Quick Cooking Tips
How can you get the jump on quick meals?
It all comes from good organization and knowing a few tricks that make it easier.
See if you can work some of these ideas into your cooking routine:
- Arrange your kitchen so that it's cooking friendly. Keep utensils near the work area, keep the pots and pans near the stove, and keep cleaning materials near the sink.
- Choose recipes with less than 10 ingredients. That'll make shopping, prep and cooking a lot easier.
- Read the recipe before you begin. Make sure you understand the procedure and have all the ingredients.
- Look for pockets of time in each recipe. While the water is boiling for pasta, chop the veggies. When the oven preheats, thaw the meat in the microwave and rub it with spices.
- Gather all the utensils and ingredients before beginning. Start with the steps that take the longest, such as boiling the water, preheating the oven and thawing frozen foods.
- Keep the kitchen sink full of soapy water. As you work, toss utensils, whisks and pans in the sink for easy cleanup.
- Have a multi-use timer so that you can keep track of several different cooking procedures at once.
- Use shortcuts where you can. Bagged salad greens, prepared and frozen vegetables, pasta sauces and gravies, grated cheese, refrigerated doughs, boxed stock, prepared bread crumbs and chopped veggies from the salad bar: they're worth their weight in gold!
- Keep often-used ingredients on hand. If you know you use a lot of pasta, onions, eggs and frozen corn, stock up so you always have them!
- Have fun. Don't look at this as a chore. It's creativity at its best!
Published 10/30/09
