10 Simple Tips to Save Time In Your Kitchen
Do you ever wish there were more hours in the day?
This is a quandary that all of us can relate to, and while we can’t exactly slow down the earth’s daily rotation, we can carve out some more spare time by being quicker in the ways we go about our daily habits.
As a food blogger and recipe creator, I know that I spend a lot more time in my kitchen than the average person. However, when I'm not creating new recipes or experimenting with different ingredients, I have a few tricks up my sleeve to keep the time I spend in the kitchen down so I can devote more time to my family – or just treat myself to some much-needed downtime.
Here are my best time-saving kitchen tips.
1. Let your food processor do the hard work of chopping your veggies.
One of the great things about eating whole food plant-based recipes is all the vegetables you can fit into your diet, but for a lot of people, the prepping and chopping can really add up – particularly when you’re first making the transition from a predominantly meat-based diet to a plant-based one.
As you say goodbye to the old formula of one meat and one vegetable and embrace this healthier way of eating, a food processor is going to be your best friend. More often than not, you can chop the vegetables the recipe calls for in a food processor in just a few seconds flat.
This can really add up: if a recipe calls for five different vegetables and it takes you four minutes to chop and prep each one, you could shave about 18 minutes off of your prep time!
As an added bonus, veggies that are chopped finely in a food processor tend to cook a lot faster than those with a rough manual chop.
2. Clean your food processor the MacGyver way.
This step comes courtesy of Malcolm, who has earned the nickname MacGyver in our house thanks to his ability to think outside the box and find solutions to things that don’t really occur to the average person (read: me).
When you are finished using your food processor, you can just add some dish soap to the bowl, fill it up about a quarter of the way with lukewarm water, slap the lid back on and run it for about 5 to 15 seconds. This has a way of loosening everything so the remaining handwashing goes a lot faster.
3. Freezing extra ingredients = speedier future meals.
Speaking of the food processor, if you're going to get it out and then go to the trouble of washing it – or even if you’re chopping by hand and getting out your big cutting board – it simply makes sense to do a bunch of chopping at once.
For example, let's say you're preparing my Creamy Pumpkin Cheese Sauce. When you notice that the recipe only calls for a third of a large red bell pepper, go ahead and chop the whole vegetable and freeze the two thirds you didn't use. The next time you make this or another recipe that calls for red pepper, you’ll already have the part in the bag – literally.
Ditto for the pumpkin; if you buy a big one and you don't use all of it, chop the rest while you have it out and freeze that, too. Keeping already-chopped ingredients in your freezer makes hearty meals with wholesome ingredients come together in a snap, even when you don't feel like lugging out the food processor. Just be sure to label your freezer bags with the ingredients and date; try to use them all up within three months.
4. Get to know batch cooking.
If you’ve ever had grilled meat or fish, you know what happens if you don't eat all of it right away, so you might've gotten used to cooking just what you need over the years. But the beauty of eating the whole food plant-based way is that so many of these recipes lend themselves beautifully to batch cooking.
There's really no science involved in batch cooking; you just need to double or triple the recipe you’re making depending on the number of people in your household. I don’t know about you, but if I can spend 30 minutes in my kitchen making two dinners but I can turn that into six dinners by spending five minutes more, I'm going to opt for the latter every single time.
These are just a few of my freezer-friendly recipes: Mushroom and Bean Chili, Vegan Lentil & Nut Meatloaf, Homemade Baked Beans and Vegan No Bake Snickers Bars.
5. Keep a cooked whole grain in your fridge at all times.
Plant-based eating isn't just about the vegetables; if you’re following Dr Greger’s Daily Dozen, you'll know that it's important to get three servings of whole grains per day. But who has time to cook all those grains day after day?
The easiest way to make sure you're getting enough whole grains in your diet and all the great fiber they provide is by keeping some prepared in your fridge at all times, whether it's cooked pasta, couscous, barley or rice.
Sometimes, I’ll prep two types of grains over the weekend so I can mix it up during the week, but if you're not concerned about variety, you can just make a big batch of one grain. Do what works for you.
6. Ditch the daily grind by grinding your flaxseed once a week.
You might have noticed that most of my whole food plant-based recipes call for ground flaxseed (you can learn more about why you need so much of it and why it must be ground rather than eaten whole in my articles The Daily Dozen: Getting All the Nutrients You Need on a Plant-Based Diet and 6 plant-based ingredient must-haves for healthier and tastier meals).
I have a small coffee grinder that I dedicate exclusively to grinding my whole flaxseed. Set aside some time - - I’m talking 1 to 2 minutes, tops - - at the beginning of the week to grind up a batch of flaxseed to make sure you have enough to get you through the days ahead. That way, you won't have to haul out your coffee grinder every time you make a recipe.
I store mine in a glass jar in my pantry. And while it may be tempting to grind the whole bag of seeds when you first bring it home, keep in mind that it tends to go bad pretty quickly once it's ground. I grind about a cup of flaxseeds every week or so.
7. Say yes to canned beans and lentils.
Are dried beans affordable? Absolutely. But do they require a bit of advance planning? Unfortunately, the answer is yes.
Dried beans often need to be soaked overnight, and while this doesn't take very much time, sometimes you just don’t know what you’re cooking the day before, which means you won't have them soaked in time to use them. Plus, dried beans take longer to cook.
That’s why I like to keep a well-stocked pantry of canned beans on hand. They can be just as healthy as dried beans if you get the kind without salt or sugar added. If you can't find any that meet that criteria, just get the ones with the smallest amount of sugar and salt.
There’s just one thing to keep in mind with canned beans: you should always rinse them thoroughly as the liquid can cause digestive upset to some people.
8. Frozen vegetables are your (super chill) friends.
We all know that fresh vegetables are ideal, but not all of us have a vegetable garden in our yard or a farmer’s market nearby.
Don’t be afraid to use frozen veggies, especially when your recipe calls for several types of vegetables. This is especially handy when the vegetables in your recipe are out of season. Frozen varieties may offer even more nutrients because they're picked and frozen when they're at peak ripeness and stay that way until you thaw them.
9. Get some help and make a fun project out of it.
Have you ever noticed how much kids love helping in the kitchen?
Why not take advantage of this and get them involved in your prepping, cooking or cleaning? They might not be old enough to cut onions with a sharp knife, but they'll be all too happy to measure out the spices or do other age-appropriate tasks. And as an added bonus, you get to spend more time with your family. It’s a win-win!
10. Clean as you go.
We all know that cleaning is the least fun part of cooking, so get ahead of this odious task by washing your dishes as you go.
Instead of standing around the pot waiting for your pasta to finish boiling, why not go ahead and wash the cutting board and knives that are already piling up in the sink? Little by little, you’ll chip away at the prep dishes, which means you won't be faced with an unmanageable load after dinner and can get on with your evening that much faster.
As you can see, there are several ways you can save time in the kitchen. While they may not seem like they're going to free up hours and hours in your week, you’d be surprised how quickly a few minutes here and there can add up!