5 Tips for Home Cooked Meals When There’s No Time
December 12, 2012
•Emily Murray
•Atlanta
• 0 Comments
5 Tips for Home Cooked Meals When There’s No Time
Sometimes cooking at home is just impossible. Seriously, life is busy with work, kids and anything else that comes your way. It’s okay, it’s life. However, eating on the run all the time does get expensive and it’s not very healthy. Cooking at home is much healthier and can actually save you money. Here are five tips that will help you find the time for a healthy home cooked meal.
Plan Your Meals Ahead of Time – Saves a Ton of Time
A big part of creating time is planning. It doesn’t matter what you’re doing, when you manage your time properly you’ll free up time somewhere else, even when it comes to creating a meal. Take time once a week to plan the next week’s meals. Then when you go to the grocery store you buy all of your ingredients for that week. This saves you from stopping on your way home from work and with all of the ingredients in the house. Get them ready in the morning and you can easily have time to make your meal when you get home.
Double Up Your Ingredients to Save Time
When planning your meals try to create meals with the same basic ingredients. For example if you are having a meal with vegetables two nights in a row, chop up extra veggies so that they are ready to go for your meal the second night. This will free up a lot time on night two and will allow you to have a nice meal.
Make your Own Go to Meals
Everyone has the go to meatballs, pizza or chicken nuggets. A great way to save time, money and create a healthy meal is to find a recipe for these standard go to meals in a pinch. Find the recipe and then create them to store in the freezer for a quick meal on the go. It’s cheaper and healthier to make your own with fresh ingredients.
Organize your Kitchen to Save Time
It may sound funny, but an organized kitchen can actually save you quite a bit of time. Keep common utensils and bowls together. Make sure that all of your spices are close to the stove or where you are doing your mixing. When time is tight and life is busy, every second counts.
Invest in a Slow Cooker
When time is an issue a slow cooker is an incredible tool to have on hand. Prices range from under $25 for a basic cooker to over $120 for the higher end cookers. With a slow cooker you can simply prep all of your soups, chili and any other meals, turn on the power and let it cook all day. When you come home you’ll have a meal that’s ready to go.
Time is crucial when life is busy, it’s important to manage and plan time so that you can have a meal where the family comes together. After all, when you cook yourself it’s cheaper, healthier and it brings everyone in the family together.
This article is presented by Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts in Atlanta. Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts in Atlanta offers culinary arts and pâtisserie and baking training program. To learn more about the class offerings, please visit Chefs.edu/Atlanta for more information.
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