10 Kitchen Time-Saving Tips

I’m always looking for ways to cook smarter and faster, especially on weekdays. I want to cook a real meal, no microwave processed food but I also don’t want to be a slave to the stove. These are my 10 Time-Saving Tips for the Kitchen:

1) Melting chocolate over a double boiler? It’s too complicated and too many pots to wash. Melting chocolates with butter or milk in the microwave is much faster and simpler. Simply melt the chocolates in the microwave at 30 seconds interval, stir it and then proceed with the next 30 seconds. Repeat till the right consistency is achieved.

2) Homemade pasta sauce. Make a big pot of oven roasted tomatoes sauce, separate the sauce into weekly portions and freeze them. Thaw when needed. Alternatively, heat a can of diced tomatoes with tomato paste to make a super-quick pasta sauce.

3) No time to make pizza dough? Use pita bread instead. Top it with pasta or pizza sauce and your favorite toppings, and you’ll have a thin-crusted pizza in no time.

4) Plan Weekly Menu ahead. Menu planning reduces impulse buying and reduces the number of unplanned trips to the grocery stores. It’s also a smart use of leftovers. For example, roast chicken breasts for today and the leftovers for breasts can be used for chicken sandwich or chicken fried rice for tomorrow’s meal. Cuts down on cooking and washing time altogether!

5) Chopping! Chop all the vegetables, garlic and onion that are needed for the week and store them in the fridge. Using pre-cut vegetables during the week is a time savior!

6) Leftover Chicken Stock. Pour unused chicken stock into ice-cube trays. Every time you need to make a quick sauce, simply add a few chicken stock ice cubes into the pan.

7) Quick Carb. No time to make mash or bake potatoes? Couscous is a quick and easy side dish that can be prepared in 5 minutes. Bring it up a notch by adding chopped parsley, raisins and almonds.

8) Wash and Clean as you go. When waiting for water to boil, oven or pan to be heated, start washing. Spend after meal time with family rather than at the sink cleaning.

9) Slow Cooker – one of my favorite appliances. Simply toss all ingredients into the pot, the meal cooks itself and it’s ready in a couple of hours. If a dish requires 8 hours of slow cooking time, toss all ingredients into the pot the night before, put it in the fridge. Before leaving for work, put the pot in the cooker and come home to a ready-cooked meal.

10) Share the Chores. Extra hands in the kitchen saves time. Cooking in the kitchen is the best time and place to unwind and for sharing conversations. Get family members and/or partners to be part of the cooking process.

If you have other time-saving tips, please share. We would love to hear more!

Photo by anotherpintplease

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