The saying, “time is money” certainly applies in the business world, but it applies in the kitchen, too. Saving time and money in the kitchen really helps with family time and the family budget. So it works in our favor when we come up with cooking ideas that save time and money in the kitchen. There are a lot of kitchen shortcuts out there, but no matter which way you cut the roast, cooking is still cooking. So what are some cooking ideas that will save you time and money?
Easy cooking is a great place to start. We all like to think of ourselves as good cooks, but not everything has to be complicated. It’s hard to save time and money if you aren’t organized. So get organized by focusing on what to cook and when to cook. Write your cooking ideas down and put them in your own personal cooking book. Along with planning what to cook, you should plan when to cook. Most people assume they have to cook dinner between the hours of 4 pm and 7 pm. As the norm this is great, but make sure you are using easy recipes for dinner.
Here is another one we found works in our house. Cook dinner at breakfast. No, most would not classify this as a normal habit. Think of it this way. By cooking your dinner in the morning, you will not have the evening rush of “what to cook” which regularly translates into “where can I order out” because you don’t have the time or energy to make a home cooked meal. Prepare your dinner meal while you are fixing breakfast, and then put it in the refrigerator. When you get home, you will only have to reheat and a home cooked meal is on the table in a jiffy. This is especially good when you are cooking for kids.
Here is a another one from the cooking book. Dig out the crock pot. We do this a lot on Sundays. There are healthy and great tasting dishes that you can make in a crock pot. In the morning, all your ingredients get added to the pot. By dinner, it’s ready to serve. How much prep time do you have when you get home? Just long enough to set the table. Talk about easy cooking! To us, this is as close as it comes to having someone cook your dinner for you. Shop around. There are some great crock pot recipes available that will tantalize your taste bud.
Along with those quick and easy recipes, try this. Plan a kitchen table picnic. What does that mean? It means you use paper plates and plastic ware. Does that beat washing the dishes or what?! Even the kids can get involved with throwing out the plates when they are done eating. I f you do this when you do crock pot cooking, then you have only one dish to wash, the crock pot!
This one needs prep time, but offers you a real break on a day to day basis. We do this about five or six times a year. We cook for a whole month a one time. Everything goes in the freezer. When we are done, there are 30 dinners in the freezer. It takes two days to get it all done, but for a month, dinner is on the table about 20 minutes after we get home. If a month seems overwhelming, start with doing meals for a week or two. Every night then has easy recipes for dinner!
Save time. Save money. It’s a great way to run a kitchen. The more easy cooking and cost effective cooking you can do, the better off your kitchen is!