Contrary to what some Church and Rabbinic doctrines teach about preparing meals on the Sabbath, the Scriptures teach that it is alright to cook and prepare food on the Sabbath Days. (except of course the Day of Atonement, which is a required fasting day in remorse for sins of the nation)  The incorrect teaching that we are not to prepare meals on the Sabbath is based on the below Scripture verse:

 Exodus 16:23  "And he (Moses) said unto them, This is that which Yahweh hath said, Tomorrow is the rest of the holy Sabbath unto Yahweh: bake that which ye will bake  to day, and seethe (boil) that ye will seethe; and that which remaineth over lay up for you to be kept until the morning."

    But if we slow down a bit and examine the whole content concerning this command regarding this particular incident, we will see that the prohibition was actually against the work of gathering food out in the field, and that the subsequent "baking" of it, in this case, was incidentally mentioned since it related to the food being gathered. In other words the people gathered, then baked what they gathered that same day -- however, the manual work of gathering was the problem, not "the baking" in and of itself.  Still not clear? It's all very easy to grasp when examine the matter with more detail since the above verse refers to the gathering of quail and manna miraculously provided to Israel in the wilderness after the Exodus from Egypt.  Let's see what the situation was:

   Exodus 16:2  "And the whole congregation of the children of Israel murmured against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness:

     3  And the children of Israel said unto them, Would to God we had died by the hand of Yahweh in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the flesh pots, and when we did eat bread to the full; for ye have brought us forth into this wilderness, to kill this whole assembly with hunger.

4  Then said Yahweh unto Moses, Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you; and the people shall go out and gather a certain rate every day, that I may prove them, whether they will walk in my law, or no.

5  And it shall come to pass, that on the sixth day they shall prepare that which they bring in; and it shall be twice as much as they gather daily.

6  And Moses and Aaron said unto all the children of Israel, At even, then ye shall know that Yahweh hath brought you out from the land of Egypt:

7  And in the morning, then ye shall see the glory of Yahweh; for that he heareth your murmurings against Yahweh: and what are we, that ye murmur against us?

8  And Moses said, This shall be, when Yahweh shall give you in the evening flesh to eat, and in the morning bread to the full; for that Yahweh heareth your murmurings which ye murmur against him: and what are we? your murmurings are not against us, but against Yahweh.

9  And Moses spake unto Aaron, Say unto all the congregation of the children of Israel, Come near before Yahweh: for He hath heard your murmurings.

10  And it came to pass, as Aaron spake unto the whole congregation of the children of Israel, that they looked toward the wilderness, and, behold, the glory of Yahweh appeared in the cloud.

11  And Yahweh spake unto Moses, saying,

12  I have heard the murmurings of the children of Israel: speak unto them, saying, At even ye shall eat flesh, and in the morning ye shall be filled with bread; and ye shall know that I am Yahweh your God.

13  And it came to pass, that at even the quails came up, and covered the camp: and in the morning the dew lay round about the host.

14  And when the dew that lay was gone up, behold, upon the face of the wilderness there lay a small round thing, as small as the hoar frost on the ground.

15  And when the children of Israel saw it, they said one to another, It is manna: for they wist not what it was. And Moses said unto them, This is  the bread which Yahweh hath given you to eat.

16  This is the thing which Yahweh hath commanded, Gather of it every man according to his eating, an omer for every man, according to the number of your persons; take ye every man for them which are in his tents.

17  And the children of Israel did so, and gathered, some more, some less.

18  And when they did mete it with an omer, he that gathered much had nothing over, and he that gathered little had no lack; they gathered every man according to his eating.

19  And Moses said, Let no man leave of it till the morning.

20  Notwithstanding they hearkened not unto Moses; but some of them left of it until the morning, and it bred worms, and stank: and Moses was wroth with them.

21  And they gathered it every morning, every man according to his eating: and when the sun waxed hot, it melted.

22  And it came to pass, that on the sixth day they gathered twice as much bread, two omers for one man: and all the rulers of the congregation came and told Moses.

23  And he said unto them, This is that which Yahweh hath said, To morrow is the rest of the holy Sabbath unto Yahweh: bake that which ye will bake  to day, and seethe that ye will seethe; and that which remaineth over lay up for you to be kept until the morning.

24  And they laid it up till the morning, as Moses bade: and it did not stink, neither was there any worm therein.

25  And Moses said, Eat that to day; for to day is a Sabbath unto Yahweh: to day ye shall not find it in the field.

26  Six days ye shall gather it; but on the seventh day, which is the Sabbath, in it there shall be none.

27  And it came to pass, that there went out some of the people on the seventh day for to gather, and they found none.

28  And Yahweh said unto Moses, How long refuse ye to keep my commandments and my laws?

29  See, for that Yahweh hath given you the Sabbath, therefore he giveth you on the sixth day the bread of two days; abide ye every man in his place, let no man go out of his place on the seventh day.

30  So the people rested on the seventh day."

     In effect, putting it in layman's terms of our language today, Yahweh was saying, "LISTEN MY ISRAEL PEOPLE -- YOU'RE NOT GOING TO BE COOKING ON THE SABBATH BECAUSE I'M NOT LETTING YOU GO OUT INTO THE FIELD WITH BASKETS AND GATHER UP FOOD ON THE SABBATH IN THE FIRST PLACE.   YOU'RE TO COOK IT AS YOU GATHER IT IN -- BUT SINCE THIS STUFF IS FRESH JUST GATHER ENOUGH FOR TWO DAYS AND COOK IT ALL TODAY (6th day).  THERE WILL BE NO COOKING TOMORROW BECAUSE THERE WILL BE NO GATHERING FROM THE FIELD ON THE SABBATH"

    That the "excessive work" was referring to the gathering effort is evident in verses  5  "on the sixth day they shall prepare that which they bring in";  16  "This is the thing which Yahweh hath commanded, Gather of it every man according to his eating";  17  "And the children of Israel did so, and gathered";   21 "And they gathered it every morning, every man according to his eating:"; 22 "And it came to pass, that on the sixth day they gathered twice as much bread";  25  "And Moses said, Eat that to day; for to day is a Sabbath unto Yahweh: to day ye shall not find it in the field." ; 26  "Six days ye shall gather it"

     Furthermore, we know that on the Feast of Unleavened, the first day and the seventh days are Sabbaths where work is prohibited, EXCEPT work relating to eating a meal (i.e., preparing and cooking). Work relating to eating is permitted on Sabbaths. Note the reasonable application of the Sabbath laws below:

Ex.12:16  "And in the first day there shall be an holy convocation, and in the seventh day there shall be an holy convocation to you; no manner of work shall be done in them, save (except) that (work) which every man must eat, that only may be done of you."

   This explanation in Exodus 12 concerning the Unleavened Feast with its Sabbaths falls in line with the understanding of Exodus 16 and the manna gathering.  Again, the meal preparation was not the prohibited point in question, rather the physical field work of "gathering" was the real issue.

    Neither was the preparing and baking of bread forbidden in the holiest of circumstances for the Priesthood on the Sabbath.

Leviticus 24:5  "And thou shalt take fine flour, and bake twelve cakes thereof: two tenth deals shall be in one cake."   24:8  "Every Sabbath he shall set it in order before Yahweh continually, being taken from the children of Israel by an everlasting covenant."

1 Chronicles 9:32  "And other of their brethren, of the sons of the Kohathites, were over the shewbread, to prepare it every Sabbath."

This pretty well irons out the misuderstanding about baking and cooking on the Sabbath.  According to Yahweh's understanding of family needs, meal preparation is fine to perform on the Sabbath, as being a normal need.

    In conclusion let's remember that it was the Pharisees (who plotted Christ's death), that accused our Savior and His disciples of violating the Sabbath by breaking some ears of corn to eat.  The evil Pharisees were interpreting the Law within the scope of the Traditions of the Elders (later called Talmudic Judaism) to which Christ told them clearly that they didn't understand much about profaning or keeping the Sabbath at all. (Mat.12:1-8).

   We really do have an understanding Father who knows what "work" is actually "excessive work", and what "work" is normal activity that does not break the Sabbath covenant that He has with His Saxon Israel people.  Truly His Word says in  1 John 5:3  "For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments: and His commandments are not grievous".    Cooking and preparing meals is OK and understandable work to do on the Sabbath Day.