Wouldn’t it be nice if you had food prepared before you got home from work or if a few steps were completed in the dinner-making process? Well, this can be done with some planning on your part. Here are a few ideas and how to save time in the kitchen.
Stock Your Pantry
Make sure your pantry is always stocked. Nothing kills the cooking moment like not having the ingredients that you need on hand! Menu planning will allow for smart shopping and can eliminate the need to run back and forth to the grocery store every other day.
Prep First- Cook Later
When cooking, read the recipe and prep first – cook later! Gather all your ingredients together before you begin the recipe. This speeds up the process by having all items within arm’s reach.
Collect Scraps
When prepping vegetables or other ingredients, throw the scraps into a large bowl next to your workspace rather than making repeated trips to the garbage can. In addition, if you don’t want to dirty a bowl, line it with a plastic bag left over from the grocery store.
Snip, Snip!
To chop parsley, cilantro, or other herbs quickly, place the leaves in a glass and snip using scissors. You will have finely minced herbs in no time and no dirtied cutting board!
Slicing
Use an egg slicer for slicing mushrooms or strawberries – it saves a lot of time.
Prepare Extra for Snacks
When cutting produce for a meal, always prepare extra and place them in baggies to be used for healthy snacks or for casserole dishes.
Produce First
Cut your vegetables and fruits before you start cutting meat, poultry, or fish, so you will not need to wash the cutting board before cutting the meat.
Prepare Staples in Batches
Buy cheese in 5-pound blocks, grate it all, and store it in freezer bags. Prepare a large batch of beans, lentils, or rice and freeze the extras.
Cook Extra Meat and Store
Cook extra meat and either store it in the freezer or fridge. This has saved me lots of time on numerous occasions because I do not have to go to the trouble of cooking the meat.
Prepare and Freeze
Make two of whatever you are making for dinner. This really is one of the easiest ways to save time and requires very little effort on your part. Prepare two entrees and freeze one of them.
Once a Month/Week Cooking
Try your hand at once a month cooking. I personally do use this method of cooking. By cooking for one or two days, my family can eat for a month. There are other options for doing this type of bulk cooking but on a smaller scale, such as once a week. By doing this in more manageable fragments, you can still save yourself a lot of time in the kitchen.
Utilize Your Resources
Use your slow cooker! You can save even more time by preparing everything the night before. Then, in the morning, when you are usually the busiest, you only have to insert the crock liner and plug it in for a delicious home-cooked meal.
All kinds of recipes and foods can be cooked in the new pressure cookers. Most foods cook in a fraction of the time it normally would take, in most cases cooking up to one-third faster than conventional methods.
Planned Overs
Always make plenty of leftovers and use them. Do not allow these to sit in your refrigerator untouched, wasting both food and your precious time. Eat them as lunches, reheat them for quick dinners, or use side dishes again, pairing them with a new main course. You can also modify the leftovers. With a little creativity, you can make your leftovers into something brand new with very little effort.
Two In One
Boil your pasta and steam your vegetables at the same time. If you buy a splatter guard for your skillet, you can simply rest it on top of your boiling pot of pasta and place the vegetables on top. Tada…perfectly steamed vegetables and pasta using one pot!
Double Your Cookie Recipes
Double all of your cookie recipes. You can either freeze half the cookie dough or freeze the cookies already baked in a container. These are wonderful for last-minute functions where you are required to bring food to share.
Use Tools On Hand
Use an empty salt shaker for dusting powdered sugar on baked goods. You can also keep flour in a salt shaker to dust the counter, food, or pans quickly.
Clean As You Go
The best way to avoid a mountain of work after a delicious meal is to clean as you go. Rinse soiled items immediately, reuse pots and pans if you can, and return ingredients to their proper place. Make sure that the dishwasher is empty, ready for dirty dishes, and fill as you go.
Say goodbye to scrubbing and scouring dirty baking dishes. Simply line them with aluminum foil before using, then throw away the foil and pop the pan back in the cupboard when cool.
Get Helpers!
Enlist your helpers. I know that this can be messy, but let the kids participate in preparing the meal along with your spouse. By allowing the children to aid in the dinner-making process, they will most likely eat more of it and have a lot of pride in themselves because they helped you prepare it.
Time-Savers Worth Trying
These methods can be incorporated into your cooking routine bit by bit over time. Learning how to simplify meal preparation results in more meals cooked at home using fresh ingredients, and your home-cooked meals become a valued part of the family culture. If you feel short on time when mealtime rolls around, give these time savers a try!
Written by Vicki Hayman, MS, University of Wyoming Extension Nutrition and Food Safety Educator