Photo Credit: Robert Van Der SteegWhether or not you enjoy cooking meal preparation can take up a huge amount of your time. However, it does not have to; and I am not talking about eating out;) However ever tempting it might be.
The biggest time saver is meal planning. Okay calm down, you must be thinking it is painful and takes up way to much time. Seriously, it does not take a lot of time, especially if you regularly eat certain meals. So, grab a pen and paper, or cheat like me and open up Google Calender or Cozi:) First you have to decide how far out you wan to plan. I personally plan for one week, mainly because the produce around here isn't that great. Just do what works for you, no, you cannot just plan for one night, that defeats the point in saving time.
I start with breakfast; you may start with dinner, what ever works for you. Then I do lunches (planning for dinner leftovers to be used up). Finally for dinners, I like them to do double duty, not just left over lunches. Example: On Sunday I will make a chicken in the crockpot, we will have that with potatoes and green beans on the first night. The second night I will shred the left over chicken and make fried rice. Now, you can stretch that poor chicken to a third night by making a stock of the bones. The point is, make your job easier, after all I only had to fully cook that chicken the first day (actually the crockpot cooks it so hands free!).
After you have decided on your meals, check the pantry and the fridge, then make a shopping list because you are only shopping once for your chosen time frame. This one shopping trip saves so much time, because each day you have to drive to the store and wait in line is waisted time. You can of course get creative by labeling what goes with what meal (if it takes more time then it saves then don't). At this point, I post the meals for the week on the fridge. Sometimes, I get lucky and my husband has a light bulb go off and says, "I can make dinner tonight, I know how to make pasta!" Oh, how I love those days:)
The crockpot and pressure cooker are also my go to time savers. The crockpot is the stand by, especially when it is going to be a busy day. It is so simple to use, just add your ingredients set it to time and temp. While it does the cooking, you can do what needs to be done. The pressure cooker on the other hand cooks incredibly fast and tender meats. If I want to shred a roast for sandwiches then into the pressure cooker it goes. I am lucky enough to have an electirc pressure cooker with a locking lid. This translates into put the meat and liquid in, lock the lid, set the pressure and time, then walk away. Needless to say, the tools we have in our kitchen can save us quite a bit of time if we use them instead of letting them collect dust.
What are your kitchen time saving tips? Do you have any great time saving recipes? If you do please share them:)
The biggest time saver is meal planning. Okay calm down, you must be thinking it is painful and takes up way to much time. Seriously, it does not take a lot of time, especially if you regularly eat certain meals. So, grab a pen and paper, or cheat like me and open up Google Calender or Cozi:) First you have to decide how far out you wan to plan. I personally plan for one week, mainly because the produce around here isn't that great. Just do what works for you, no, you cannot just plan for one night, that defeats the point in saving time.
I start with breakfast; you may start with dinner, what ever works for you. Then I do lunches (planning for dinner leftovers to be used up). Finally for dinners, I like them to do double duty, not just left over lunches. Example: On Sunday I will make a chicken in the crockpot, we will have that with potatoes and green beans on the first night. The second night I will shred the left over chicken and make fried rice. Now, you can stretch that poor chicken to a third night by making a stock of the bones. The point is, make your job easier, after all I only had to fully cook that chicken the first day (actually the crockpot cooks it so hands free!).
After you have decided on your meals, check the pantry and the fridge, then make a shopping list because you are only shopping once for your chosen time frame. This one shopping trip saves so much time, because each day you have to drive to the store and wait in line is waisted time. You can of course get creative by labeling what goes with what meal (if it takes more time then it saves then don't). At this point, I post the meals for the week on the fridge. Sometimes, I get lucky and my husband has a light bulb go off and says, "I can make dinner tonight, I know how to make pasta!" Oh, how I love those days:)
The crockpot and pressure cooker are also my go to time savers. The crockpot is the stand by, especially when it is going to be a busy day. It is so simple to use, just add your ingredients set it to time and temp. While it does the cooking, you can do what needs to be done. The pressure cooker on the other hand cooks incredibly fast and tender meats. If I want to shred a roast for sandwiches then into the pressure cooker it goes. I am lucky enough to have an electirc pressure cooker with a locking lid. This translates into put the meat and liquid in, lock the lid, set the pressure and time, then walk away. Needless to say, the tools we have in our kitchen can save us quite a bit of time if we use them instead of letting them collect dust.
What are your kitchen time saving tips? Do you have any great time saving recipes? If you do please share them:)
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