As an experiment, I once set a goal to eat only homecooked meals for a month. My intention was to look learn about health benefits – which were great – but I never anticipated all the other benefits. To help with my goal, I used Cook’n because it encourages you to make your own meals and eat at home.

Now, as I’m looking forward to the New Year, I’m setting some resolutions and I’ve realized that going back to my month-long experiment should be at the top of my list. I’ve made a list of how Cook’n can help you with your New Year’s Resolutions below. If you’re not interested in this article, at least read the last paragraph. It’ll be worth it!

Save Money

When I eat out, I spend about $10 on myself. However, when I challenged myself by planning meals with Cook’n and eating only homemade food, I ended up spending about $1.25 PER DAY. And that included grass-fed beef.

As a busy student and worker, I used to eat out at least once per day, which sent my food expenses up to about $100 per week. After my one-month Cook’n experiment, my food expenses plummeted to close to $10 per week. I got married at the end of my experiment, and with all of that saved money, my wife and I splurged on the best honeymoon I could afford.

Honestly, this story sounds too good to be true. In fact, if I hadn’t done it myself, I probably wouldn’t have believed it. So, in that case, you might just have to trust me on this: eating homemade food saves an unbelievable amount of money, so try it out!

The primary ways Cook’n helped me save money were menu planning and shopping lists. These are two Cook’n tools that go hand in hand. Here are a few tips to optimize your savings and make these tools easy:

• Don’t be afraid to repeat meals. I’m okay having eggs and toast for breakfast every day, especially if I’m experimenting with different spices, herbs and sauces to keep it fun. This saved me a lot of work because I didn’t have to reinvent the wheel every week by planning an entirely new menu. It also saved a lot of effort because I got really good at making eggs quickly.

• Keep it simple. That may sound obvious, but here’s an example: I tried putting Ratatouille in the middle of my week at least three times. But when I came home from a long day, experimenting with a new French dish was the last thing I wanted to do. Cook’n was great for organizing my week, but complex recipes over-complicated my menu and made me want to give up.

• Pay attention to brands. This is very smart when shopping, and Cook’n makes it easier. With a little bit of work, I made sure my recipes had the correct brand for each ingredient, including the price I paid for it.

I would bore you to tears if I talked about what I do with almost $100 saved every week. But I think you can come up with your own exciting ideas if you do the same thing.

Challenge Yourself

Face it: nailing a new skill is one of the most satisfying accomplishments life holds. After getting married, I set a goal to cook one new recipe every weekend – when I wouldn’t be exhausted from school and work.

It wasn’t until Cook’n that I made the following recipes:

• Ratatouille – a beautiful French dish.

• Boeuf a la Cuillere – beef that is so soft you can eat it with a fork.

• Hand-breaded chicken nuggets – the childhood classic – rolled in parsley and garlic

• Schpetzla – a traditional onion-based pasta from Germany.

• Injera – a fermented flatbread from Ethiopia

• Sourdough bread in all of its glory!

• Chilean Empanadas, which are THE BEST empanadas

I realize that the list above would be more fun if there were photos. But my photography skills aren’t nearly as sharp as my cooking skills (which are still only average). Sorry!

After cooking so much, I realized that some dishes cost $50 in some restaurants (like those hoity-toity French dishes I made), but I made them at home for less than $15.

I used the Menu Planning and Shopping List features extensively to plan for and create my new recipes. Another integral part of this experience was the Cook’n Capture Plugin, which made it easy to find the best recipes for new dishes. Check out the plugin in action below!

Be Healthy

Have you ever seen Lie to Me? Cal Lightman, the main character, has a policy of never eating meat he can’t see. Let’s be honest, food is more comfortable when you know what went into it.

When I make chicken nuggets at home, I know that they’re made from boneless, skinless chicken breasts covered in bread crumbs that I crumbled myself. When I buy McNuggets at my favorite love-to-hate restaurant, I’m not sure what’s in them. But I’ve certainly heard that fast-food chicken nuggets have much more than chicken. When I make egg rolls, I know that they’re 100% pork tenderloin that I minced myself. When I buy egg rolls from a shady street vendor, I’m not even sure what I’m eating.

Here’s a very short list of the risks from food not made at home:

• Unnatural ingredients that cause cancer, endocrine disorders and weight gain.

• Excessive saturated fats, simple carbs and sodium, which causes heart problems and diabetes.

• Manipulation by food companies trying to convince me to eat more instead of eating better.

When my mom was trying to lose weight, she made the rule that if she wanted a treat, she had to make it herself. This had three effects. First, she ate ice cream far less frequently. Second, she invented some healthy and delicious ice cream alternatives. Third, when she finally did make ice cream, it was so delicious that she could no longer be satisfied with mere store-bought ice cream.

To use Cook’n to make your meals as healthy as possible, try the Nutritional Analysis feature, which we recently upgraded. The easiest way to learn about this feature is to just try it out! Find any recipe in Cook’n, then click “Analyze nutritional value.” If you have any questions, just try these tips!

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If you want to make even better use of Nutrition Analysis, then add more recipes to Cook’n! We just released a MAJOR update to the Scan-It tool, which means you can upload your paper recipes to Cook’n with a snap of your fingers. Just check out the video below:

Love Family

Finally, the most important New Year’s resolution you can have is the one that brings you closer to your family. Families that eat together are less likely to be overweight and are less likely to participate in risky behaviors like drug abuse and sexual promiscuity. But don’t just believe me, believe children! I’ve embedded my favorite video ever made by Cook’n below. I dare you to watch it and tell me you still don’t want to have homemade meals more often.

Can you think of any other ways Cook’n can help with your New Year’s Resolutions? Let me know in the comments below!