There’s nobody out there who has all the time in the world to spend cooking dinner and preparing food. Especially when it’s a constant thing, you don’t always have an unlimited amount of time to come up with new recipes and cook things from scratch every day. However, this doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t try your best to cook satisfying meals for yourself and your family. Luckily, there are plenty of ways that you can streamline the process and make things easier. Here are a few tips to help you get dinner on the table faster this week.
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Incorporate Leftovers
In order to have leftovers hanging around, you do have to cook in the first place. However, you can strike a balance of both. If you have leftovers from another meal, you can try to incorporate them into what you are cooking in the moment so you don’t need to without an entirely new dish on the spot every night.
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Divide and Conquer
If speed is the name of the game, one of the best things that you can do is assemble a team and I can get the job done quickly. If your hands are the only ones in the kitchen, you likely will need to take a little bit longer to put together every piece of the meal. However, if you have your partner or even one of your kids helping you out and tackling a designated part of the meal while you do the rest, you can save a lot of time and engage in a bonding activity together in the process.
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Use the Best Ingredients
When it comes to planning out your meals, one of the ways that you can save a little bit of time is by using the ingredients that you know are the absolute best. Try to pick fresh vegetables that are in season, whole grains to balance things out and unique choices that spice things up. When you feel inspired and excited to cook, the job and evidently get done faster.
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Keep Rice On Deck
If you tend to have rice at most of your meals, this tip can save you a ton of time. Rather than making new rice for every single meal, you can make rice a few days in advance so that you don’t even need to think about it in the moment. Simply heat up the rice that you have already made and serve it alongside the fresh dish you’re cooking up for dinner. Of course, if this doesn’t mean that every few days you will need to make the rice yourself, but it can definitely see if your time in the long run.
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Have Plenty of Options Around
Even if you don’t always have the time to plan out every meal, one thing that can keep your life much easier is to make sure that your pantry and your fridge are fully stocked in order to set the stage for creative ideas. Trying to scrounge up supplies from nothing is much harder than working from a bountiful array of options. Go grocery shopping regularly so that you can stay on top of the cooking.
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Utilize the One-Pot
If making multiple dishes just isn’t in the cards, you can always utilize the one-pot meal in order to keep things simple and delicious at the same time. By cooking things in a single pot, you minimize on clean-up and on prep time. Plus, there are so many amazing single-pot recipes that you can try out, so you basically will never get bored.
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Meal Prep
Again, this isn’t something that you can do every single day because it does require prep at the beginning of the week, but meal prepping ahead of time is a great way to save on the time you spend cooking every single day. Just like with the rice, you can meal prep one part of your dinner and make the rest on the day, or you can even mail crap for the entire thing. It’s completely up to you and what works best with your lifestyle.
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Veggie Life
The simple fact is that meat takes longer to cook than most other dishes. Whether you already eat a lot of vegetarian food or you are willing to try it in order to save time, going veggie can cut down on your cooking time. Plus, there are so many truly wonderful vegetarian options out there that can make perfect dinners.
Whipping Up Dinner
No matter what your lifestyle is or how you have handled cooking in the past, there are so many ways that you can get dinner on the table quicker than ever. From using leftovers to going vegetarian, you can get the job done and still have a delicious, satisfying meal. Do you do any of these techniques already?
