Menu plan
These two words are often dreaded, but really, they can do wonders to a week, schedule, and YOU. No last minute meals, no over-processed foods, and insert healthy, well-rounded meals. Saving Time On: Thinking, stress, meal prep, driving to restaurant.
Keep your pantry stocked.
The worst feeling is looking through your cupboards wondering what to have for supper. By keeping family “staples” and favorites in your home, will you always have meals to make. Saving Time On: meal prep, thinking about what to make, last minute grocery stop.
Utilize batch cooking.
When you are making a meal, make a double portion and freeze the other half. That way, you have a meal already prepared and just has to be thawed out and baked. Saving Time On: Meal prep
Make a list of pantry staples.
Do not only keep your pantry stocked, but keep it stocked with flour, milk, cereal, pasta, grains, etc. If you need to quickly make a dessert or meal, you have the ingredients needed. Make a list of your basics. Saving Time On: driving to grocery store for store-bought cookies and last minute meals.
Use a Crockpot.
Ah, coming home from work and literally smelling supper done, making tasty food, even tastier, as it slowly cooks to perfection. It is worth the purchase! Saving Time On: After work meal prep, thinking about what to make.
Search the Internet.
Do you ever have ingredients that you need to use up? The internet is your answer: type in “meals using …” and all sorts of recipes will pop up, using those one or two ingredients. I did this with heavy cream and ended up making the BEST chicken and rice soup I have ever had! Saves Time On: throwing away spoiled food, searching through cookbooks trying to find a recipe using the specific ingredient.
Delegate duties.
If you are married or have a family, delegate the chores by making a chore list or having each person have certain daily duties. They can be as simple as clearing the table and doing the dishes, to helping pick up the house before bedtime. Each person that helps, only gives you more time for what YOU want time for. Saving Time On: All kitchen duties, which means more time for you.
Do the dishes as needed.
Do not let piles collect. As piles and dishes begin, put an end to it! Saving Time On: Long spells of having to do the dishes.
Make lunches for the week at the beginning of the week.
Instead of waking up each morning and making lunches for your family every morning, at the beginning of the week, divide food into snack-sized bags so that you can grab and pack. Saving Time On: Making lunches in the morning, taking out individual foods, the stress of wondering what to pack.
Now that you are saving time in the kitchen, you now have more time to spend on the things that matter even more to you!
How do you save time in the kitchen?
Hi Kristin,
Another great post. I think we would all like to spend a little less time in the kitchen. I use a lot of those tips already. The crock pot is my favorite. I make double batches of meals in that and then freeze the other half for busy weeks when we don't have a lot of time to cook.
I also try to cook a large weekend meal that will give us left overs we can use different ways through the week to make other meals.
Thank you so much for your posts. I may not always have time to comment, but they are appreciated.
Have a great week!
Kathy
Thank you Kathy! Thank you for your kindness and encouragement :). Isn't the crock pot one of the best inventions? Those large meals on the weekends do wonders – with it only being my husband and I, we eat leftovers for days, but he NEVER complains! I like the idea of doing crock pot meals and then freezing.Saves oodles of time! Thanks for sharing Kathy – much appreciated!