This post is in conjunction with The Parent Bloggers Network, who is working with Ore-Ida to get the word out about their new Steam n’ Mash potatoes. Already scrubbed, peeled and chopped, just pull them from the freezer, steam them in the microwave, and you’ll have homemade mashed potatoes in 15 minutes! Write a post on your blog telling us about your shortcuts. Post anytime this weekend and you could win a $250 Visa Gift Card!
I don't have many shortcuts in the kitchen, at least not a shortcut that most of you don't already use. There is ONE thing that I do fairly often that really does save me a lot of time - precooking. And it usually takes place on a Sunday.
My favorite part of Sunday is watching football and getting ready for the next week. I try to organize at least one cabinet - this week it was tupperware - pack lunches, section fruit and chips for the upcoming week, wash and put away laundry, clean the house, clean the van, and just try to do as much as I can that will make the week easier. Precooking is a big part of that. Typically, I'll brown a chopped onion and some garlic in olive oil and add a chopped green pepper. Then I brown 2 pounds of ground beef. I drain it, mix it with an equivalent amount of Soy Crumbles - swear to goodness, check out the MorningStar farms stuff, you canNOT tell a difference and who among us doesn't need less fat and calories? - and spread it on paper towels. When it's cool, dump it into freezer bags that have paper towels inside. Freeze.
Now, no matter what's for dinner, if it calls for browned ground beef, you've got a fifteen minute jump on your meal. You can make a quick spaghetti sauce even quicker. Even if the recipe doesn't call for added garlic/onions/peppers, there are very few meals that aren't improved by the combo.
I also slip 4-6 chicken breasts in marinade early in the day and grill them after dinner, to make for easier lunch times at work. A few containers of spinach salad and tomatoes packed in the fridge, and you've got lunch ready to grab.
What's your shortcut in the kitchen? Blog about it and you could win $250!
It's more of a long-term shortcut, but when fruit comes in in the fall, I order orchard boxes (this year it's apples and peaches). I blanch/peel them, and then cut them up into recipe size. Then I seal-a-meal them into pre-measured quantities. Next stop, freezer, and voila...instant fruit desserts. Or I just open one for protein smoothies.
My other one is buying family packs of chicken, and baking them (salting first). After they cool, I chop into about 1/2 cubes, measure into 2-cup portions, seal-a-meal, and freeze. Again, voila...any recipe that calls for cooked chicken is short work, baby.
And of course, there's the start-the-bread-machine-before-bed trick (less than ten minutes, and screamingly cheaper than store-bought). And cooking oatmeal overnight in the crockpot on low. And natch, making kid's lunches the night before, and having a pre-set breakfast menu ("I'm sorry, it's eggs today and oatmeal tomorrow"). Saves the pre-coffee brain cells, I gotta tell you.
Okay, I'll stop now ;-)
Posted by: Liz in Seattle | October 12, 2008 at 02:50 PM
I try to get the coffee pot ready the night before so I can just hit "on" in the morning. I also double my recipes for the week so I have meals to freeze for later.
Posted by: mhb | October 12, 2008 at 07:59 PM
My shortcut in the kitchen actually takes place before anything gets to the kitchen. When planning meals for the week, I make a menu for the week and then make my shopping list. It saves time and money (because I don't buy things that aren't on the list) and I don't have to try to decide every night what to make, it's already taken care of.
Posted by: Tammy | October 12, 2008 at 11:28 PM
I plan meals ahead and shop for them, like Tammy. I think I save money on groceries as well because everything gets used up and I plan for what I have first, but it does take initiative.
I don't know if it's necessarily a shortcut, but I always have a few chicken tenderloins and veggies in the freezer, 30-minute marinade in the fridge and a box of pasta roni in the cabinet. Pasta Roni is not the most healthy side dish, I'll admit (I use lowfat milk and less butter than the instructions call for) but it's a pretty quick and fairly nutritious dinner. And you can keep the stuff on hand without it going bad, which is critical for me.
Posted by: Megan | October 13, 2008 at 09:34 PM
I am far too late to qualify for any sort of Visa card, and I have no idea if my idea even fits the description of short cuts, but since I love variety and often like to make completely new things, I find that having loads of recipes from blogs, newspapers and friends can end up in a messy pile so now I copy and paste anything that interests me online from newspapers, blogs or emails and then send them to my own email online with the subject line reading the actual recipe. For example with your delicious sounding peanut butter muffins, I just highlighted the recipe and pasted it into my own email address with the subject line: Peanut Butter Muffins. Then I sent it to myself. Now whenever I want a recipe I just go to my own email and do a search. The recipe I am looking for pops up immediately and I do not have to have piles of paper. Then I just cook or bake off of my laptop in the kitchen. Easy and neat.
Posted by: amy | October 15, 2008 at 11:31 AM