Why does healthy cooking seem like such a chore? Because it involves so many steps. Healthy cooking means less relying on convenience foods and more cooking from scratch. Which can take a lot of work and time. There’s really no magical way around it, but there are some things you can do in your kitchen to save you time. So here are some tips for making the most of what you already have.
Be Your Own Best Prep Cook
Prep cooks are the backbone of the kitchen because they get ingredients ready to be used. Do you eat a lot of carrots? What about broccoli? Any sturdy fruits and vegetables that can withstand being in the fridge for a few days can be prepped in bulk. That means, instead of washing and chopping broccoli for just one recipe, wash and chop for the whole week. Melon, pepper, citrus and squash are all things that can be prepped in advance.
Note that not everything does well sitting around the fridge. Garlic, for example, will make your entire house smell. Apples, potatoes and avocado will start turning brown. Berries that are washed too far in advance can start to go moldy. So bulk up when possible and only prep the bare minimum each day.
Shortcuts Are Not Cheating
Feeding a family is a lot of work, so try and find ways to lessen the load. Just can’t bring yourself to slice up a cantaloupe? Then purchase the pre sliced melon at the store. There’s no need to cook dried beans if you can get them in a can. Or you can throw a whole bunch of ingredients into a slow cooker and come home to a nice warm meal.
Meal kits are also a great way to save time on prep while still enjoying quality time in the kitchen.
Learn How to Use a Knife
Short cuts are great (see above), but knowing the proper way to use a knife will actually end up saving tons of time in the kitchen. The better your knife skills, the faster you’ll move in the kitchen. This one isn’t a magic bullet, but it really is a huge time saver. Like any skill, the key to mastery is practice! Here are three knife skills you should absolutely tackle in order
Stop Changing the Oven Temp
Imagine you’re cooking in a busy restaurant and your potatoes need to go in the oven at 400 degrees but the pastry chef is baking two racks of cookies at 350. Do you wait?
No!
In a restaurant time is the most precious resource, and it’s probably the same for you at home. The temperatures on recipes are suggestions at best. You are not locked into using the exact temperature given to you. You can adjust the temperature to speed up cooking, or so that you can have many things in the oven at the same time.
In our meal kits, we only combine recipes which all have the same exact oven temp. That’s not by accident. We adjust baking times and temps so that our chefs never need to touch their ovens.
The truth is, there is no hack to cooking healthy foods. Everyone’s looking for hacks to maximize their productivity. But really, what every busy parent needs is a quick guide on how to make the best with what they already have, especially when it comes to feeding families.
