The kitchen is a playground for many people. It’s where their creativity comes to life as they whip up incredible dishes that are flavourful and delicious. For others, the kitchen is an area they prefer to avoid. It’s an endless pit of chores – cooking, cleaning, and packing away dishes. If you find the work it takes to prepare a healthy and nutritious meal stressful and exhausting, we have five tips that will revolutionize your relationship with your kitchen:
1. Modernize: Get Helpful Cooking And Cleaning Equipment
You don’t have to get the latest and most expensive kitchen innovations, but nonstick cookware sets can make all the difference. Quality cooking equipment will make food prep far more pleasant, reducing your stress levels and improving your sense of achievement. Upgrading your existing kitchen equipment, like your dishwasher, can also make some of the more tedious aspects of cooking and cleaning easier and quicker.
2. When You Cook A Big Meal, Cook Double To Store
Once in a while, you might feel inspired to cook something fabulous. Maybe it’s a curry, a stew, or a special pasta that’s time-consuming and beyond the day-to-day meal prep. Cook a double portion and store the rest away. If your dish does not freeze well, save it for tomorrow or the day after. If it does freeze well, prepare a triple portion and store the excess in the freezer. This is a cooking hack that could even inspire seasoned meal preppers.
3. Collate Recipes That Utilise Five Ingredients (Or Less)
Opening your kitchen cupboards and wondering what to prepare? Cooking is far easier if you walk in knowing exactly what you plan on making. Extra points if your recipe is super simple and quick to make.
To get yourself to the point where you can do this, spend an afternoon downloading and saving (or printing) five-ingredient recipes that sound tasty to you. Why only five ingredients? Technically, it doesn’t matter how many ingredients are in the recipes. What’s important is that recipes with fewer ingredients tend to be easier to prepare. They’re ready in a few short minutes, and you’re more likely to have all the ingredients on hand.
This tactic makes it easy to eat a freshly prepared meal after a busy day, and you can achieve it by taking the “thinking” out of each day’s dinner plans.
4. Meal Prep Ahead Of Time
Sunday afternoon is a great time to prepare your meals for the week. There are many articles and videos detailing the best way to go about this. Meal prepping is helpful because it saves you on cooking (which is obvious), but it also saves you on cleaning up and washing dishes. It makes healthy and nutritious meals easy to enjoy with minimal effort. It’s also great if you need help with portion control and stays on track with health goals.
5. Clean As You Cook
Great chefs clean up as they cook, maintaining order and decorum in the kitchen. A clean working area prevents frustration and keeps everything well ordered. This might seem over the top, but it really isn’t. By keeping your stress levels down in the kitchen, you improve the entire experience and minimize the cleanup necessary at the end.
The idea behind saving time in the kitchen is to make the time you do spend there more meaningful. Use the tips above to start enjoying your meal preparation efforts. Keep the kitchen neat and well ordered, modernize your equipment, and cook complex meals in bulk. Throw on some music or a podcast, and you’ll have a whole new relationship with cooking!
