When was the last time you prepared a home-cooked meal? By home-cooked meal, I am not referring to heating up a frozen meal in the microwave, or heating up leftovers from your lunch earlier in the day at your favorite restaurant.

These days, fewer and fewer people are spending time in their kitchen actually cooking, despite the popularity of cooking shows and competitions on television, celebrity cookbooks, and the availability of recipes on the internet. Why is this? People state they are too busy to cook these days, and it’s easier and cheaper for them to eat out. Surprisingly, many people just simply don’t know how to cook.

Unfortunately, eating out and eating convenience food are not always as cost-effective as one may think, depending on your meal choices and the time that can be involved.

So, I say it’s time to get cooking! How can you do you this when you’re limited on time and budget? First, start small – if you don’t have much experience in the kitchen, start with some simple, easy recipes, such as these. All of these recipes are not only healthy, but are also very simple because they all contain only five ingredients or less.

Second, if you’re not familiar with the various cooking methods for preparing a healthy meal, here are some tips to get you started. Plus, I absolutely love this book (What’s a Cook to Do?) – it contains over 400 cooking tips and tricks for cooks of all levels!

Finally, cooking a healthy meal does not have to be expensive, despite what many think. Here are some tips for eating healthy on a budget!