About Time: You Knocked Off Dinner Prep TimeBy Angelica Malin
We all want – and sometimes need – to save time during the day. Our lives are so busy that even saving just a few minutes here and there to give us a bit more ‘me time’ can be an incredible bonus. Something that can take up a lot more time that we might think it will is prepping for dinner. Once something is on the hob or in the oven, we can leave it be, for the most part, but getting to that point is what takes the time. We’ve put together some excellent time-saving tips for prepping your dinner quickly and efficiently, giving you a little more room to breathe.
Plan In Advance
Sometimes the reason that prepping dinner takes such a long time is because we don’t quite know what we’re meant to be doing next. Reading a recipe and starting at the beginning might sound like a good idea, but it’s actually far better to read the whole thing, chop what needs to be chopped, pre-heat the oven and generally get everything in order before you even think about cooking anything. By planning it all out before you start, you can easily find what you need and add the ingredients at the right time, without getting stressed and taking too much time over it.
Use Frozen Food
If you use high quality freezer food like McCain frozen products, you can save a huge amount of time when it comes to prepping your dinner and you can still use healthy food to give you a balanced diet too. The best frozen food is created for your convenience and because it is so easy to cook, making dinner becomes a breeze. You might even find you have time to have a sit down before serving it all up.
Bulk Cook
There will be times – perhaps over the weekend – when you have more time, so spend it wisely! Portioning out a little time to concentrate on bulk cooking for the rest of the week is great, as you cook large amounts of food and then freeze it, ready to be defrosted and heated up at any time you choose. it just makes sense!
Cook Ingredients Together
If you’ve ever looked at a recipe and started to panic at the fact that all the individual elements and ingredients need to be prepped separately, and cooked differently (at different temperatures, for varying lengths of times, in a multitude of ways) then don’t worry; we’ve all been there. These recipes are fun when you have a lot of time, or if you truly, deeply love cooking, but for those of us who do it because we have to, or who really don’t have much time at all, they’re just a little too complicated.
Instead, search for one-pot recipes where all the ingredients can be cooked together, or, even if they need different timings, at least look for something that can be cooked at the same temperature as everything else.