Here are three of my best tricks in order to save time in the kitchen. They will save you huge amounts of time and stress in the long run and create calm around dinner time.

Autumn is in full swing. All the schoolwork needs to be done, the after school activities take more and more time, since it is wet and dirty outside there is a lot more laundry and cleaning to de and then there are all the different holidays to prepare. Suffice to say that being mindful of how you spend your time is important.

Quick meals are the best meals on busy days. Actually on any kind of day, it is much more relaxing if you don’t have to spend hours in the kitchen.

The following tips are not complicated, they just need some thinking in advance.

3 Most Important Time Saving Tips in the Kitchen

1. Batch cooking

Always make at least a double batch (if you have storage place in the freezer, make even more!) of any stew or soup. Freezer meals are always the easiest options! Having soup or lasagna or meat stew all ready to be defrosted is such a lifesaver on busy workdays and also when getting back from holidays. No need to rush to the supermarket, just pop your meal in the oven or heat it up on the stove and you can serve a hearty dinner to your family.

2. Meal prepping in advance

Even if it’s just the small things. If you start slicing vegetables, slice the whole weeks worth of them and store it in a well-sealed container in the fridge. Later you can serve some up as snacks, cook some up in a stew or grate some up for a salad. In all cases, taking up the cooking is so much easier if half the work is already done!

3. Organizing your kitchen in a functional way

This means organizing your work space in a way that serves you best. The objective is getting to the least steps necessary while meal prepping or cleaning. This means for example that the cutting boards and recipients needed for meal prepping should be near the tabletop area where you do your meal prep. That the kitchen gloves and heat protection should be close by the stovetop or the oven. The spices easily accessible from where you use them the most often etc. This will save you so many back and forth trips in the long run that it’s definitely worth it to rethink your kitchen organization.

Bonus:

Don’t overcomplicate cooking! A balanced healthy meal doesn’t have to be anything fancy or elaborate.

I didn’t include in the list one thing that you should always always always do if you have a large family. It will save you time and money and will also preserve your mental health since it keeps you from freaking out every evening about half an hour before meal time. You guessed it, it’s meal planning. And if you’re looking for help with starting meal planning, you can go have a look at my post about Meal Planning Basics.

I hope you got some inspiration here. For more easy recipes and tips you should definitely subscribe to my newsletter and follow me on Instagram where in addition to recipe ideas I share my cooking & organizing tips and tricks plus some anecdotes of the life of a mom-of-4.

You should also grab my mini-guide of 10 mood-boosting foods where you have six smoothie ideas to make your days a bit brighter. We all need some boosting from time to time😉