Being a parent is an all-around job. Because on top of maintaining the house, taking care of the family also falls into your hands. And for households with young ones running around, it takes a miracle to keep up with them.
As the person that everyone in the house is counting on, ensuring that your family remains healthy is one of your responsibilities. Fortunately, there’s nothing healthier than a delicious home-cooked meal.
However, keeping food on the table is far from easy between shopping, preparing, and cooking ingredients. With taking care of everything else stacked on top, it’s safe to say that every second counts.
Here are ways you can save time in the kitchen:
1. Utilize Delivery Services
As much as you try to avoid it, some circumstances disrupt any schedule you’ve prepared beforehand. It’s easy to get swept up by stress when that happens. After all, you only want to get things done based on what’s listed in your schedule.
Once something unexpected disturbs it, the rest of your thought-out plans might end up in shambles.
Instead of lamenting over a ruined schedule, consider turning to delivery services. Countless apps and websites are available for having vegetable and fruit delivered right to your address. All you have to do is verify their services are legitimate before ordering from them. Because even though you’re too occupied with other things to do this yourself, it doesn’t mean you’re supposed to get low-quality groceries.
But considering how time-consuming it is to cook, some might have little to no second to spare when it’s almost mealtime, and there’s nothing on the table. Fortunately, there are meal delivery services available at some restaurants.
It’s better to ask if the ones you know have delivery options for the entire family to be familiar with the food.
2. Plan Your Meals
Thinking of what you’ll make is the only thing that’s more tedious than shopping and cooking food. Given how everyone has different tastes, figuring out what to feed your family is tricky.
Those with children have a harder time deciding on meals, considering how notorious they are for being picky eaters.
Instead of opening your fridge and staring at it for too long, start planning your meals before they run out. Make a list of what your family’s individual preferences are. Schedule days for each meal to ensure everyone can enjoy what they like to eat.
Now that everything is planned out, prepping your future meals will be quicker. On top of that, organizing the kitchen would be easier, considering you already know what you’re doing.
3. Cook In Bulk
Since you’ve already made a meal plan, use your list to plan out how many ingredients you’ll need. Fortunately, there’s no need to keep cooking every time you and your family are about to eat since there are different dishes that can last for weeks, even months.
But to make that work, all you have to do is cook with large proportions in mind.
Look up dishes that have a long expiration date. From there, stash all the excess food you got by popping it in the freezer or store it in airtight containers. After all, heat is an excellent catalyst for spoiling many ingredients, even those that are supposed to be long-lasting.
Ensure they’re labeled by the dish’s name and the date they’re cooked to help you keep track of how long they’ve been there. This way, all you have to do is heat it before everyone digs in.
4. Stock Up
Since you can make food in bulk to lessen your cooking time, it only makes sense to shop for groceries in bulk. Ideally, it’s best to go shopping once a month to save time and money.
But given you’re shopping with your family in mind, the next best option is to shop every one or two weeks.
With you deciding to stock up on groceries, consider skimming through your shopping options to find the best deals. After all, buying in bulk is costly. But with the right discounts and coupons, the price behind your purchases could drop until they reach an affordable level.
Once you bring them home, organize your kitchen in a visible way to keep track of how fast they’re being depleted.
5. Prepare Ingredients
Prep time often takes up most of the cooking time, considering how tedious it is. From washing the ingredients to chopping them up, consider doing them ahead of time. Avoid completing it so far ahead of your scheduled cooking day.
Otherwise, some products, particularly tomatoes and other sensitive goods, might get spoiled. This way, all you have to think about is the rest of the cooking procedures in the recipe.
6. Invest In Good Equipment
Getting stuck cooking because of faulty or manual cooking devices is bound to grow tiresome, not to mention tedious. Because despite their usability, fiddling with them before using them properly takes too much time in the kitchen.
What’s more, cooking meals often gets interrupted by your cooking tools. But some could even compromise the food quality itself. Consider looking for modern cooking tools and utensils to make your kitchen experiences more efficient.
7. Use Time Wisely
Not every second of cooking is fast-paced and task-heavy. Some recipes call for slow-cooking the ingredients for an hour or so. Instead of simply waiting for the timer to finish, use your wait time efficiently.
Start cleaning the areas where plates and leftover recipes are accumulating while you cook. This way, you can lessen your time in the kitchen once the meal is finished cooking and be able to relax.
8. Get The Family Involved
Only having two hands isn’t enough for some tasks. After all, it’s why kitchens earned the title of the busiest room in the entire house. Ensure your negotiation skill are on par with the rest of your family members, especially with children.
But given how much they love getting involved, inviting children to help around the kitchen is an excellent opportunity to bond while learning more about cooking. Teach them how to peel vegetables and pinpoint which fruits or vegetables are of decent quality; these pieces of information will help them in the long run. Aside from cooking, asking them to set aside used dishes and utensils is a simple and helpful way to declutter.
Takeaway
The kitchen is the busiest room in the house. Because it serves as a place to cook, it’s also where people gather to socialize. However, considering the back-to-back tasks that parents have, some of them may not afford to get carried away, given how precious every second is.
Fortunately, despite how busy it is, saving time in the kitchen is possible, so you have enough room to relax or do other errands.