preparations, whether with family or friends. It’s not without reason that so many people like open-plan kitchens these days.

In addition, you have control over what is put on the table and in what quantities, so you can re-focus depending on your mood – or the balance. And there is little risk of something completely unloved spoiling your appetite.

Buy right

The fresh cooking fun begins with the shopping, because instead of promising packaging with – often perfectly food-styled and therefore “embellished” – pictures on it, fresh individual products go into the shopping cart.

Anyone who knows the different freshness labels of the various types of fruit and vegetables will find it easy to buy the right one.

Freshly prepared salads can be seasoned and refined to suit your taste and mood. (Photo by: Nitrub / Depositphotos)

Tip: use all of your senses. Seeing, touching and smelling are now required. Is the stalk already dried out and woody, are the outer leaves already yellow, is the lettuce mushy at the bottom, does the fruit have a lot of pressure points, is it already shriveling, what is the smell like, where are fruit flies?

Keep your eyes peeled when buying meat or fish:

• Beef has a dark red, strong color.
• Pork should look tender pink and shiny.

Tip: Only firm meat – the finger test is usually also possible with packaged meat – is fresh meat. With packaged meat, make sure that it does not swim in its own juice. Fresh meat hardly loses any water.

In the case of fish, pay attention to clear eyes and red, slimy-free gills; in the case of “disassembled” fish, ensure that they are smooth, shiny pieces.

Tips

A big advantage of cooking yourself is that you know which ingredients are being used. (Photo by: lenecnikolai / Depositphotos)

When it comes to the portions, make sure not to over-measure them, but instead eat some fruit for dessert. Make sure you cook low-fat and vitamin-friendly.

Vegetables are much more nutritious and “al dente” and the noodles also taste better with a bite.

You can also try out alternative preparation options or switch between raw vegetables, vegetarian and whole foods.

And cook with foresight: For example, the vegetable stock could form the basis for a soup tomorrow. Or skimmed fat from today’s meat cooking can be used tomorrow for roasting.