Preparing food at home allows for making things "as I like them". I'm VERY picky about certain textures and tastes. I also have a very restricted diet and suffe

Preparing food at home allows for making things "as I like them". I'm VERY picky about certain textures and tastes. I also have a very restricted diet and suffer (biologically) from some ingredients that like to sneak into foods. Ordering a known meal from a known restaurant is definitely easier than home prep. Ordering a "probably fine" meal from a "probably fine" restaurant requires extra cognitive load over cooking at home. (Some days I struggle with simply selecting a new meal from a restaurant. On those same days, I can happily spend an hour cooking a new-to-me recipe without any problems.)