Hi, I need some tips and ideas to save some time everyday. I always cook 3 times a day. Dh prefer fresh meals. Even I like to provide fresh meals to them and cook 3 times along with snacks in the evening. I will not prepare snacks everyday. Mostly it will be a healthy one. I used to prepare 3 or 4 times a week. Other days, it will be just tea with rusk. Since lockdown, I am getting so tired to maintain the same thing everyday. I feel like spending more time in the kitchen. It's getting difficult to be in the kitchen and also spend time with my son and help him for his digital learning (1st grade). He is a single child. So he is feeling very bored. He can't play with his friends now. So I am trying more than my best to keep him occupied and entertained. How do you all minimise your cooking time? How many times a day do you cook? What are the other things you do in order to reduce the kitchen time? Please share your inputs.
Hi Op, This has been an issue with me as well I have a 18 month old who needs all my time .When I had been talking to a friend that I have been spending a lot of time in kitchen she shared a few of her best practices. To plan what to make the precious day and not to think when you have to cook. That indeed saves a lot of time. Practicing parallel cooking is one more. It speeds up the work It worked wonders with me. I try to use all the 4 stations while cooking if necessary. Soon after breakfast I just keep my pressure cookers and go back to play with her. Time n then I keep chopping veggies n prepping other things while playing. You can get your cutting boards to the place where your son is playing n chop there if you feel comfortable. I give a activity that takes atleast 20-30 mins for DD to complete n head to kitchen. I also keep in my mind how much time I have to take to cook. Meanwhile i always keep interacting with her. I tie up myself for 45 mins n quickly do away with cooking.I always keep a time in mind n enter kitchen so I m always cautions that I need to finish by then. Prepping the previous night is a great idea. Saves a lot of your time. I dont use a dish washer as I think I end up wasting lot of time loading n unloading!! So I keep cleaning my dishes as and when they go in the basin. N I try to reuse as much as I can the cookers n vessels. Along with this soaking a large batch of tamarind, making a jaggery syrup n storing in fridge helps me in quickly making sambar n gojju.In the nights I keep the menu quite simple. Like 15-20 mins of prepping. Choose making easy snacks that consume less time on weekdays n cook an elaborate one on weekends. I usually chose something I can make n store so we can consume for couple of days so that it helps me skip the snack making time.
Pot cooking is one shot. Less hassle and less work in sink. Wonderful suggestions available in IL : also in google. @krishnaamma u tube in IL TOO IS worth exploring. God - I eat to live!
I too cook a few times a day. Since I work from home because of the lock down an I still have to maintain 8 hrs from 8-5 with and hr break, it is difficult. For mornings I make tea and we eat bread or something (no cooking). Lunch I cook 2 curries and we always eat rice. Dinner is something different because we do not want to eat rice. Snack items sometimes I cook something but last week it’s been packed items. I do plan my meals ahead and buy grocery accordingly so it helps, but cooking effort is too much since I have to work during the day. I am planning to cook every other day from now on.