How to Save Time when Cooking

Two great techniques that can be utilized and fit any family’s needs are meal planning and bulk cooking. There is a simple idea behind this. It is that cooking and preparing meals ahead of time, then preserving them through freezing or refrigerating can save you a great deal of time. Plus, if done right, you can cook one large meal which can be saved for two or three other meals. In order to do this you simply need to make sure that every meal that you cook counts. Simply double, triple or quadruple a recipe then freeze it.

Doesn’t this sound absolutely wonderful? Then why not give it a try? It will give you a break that you greatly need.

The first thing you will need to do is plan your meals. In order to do this you will need a pen, paper, your personal collection of recipes, a cookbook and a comfortable chair.

You will want to write down your favorite meals and a grocery list to coincide with the meals that you plan to cook. The key here is to think in bulk. Therefore, if you usually would prepare one pot of spaghetti, now you would want to prepare two. This means that you will need to double the recipe and alter your shopping list accordingly. Do not fret! It will take you the same amount of time to prepare a meal; you just need to do a little extra planning.

After you have figured out what meals you want to prepare, you will need to write down, on a calendar, what day you will want to serve these meals. The best place to keep your calendar is on the refrigerator for your entire household to see. This will also help you to know what you need to do for preparation of the next day’s meals.

The most important tool that you will need for meal planning and bulk cooking is a freezer. Small freezers can also work here. You will just need to be a little more creative whenever you are placing the meals in your freezer. Freezer bags may work best here since you can stack them flat. Another thing that works well is freezer proof containers. In the end you will certainly be surprised at just how many meals your freezer can actually hold.