Some people love cooking, while others absolutely despise it. The main reason some of you may dislike cooking is that it takes a lot of time. You’ve all been in situations where you see a recipe that says ’15 minutes,’ but it ends up taking an hour. Why?! Why does everything always take so much time in the kitchen?
To be honest, a lot of recipe times are ambitious, but you should be able to match them! It all comes down to understanding how you can save time in the kitchen. That’s where this article will really come in handy for you. Below, you’ll see some of the best kitchen hacks for saving time and getting your meals cooked quicker every day:
Boil water in a kettle
The number one mistake in a kitchen is boiling your water in a pan. It takes considerably longer than boiling it in a kettle, then transferring it to a pan. Do this whenever you’re making rice, pasta – or need to cook anything in boiling water. One pro tip is to fill the pan with a bit of water, cover it with a lid, then fill up your kettle. This way, the small bit of water is already boiling when the kettle water gets added. It just ensures that you instantly have a pan full of water on a rolling boil. Honestly, this can turn a 20-minute pasta dish into a 10-minute one!
Get your hands on some chopping equipment
Unless you’re Gordon Ramsey, your knife skills aren’t good enough to prepare food quickly. Most of you will probably admit that this is where most of your time gets spent. That’s why the 15-minute meals are done so effortlessly by chefs – they cut everything so quickly. To mimic this, get yourself some chopping equipment. There are manual choppers that you push food into and it slices them up, or electric ones that cost a bit more. Either option works, and it (literally) slices your preparation time in half.
Prepare everything before you start cooking
Before you begin cooking anything, make sure you prepare all of your ingredients and get all the equipment out. This means chopping up any food, weighing out your spices, and preheating the oven. Sure, this could take a few minutes, but the result is a kitchen that’s ready to rock and roll. From here, you simply add things as required, with no other prep to worry about. It’s much better than heating a pan, chopping some onions, adding them to a pan while frantically crushing garlic, then weighing out spices, etc. Not only is it more efficient, but it’s also just less stressful. You aren’t rushing around trying to find things – it’s all prepared and ready for action.
Consider getting an induction hob
Induction hobs are fantastic as they heat your pans incredibly quickly. You’ll find that a lot of modern luxury kitchens come equipped with induction hobs nowadays. They’re much easier to clean – and frighteningly more efficient than other options. So much time is wasted waiting for things to heat up in your kitchen. Even when all the ingredients are prepped, you’re sat around waiting for a pan to reach the right temperature. It’s very frustrating, but induction hobs can solve this by heating things in a matter of seconds.
Clean as you cook
Ironically, cooking a meal takes twice as long as it should because of all the washing up afterwards. This is why so many people dislike cooking – you slave away, only to have more work when the food is cooked. A good way to solve this is to clean as things cook. After you’ve prepared your ingredients, you start adding them to the dish. Now, while things cook, you can clean the chopping board and any equipment that was used. Basically, you can clean as much as possible while the food is cooking, meaning you only have a pan or two at the end.
Use pre-prepared ingredients
Finally, this is a tip for people that are really busy every single day. If you still find it hard to prepare all your ingredients, buy some that are prepared for you! This is a great idea for busy mums that need to get a meal on the table before their kids start getting grouchy. Pre-prepared ingredients will cost more money, so it’s up to you to decide if you want to use them or not.
On that note, you’ve come to the end of this little guide. Use all of the tips mentioned above to speed up the cooking process in your home. You’ll be amazed at how much swifter your meals are made – and how less stressful it is to cook!
