Just because you enjoy foods with intense flavors and aromas doesn’t mean you want your house to smell like what you had for breakfast, lunch, or dinner.
That’s one reason why eating meals in the great outdoors makes sense. But there are other reasons to leave the confines of your kitchen and head out to the back deck to cook and eat.
Keep reading for five reasons to cook and eat outdoors — and what you’re missing if you don’t.
1. Save Money by Not Dining Out
The average household spends an average of $2,375 annually — or about $198 monthly — on dining out and takeout. While it can be a nice treat to take the family to a fancy restaurant or a buffet meal occasionally, you can see how eating food prepared by an eatery can cost you.
However, you can save money by cooking outside. You can up the ante by investing in an outdoor kitchen equipped with just about everything you have in your indoor kitchen.
Cooking on your patio deck instead of spending hundreds of dollars a month at restaurants makes sense. Who knows? You and yours might find eating outdoors more fun than going to a restaurant.
2. More Options for Entertaining
Eating outdoors with family, friends, and neighbors can also provide greater opportunities for socializing and entertaining. Do you wish you had more space inside to host more people? A functional outdoor kitchen on your back deck will give you more space, says rtaoutdoorliving.com. You can make more of the available square footage of your residence if you can set up a table and chairs on the patio.
As long as the weather cooperates, you can prepare the meal, gather outdoors, and enjoy some meeting and greeting.
3. Reduce Energy Costs — And Keep Interior Temperature Down
If the temperature is scorching hot outside and you don’t have an air conditioner in your home, one of the worst things you can do is turn on the stove or oven for extended periods of time. All that’ll do is increase the temperature inside your home even more.
Instead of increasing your utility bill unnecessarily, do your cooking outside. With some shade overhead to avoid excessive sun exposure, you and yours can sit together and enjoy a meal.
4. Spend More Time Outdoors
Cooking and eating outside can also offer significant health benefits, says WebMD. For instance, you can get your daily dose of vitamin D by going outdoors. This essential vitamin is critical for blood cells, bones, and immune systems, and it’ll facilitate the absorption of minerals like phosphorus and calcium. The thing with vitamin D is that the human body does not manufacture it. You need exposure to sunlight to get the vitamin D your body needs for optimal health.
Spending time outdoors can also reduce anxiety, help provide a better night’s sleep, improve mental health, increase self-esteem, boost immunity, and more.
5. Enjoy Healthier Eating
Yet another reason to cook outdoors is that it can make for healthy meals. According to research, grilling food can lessen your odds of getting chronic diseases like type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and some types of cancer. Heading outside, firing up the grill, and cooking steak, fish, or anything else will ensure excess fat is easily drained away so meals are more nutritious and the calorie count is lower. Grilling food can also enhance flavor and improve texture.
Consider these five benefits of cooking and eating outdoors the next time you prepare for mealtime. Whether you simply use a grill or invest in an outdoor kitchen, you and your family can enjoy the benefits of preparing and eating breakfast, lunch, and dinner outside.