Since President Cyril Ramaphosa announced the lockdown, families have honed in on their baking & cooking skills and have fun while they are about it. You only have to look at one’s social media feed to see the number of posts proudly displaying an assortment of recipes and unique creations that people are sharing – from grandparents, moms, dads to young children

Experimenting in the kitchen allows individuals to creatively express themselves and this is also a great stress reliever. Stress is related to a host of problems and finding ways to cope with it is vital for leading a happy and healthy life.

The art of baking & cooking is beneficial to anyone in a variety of ways. Not only will you be experiencing a sense of self-accomplishment when you see, and taste, the finished product, but you will continuously improve your skills and enjoy an increased sense of well-being.

Spending time at home has given us the much needed time to test some of the treats that we have only seen in recipe books but have not had the time to try. In other words, it seems as if everyone is using quarantine to audition for the next Master Chef or Koekedoor.

With everyone stuck indoors and with more people than ever trying their hand in the kitchen — it has been reported that some stores have experienced a shortages of essentials like eggs, milk, butter, and yeast.

If this happens to you, don’t panic as many, if not most, common household items have acceptable substitutes to replace ingredients in recipes – here is a simple and handy guide that every cook/baker needs:

Ingredient substitutes: m.food24.com/