I have PTSD from UberEATS. My name is Jean, I am a 15-year-old high school student athlete. Back in September of last year, my friends and I were arguing about how we should get breakfast on the table as we were competing at a championship swim meet later that day. My friend argued that we should UberEATS a breakfast sandwich from McDonalds, while I pleaded to cook at home. In the end I was outvoted, and we opted for delivery. We waited, waited, (and waited some more) and when our food finally arrived, it was cold, unappetizing, and half the order was missing. In the end, we left hungry, tired, and frustrated, we all later produced our worst times to date.

According to a recent survey by the Food Marketing Institute, over 60% of US teenagers order takeout or delivery at least once a week and that number is set to grow even higher in the years to come. Furthermore, according to a survey by The Harris Poll, only 29% of teenagers aged 13-18 reported cooking at home on a regular basis.

Beyond the stats, real life experience taught me that the breakfast of champions doesn’t come through food delivery apps. Our UberEATS fiasco has motivated me to advocate for cooking at home and understanding its advantages over food delivery services.

1. Cost: Cooking at home can be more cost-effective than ordering takeout, especially if you are able to take advantage of sales and discounts on ingredients. According to a 2020 Grub Hub report, the average cost of lunch ordered on food delivery apps was over 12 dollars. On the other hand, when I make my world-famous beef tacos at home, it costs no more than 5 dollars for a copious meal.

2. Health: Cooking at home allows you to control the ingredients and portion sizes in your meals, which can be beneficial for your overall health. A study by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation found that teens who regularly cook at home are more likely to have a healthier diet, including more fruits and vegetables and less sugar and saturated fat.

3. Customization: When you cook at home, you can tailor your meals to your own preferences and dietary needs. For example, let's say you're trying to follow a low-carb diet. When ordering food delivery, it can be difficult to find options that fit your dietary restrictions. But when you cook at home, you can easily control the amount of carbohydrates in your meals by using ingredients like cauliflower rice or zucchini noodles instead of traditional pasta. You can also control the portion sizes, which can be especially helpful if you're trying to lose weight. Additionally, you can experiment with different seasonings and flavors to create meals that are tailored to your own taste preferences. This level of customization is not possible when ordering food delivery.

4. Time: Believe it or not, depending on the availability of delivery services in your area, it may take longer to receive a delivery than it would to prepare a meal at home. That morning of the swim meet, If I had cooked scrambled eggs for breakfast, it would have taken less than 10 minutes.

5. Enjoyment: Cooking is relaxing and easy to enjoy! There’s nothing quite like the satisfaction of preparing a meal from scratch. So many friendships have started by sharing meals and recipes.

6. Taste: A home cooked meal simply tastes better. Fast food is full of preservatives and bad ingredients. Cooking at home allows you to taste the food, not the chemistry! When making my burgers, I chose the ingredients from A to Z, and it simply tastes better.

7. Environmental impact: Cooking at home reduces the environmental footprint of food transportation, packaging, and waste.

True, at times using food delivery apps can be more convenient or necessary. Overall, though, cooking at home is a much more fulfilling experience with countless benefits to ourselves and our communities. So next time you think of browsing through DoorDash or UberEATS, put the phone down, and pick the pan up!