Save your time and sanity by implementing these time-saving ideas in your kitchen.
I love to cook a beautiful and delicious meal. Something special, with flavours to savour. I like to pour over recipes to find the right one. Perhaps sip on a glass of wine as I cook.
But that is the exception and not the rule in my kitchen. That way of cooking is likely to happen a couple of times a year for special occasions or when friends come to dinner.
It certainly is not every day. I like things simple. Tasty. But simple.
I also like to cook from scratch. That can be a lot more work, so I am always on the lookout for ways to keep things easy.
Why Cook from Scratch?
Cooking from scratch can seem impossible. Too much time and work. Why would you even bother when it is so convenient to buy ready-to-go food from the supermarket?
There are many reasons to cook from scratch, but that would take another blog post to discuss.
For me, cooking from scratch is mainly about health. It is also about being self-sufficient (I grow and preserve a lot of our food) and budget is also a major factor.
I like to cook and preserve food and I love being in the kitchen.
However, I don’t want to be there all the time. I want to be efficient with my time. I also want to be gardening, working on our house, and doing other things, like writing blog posts.
Over the years, I have learnt to maximise my time so Dan and I can enjoy the benefits of cooking from scratch, without being shackled to the kitchen.
1. Batch Cooking
“Cook once, eat twice”, or more if possible.
When cooking a meal, or a component of a meal, like meat or another type of protein, always cook more than you need.
- Cook as much as you can fit into your pan. Then you have ready-cooked protein for another meal.
- Double, triple, and quadruple a recipe if you have enough ingredients. This especially works well for recipes like curries, casseroles, and soups. If you make lasagne, make two. Eat one, freeze the other for an easy defrost, and reheat meal.
- Make a huge salad. Eat from it all week. Add your toppings fresh when you serve, like parmesan or avocado, or toasted nuts.
- Don’t make one cake, make two. Don’t make one banana bread, make two.
I think you see where I am going with this.
Find recipes that freeze well.
2. Bulk Preparation
Like batch cooking, bulk preparation focuses more on individual ingredients. If you are already prepping, chopping, or mixing, it takes little to no effort to cut or mix more.
- Roast two trays of vegetables instead of one.
- Cutting up some carrots to go with your meal? Cut up the whole bunch. Keep the unused ones in a container with a bit of water to keep them crisp. Or freeze them. Do the same with other vegetables.
- Cook ALL the bacon, I do mine in the oven. That way you have bacon for breakfast, to crumble in salads or on sandwiches (think BLT), on an egg and bacon roll, and more.
- Make a triple amount of marinade and meat. Put together into a freezer bag into individual meal portions ready to defrost and cook when needed.
- Make a fruit crisp or crumble – triple the topping and freeze for another time.
- Cutting up fruit? Yep, you guessed it, cut up more and throw it in the freezer. There is nothing easier than a delicious apple crumble, assembled in minutes from ingredients in your freezer.
The point is – if you are getting out a bunch of ingredients it takes very little extra time to measure out or cut up more.
I promise you will never regret making extra. Your future self will love you.
Also, bulk cooking or preparation means cooking once and cleaning up once. And who doesn’t want less cleanup?
3. Double-Duty Meals
Double-duty meals are meals that can be served for breakfast, lunch or dinner.
For example, we like to eat quiche for any meal. For lunch or dinner, I serve with salad. For breakfast, we eat it on its own.
There are a lot of recipes that can do double duty.
- I make a gluten-free version of a “Dutch Baby” (baked pancake) where I double the number of eggs for more protein. We eat this either for breakfast or lunch.
- Leftover pasta dishes make great pasta bakes – throw in some extra vegetables and cheese and bake.
- Leftover meat and vegetables make a great breakfast hash with a couple of baked eggs thrown in.
There is an example of our recipe/meal rotation towards the end of this post if you would like to see what I do.
4. Plan Ahead
The main component of most dinners is the protein source. The key to easy meal preparation is to ALWAYS have defrosted protein on hand.
At the start of the week, I rummage in the freezer and grab cuts of meat that inspire me. Over a couple of days in the fridge, they defrost and are ready to cook when I want them.
We buy our meat in bulk. If I don’t have meat on hand, I make a list of meal ideas before I go to the butcher. Or I buy whatever is on special and find suitable meal ideas.
If budget is important, choose roasts that will stretch to make more meals, or cheaper cuts to slow cook. Buy whatever is on special.
Start by writing a list of recipe ideas for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
When you start cooking this way, it will help to have a list of recipe ideas for breakfast lunch and dinner for inspiration.
It is hard to think about what to cook when you are hungry and need to get a meal on the table.
5. Maximise Kitchen Time & Appliances
If you are already going to be spending time in the kitchen cooking or preparing, maximise your time by using as many appliances at once to cook as much as possible for the week ahead.
- While a meal is cooking on the stovetop, have another meal cooking in the oven.
- Prepare trays of vegetables to pop in when the first meal is cooked. Roast the vegetables while you eat dinner.
- Cook a meal like soup in the slow cooker overnight.
You could have dinner and sides done for multiple dinners, and lunch by cooking in one session. You also clean up once.
A slow cooker makes cooking cheaper cuts of meats like chuck steak easy and delicious. I DO NOT add any liquid. As it cooks the meat releases juices. You can add vegetables to make a complete meal.
The freezer is your friend. Any time you can pre-make a meal, freeze it which will save time in the future.
6. Don’t Waste Anything
If you don’t have enough of one ingredient for a recipe, freeze it. It could be one vegetable, half an apple or some leftover bread crumbs (or bread which can be made into bread crumbs).
Make sure to label the freezer bag or container and each time you have the same ingredient add to it until you have enough.
- Melted too much butter? Freeze in silicon moulds.
- Leftover Herbs? Chop up and throw into freezer cubes with melted butter or olive oil.
Both are perfect to throw into a pan straight from the freezer and will add flavour to a meal.
Cleaning out the vegetable drawer in your fridge and don’t have enough of anything for a meal? Quickly chop everything up, throw it into individual bags, no matter how small and freeze. Add to the bags next time you have a fridge cleanout.
You can freeze A LOT of different vegetables – tomatoes, capsicums, broccoli, cauliflower, beans, carrots, zucchini (only to use in soups as it goes a little mushy), and pumpkin. A quick Google search will tell you what you can and can’t freeze.
I found some random chopped-up pieces of rhubarb in my freezer and threw them into an apple crisp. Delicious!
Tip – If I am going to use an item in the next few months, I don’t bother blanching.
Our Current Meal Rotation
Currently, these are what we eat. When I get bored I find new (or old favourite) recipes to swap.
- Fruit Crisp – Breakfasts (served with yogurt/labneh)
- GF Dutch Baby (baked pancake with double the number of eggs) – Breakfast, Lunch
- Crustless Quiche (made from whatever ingredients I have on hand or leftover) – Breakfast, Lunch, or Dinner.
- Meat
- Roasted vegetables – are used in breakfast, lunch, and dinner as a side or in another dish.
- Salad
- Marinated Whole Chicken – Lunch, Dinner
- Pumpkin Soup – Lunch, Dinner
- Creamed Chard/Spinach – Dinner (as a side)
- Fruit bread – Breakfast, Lunch
- Hash with baked eggs (leftover pumpkin, potato, and meat) – Breakfast, Lunch, or Dinner.
I also make a batch of homemade mayonnaise and salad dressing at the beginning of the week and occasionally yogurt.
We don’t eat traditional bread; I wish I could. However, I do make a flatbread out of cooked pumpkin and buckwheat.
I use this flatbread in the following ways:
- Soup
- Pizza Base with tomato paste, leftover veg, and meat topped with cheese.
- Wrap with leftover meat, salad, and mayo.
- Cheesy Bread
- With Dip
I make meals taste different with the addition of toppings or extras like:
- Parmesan Cheese
- Herbs/spices
- Toasted or raw nuts
- Condiments (mayo, sauces, etc.) Cowboy Candy (our current favourite preserve) or other preserves and pickles
Our vegetables are dictated by what I currently have growing in the garden, preserved in the pantry or in the freezer. We occasionally buy something I can’t grow, like avocado.
The More You Cook From Scratch, the Easier it Gets
I used to strictly follow recipes, and sometimes I still do.
But over time I became more confident with flavours and seasonings and now I tend to “wing” it. Most of the time that works.
Sometimes I consult old recipes, just to refresh my memory on ingredients and ratios.
I also like to read new recipes for inspiration, so things don’t get too boring.
When I started cooking from scratch it seemed so tedious. So much work. However, like everything, the more you do it, the easier it becomes. All new skills seem difficult in the beginning.
I hope you find this post helpful in some way.
I really like cooking from scratch. I feel I have more freedom cooking with plain ingredients than with a packet or jar of something already made. I also feel much healthier.
Please share any tips you may have below. The more shortcuts and tips the better.
Have fun cooking.
Cindy x