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Between school runs, household chores, and having a successful career, juggling life can be challenging for working Mums and Dads! Making sure the whole family has nutritious meals every day of the week just adds to this pressure.
Luckily, there are ways to make weekday meals simpler and quicker, so Mums and Dads can have more quality time with their families. Begin to make more time today with these seven handy cooking tips:
1. Preparation is Key
This tip is first on the list, and for good reason! It is probably the most important advice you can have! Planning your meals is the number 1 way to save time and effort. Make a weekly or even monthly plan, and stick to it.
A simple way to do this to create a meal plan based around rotating your family’s favourite meals. Ensure you have all the ingredients needed so your weekday cooking goes smoothly.
Another great idea is to cook in bulk over the weekend, so you have cooked food items you can use to make up meals in the week. For example, make a couple of roasts and have a roast beef salad one day, a pasta bake with beef on another day and serve the rest of the roast up with some veggies, rice, and sauce, on yet another day.
2. Sauces and Side Dishes
Meal prep could mean cooking more of something than what you need for one meal. So, instead of preparing a portion of chicken for each family member for a single meal, why not roast up a whole tray of chicken?
The problem is that most families don’t want the same meal day after day. The solution? Switching it up with different sauces and side dishes will make your chicken roast anything but boring.
When you make sauce, why not make a big batch of it, portion it out and freeze it? You never know when you need to sauce something up!
3. Slowly Does it
Use a slow cooker, a crockpot, or a Dutch oven (like this https://unocasa.com/products/enameled-cast-iron-dutch-oven) to prep meals. This will help you save time and effort in two ways:
- You could have dinner ready when you get home by getting the ingredients into the pot in the morning and letting it slowly cook through the day. A tasty and nutritious meal after a long day at work is just what you need!
- Cook in bulk and freeze portions. Slow cookers usually have a large capacity, so you’re able to double-up on meals.
4. Stock Up!
We’ve all experienced the frustration of being halfway through cooking, realizing we need something, and rushing to the store to get it! A kitchen that’s well-stocked with essential items is an excellent time-saver.
Do a monthly shop for what you need, based on your meal plan, and shop for fresh produce over weekends so you can free up weeknights for quick meal prep and family time.
5. Let the Deli do Some Gruntwork
Don’t feel bad about buying a roast chicken or two from the deli or a selection of other items that make putting a meal together quicker.
Another great idea with deli items is having a no-cook picnic kind of meal. Get a selection of the family’s favorites, put it all out on the table with some crackers, artisanal bread, and condiments, and let everyone mix and match and make up their own meal!
6. Make Friends With Your Freezer
Frozen veggies are super versatile and excellent to have on hand. They’re also packed with nutrients, giving your family the healthy boost they need!
You could also use your freezer is to cook in bulk and freeze meals. Defrosting and heating up a meal takes a lot less time than making one from scratch!
7. Breakfast for Dinner
Avoid the dinnertime scramble with some scrambled eggs! Breakfast is usually the quickest meal to make and there’s no reason not to have it for dinner. Of course, you don’t have to scramble the eggs, and it doesn’t even have to be a fry up!
Get creative and incorporate some veggies into the meal. Serve omelets stuffed with creamy spinach, delicious oven-baked sweet potato hashbrowns, or make a delicious oven-baked frittata packed with broccoli; it’s nutritious and tasty!
Saving Time and Money, and Your Health!
With these tips, you’ll have less stress to make meals and extra free time on hand. With better planning, it’s a lot easier to avoid getting unhealthy take-out, so you’ll even save money and eat more healthily.
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