Why does the Canadian food guide encourage people to cook more often?

November 26, 2025 •

4 min read

Since its 2019 update, the Canadian Food Guide has placed a stronger emphasis on healthy eating habits, not just food types. One of its key recommendations is to cook more often, an action that empowers individuals to improve their diet quality and overall health.

Quick Summary

The Canadian Food Guide promotes cooking at home to help people manage their intake of sodium, sugars, and saturated fats. This habit reduces reliance on highly processed foods, builds essential food skills, saves money, and encourages mindful eating.

Key Points

Gain Control: Cooking at home gives you full control over ingredients, allowing you to reduce your intake of excess sodium, sugars, and saturated fats found in highly processed foods.
Combat Processed Foods: Preparing your own food is a direct and effective way to decrease your reliance on highly processed options, which are linked to a higher risk of chronic diseases.
Develop Food Skills: By cooking, you acquire and build essential food literacy skills, which can be passed down to others and foster a healthier relationship with food.
Practice Mindfulness: The act of cooking and enjoying a home-prepared meal fosters mindful eating habits, helping you become more aware of your body’s hunger cues.
Save Money: On average, home-cooked meals are less expensive than dining out or purchasing pre-made food, which helps with budgeting and can make healthier eating more accessible.
Build Social Connections: Cooking and eating meals with family and friends provides an opportunity for social bonding, which contributes to overall well-being.
Maximize Nutrition: Home cooking helps ensure you fill your plate with plenty of vegetables, fruits, whole grains, and healthy protein sources, as recommended by the guide.

The 2019 revision of the Canadian Food Guide marked a significant shift in public health nutrition messaging, moving from a prescriptive, portion-based model to one that emphasizes healthy eating patterns and behaviours. A cornerstone of this new approach is the clear recommendation to "cook more often," and for good reason. The guide's message is that by taking control in your own kitchen, you can profoundly influence your health and well-being. This comprehensive shift acknowledges that healthy eating is about more than just food—it's about the entire process, from planning and preparation to the act of eating itself.

The Health-Centric Reasons Behind the Recommendation

Gain Control Over Your Food

One of the most significant reasons the Canadian food guide encourage people to cook more often is the control it provides over ingredients. When you prepare meals at home, you have the power to decide exactly what goes into your food. This includes managing key nutrients that are often over-consumed in restaurant or pre-packaged meals, such as sodium, sugars, and saturated fat. Highly processed foods, which are common in our diets, are a major source of these nutrients of concern. By cooking from scratch, you can choose whole, fresh ingredients and use seasonings that enhance flavor without compromising your health.

Reduce Reliance on Highly Processed Foods

Highly processed foods are defined as industrial formulations that contain many added ingredients and have been chemically and physically altered from their original state. These include sugary drinks, fast food, and packaged snacks, and are linked to an increased risk of chronic diseases like high blood pressure, heart disease, and type 2 diabetes. By cooking more often, you naturally decrease your consumption of these products and replace them with healthier options made from whole, nutrient-dense ingredients. This behavioral change is critical for promoting long-term health and reducing the risk of chronic illness.

Develop Valuable Life Skills

Cooking is a fundamental life skill that benefits people of all ages. The guide encourages involving children in meal planning and preparation, which can help them develop a healthier relationship with food and improve their food literacy. This intergenerational knowledge transfer was traditionally a primary way food skills were passed down, and its decline has been a public health concern. By cooking more often, families can reverse this trend, ensuring that the next generation has the confidence and ability to prepare nutritious meals for themselves.

Practice Mindful Eating

Mindful eating is a central theme in the updated Food Guide, and home cooking is an ideal way to practice it. The process of selecting ingredients, chopping vegetables, and watching a meal come together forces you to slow down and be present. When you sit down to eat a meal you have prepared, you are more likely to savour the experience, pay attention to your body's hunger and fullness cues, and truly enjoy your food. This is a stark contrast to mindlessly eating in front of a screen or rushing through a takeout meal.

More Than Just Health: The Broader Benefits

Save Money

Eating out frequently can significantly impact your budget. According to studies, Canadian households spend a notable portion of their food budget on restaurant and fast-food meals. Cooking at home is almost always cheaper than eating out, and planning your meals can help you shop more efficiently, reduce impulse purchases, and minimize food waste. This financial benefit makes healthy eating more accessible and sustainable for many Canadians.

Strengthen Social Bonds

The Food Guide emphasizes that sharing meals with family and friends is a rewarding experience. Home cooking creates a focal point for social connection, where people can gather, share food traditions, and catch up with one another. This can have a positive impact on mental well-being and sense of community, reinforcing that food is more than just fuel—it's a tool for connection and joy.

Practical Ways to Cook More Often

Planning and Preparation

Overcoming barriers like lack of time and skill is key to cooking more often. Planning your meals for the week can streamline your grocery shopping and reduce the stress of last-minute dinner decisions. Consider batch cooking larger portions of a recipe to have leftovers for lunches or another dinner, using a time-saving strategy like "cook once, eat twice".

Using Time-Saving Tools

Today's kitchens are equipped with many tools that can make home cooking faster and less cumbersome. Slow cookers and pressure cookers can automate meal preparation, allowing you to prepare healthy food with minimal active cooking time. Using a mini-chopper or hand blender can also drastically cut down on prep time.

Comparison: Home-Cooked vs. Highly Processed Meals


Feature	Home-Cooked Meal	Highly Processed Meal
Control Over Ingredients	High. You choose fresh, whole ingredients and control additions.	Low. Ingredients are often industrial formulations with additives.
Sodium/Sugar/Saturated Fat	You can actively reduce and control levels to your liking.	Generally high levels are present to enhance flavour and shelf-life.
Nutrient Density	High. Focused on whole foods like vegetables, whole grains, and protein.	Often low. Nutrients are sometimes added back artificially.
Cost	Typically more budget-friendly and cost-effective.	Can be more expensive, especially for comparable quality.
Mindful Eating	Encourages presence and savouring the meal experience.	Often consumed mindlessly and in a rush.
Food Waste	Easier to manage and minimize by planning and reusing leftovers.	Higher potential for waste through packaging and unused ingredients.

Conclusion

By encouraging Canadians to cook more often, the Canada's Food Guide is promoting a powerful, multi-faceted approach to health. It's about moving beyond simply considering what we eat and embracing the crucial roles of how we eat, fostering healthy habits, valuable life skills, and a deeper connection to our food. Home cooking offers tangible benefits, from better diet quality and a reduced risk of chronic disease to significant financial savings and stronger social connections. Ultimately, the act of cooking for yourself and others is an empowering step towards a healthier, more mindful, and more rewarding life. For more tips and recipes, explore the official Canada's Food Guide resources online.

Frequently Asked Questions

Cooking more often allows you to control ingredient quality, reduce added sodium, sugar, and saturated fats, and decrease your reliance on highly processed foods, which leads to better diet quality and reduced risk of chronic disease.

Home-cooked meals are generally cheaper than takeout or dining at restaurants. By planning your meals and shopping for specific ingredients, you can reduce food waste and avoid costly impulse purchases, staying on budget.

Start with simple strategies like meal planning for the week, using time-saving appliances like slow cookers, and batch cooking larger meals to have leftovers. You can also involve family members to share the cooking duties.

The process of preparing and cooking a meal yourself helps you become more aware and engaged with your food. This mindful approach allows you to slow down, savour flavors, and better understand your body's hunger and fullness signals.

Highly processed foods are typically high in sodium, sugar, and saturated fat, and low in essential nutrients. Limiting them is crucial for minimizing the risk of chronic conditions like heart disease, diabetes, and high blood pressure.

Start with simple recipes and master a few basics. The Food Guide suggests keeping staples on hand like canned beans, frozen vegetables, and whole grains for quick meals. Resources like cooking videos can help build your confidence and expand your skills.

No. The guide encourages cooking more often to establish a healthy pattern, but it does not prohibit eating out. The key is balance and making home cooking the default for most meals.