Do you want to know how to save time in the kitchen and still eat well? Gaining healthy weight doesn’t have to mean spending huge amounts of time cooking.

It’s not hard and there are a number of hacks you can use to help save you time (and money).

While we generally love to eat, for many time-poor folks there isn’t a whole lot of love for the cooking process.

And so there are lots of people who want to be able to eat healthily but don’t want to be chained to the kitchen on top of all the other responsibilities they have.

While meal preparation is very much a part of life, there are definitely ways on how to save time in the kitchen so let’s go over them.                               

Kitchen Time Saving Hacks

1. Organise Your Kitchen

Keeping your kitchen organised will help you spend less time in it.

Kitchen organisation includes things like:

• Knowing what food you have at home and where it’s kept.
• Keeping appliances you use regularly within easy reach and ready to go.
• Storing your pots, pans, knives etc. in the same place where you can easily access them at any time.

I mean who hasn’t experienced wanting to howl with frustration because you can’t find the chopping board when you need it? Or the blender lid has gone AWOL?

To sum up, staying organised in the kitchen helps you complete tasks faster.

2. Plan

Making a meal plan and shopping list for your grocery shop will save you time and money.

A grocery list will help keep your kitchen stocked. Try to get ingredients you can use in different ways e.g. rice, milk or eggs.

And having a meal plan means you don’t have to waste time thinking about what to cook up that day, then the next, and the day after that etc.

Also remember the detail of the plan is up to you. You can just put down “Pasta night” or write down a specific pasta dish that you had in mind for that day.

3. Batch cook your favourite foods

Cooking larger serves of your favourite foods is a great time saving hack that ensures you’ll have portions of food for later in the week, which you actually love to eat.

For example roast some juicy chicken thighs then have them different ways over several meals. For instance with potatoes, then in a wrap or sandwich, or added to a salad etc.

4. Be flexible.

To clarify, if you’re cooking and find you’re missing one or more ingredients, just work with what you have instead. 

No need to run out and get saffron threads, I promise you. It’s a nice-to-have but not essential.

This is easy to do with most food ingredients, spices and herbs. You can find an alternative. 

No minced meat for your bolognaise? Use tinned fish or even legumes.

Not enough rice for a stir fry? Make a noodle stir fry instead.  And use whatever vegetables you have in the fridge and freezer.

You’ve run out of tomato paste? Use ketchup, pasta sauce or fresh tomatoes.

And by being flexible, you’ll discover new dish varieties and save yourself time and money as well.

5. Sort out your ingredients after you shop

Taking the time to do some food prep after you come back from shopping can also be a huge time saver.  Here are some ideas for you to try:

• Make ahead smoothie packs. Place ingredients in zip lock bags in the freezer for smoothies e.g. berries, bananas, spinach leaves etc.
• Pound soft animal protein like chicken breasts, thighs and steaks before you cook them. They will cook much faster and more evenly if they are pounded to about the same width.
• Chop up vegetables to save yourself time later. You can even blanch and then freeze these afterwards, then just pull out and use when needed.
• Place items in their designated kitchen spot to save you time trying to find them later on.

6. Make one dish meals

Maintain a balanced diet by getting your carbs, protein and veggies all together in one dish. You can use a number of cooking methods including stewing, roasting, slow cooking etc.

For example, you could use one pan, one pot or one sheet meals for the stovetop or oven.

And, remember to cut everything small and to about the same size so they can cook faster and evenly.

Some examples of one dish meals that include all these essential nutrients include casseroles, roasts, stir fries, pasta meals, shepherd’s pie etc.

The added bonus here is a quick prep and clean up time.

7. Use your kitchen tools to save time

Here’s where you let the machines do the work. Use whatever kitchen gadgets you have to make shortcuts.

Certainly, if they are gathering dust in some cupboard, it’s time to pull out your food choppers, slow cookers, hand blenders etc. to save you time.

If you never use the oven and/or grill, it’s time to start.

I love batch cooking and will often have something going in the slow cooker, on the stove top and in the oven, all at the same time.

To sum up, these tools are there to help cut down on time spent in the kitchen. So use them!

8. Use up leftovers

Leftovers have a kind of second class status when it comes to food. It’s time to change that.

Think of leftovers as a challenge to be creative and make up a tasty meal with whatever you’ve got.

You can use leftovers to make pasta meals or bakes, fritters, fried rice, curries, tacos, stir fries, salads, omelettes, soups, wraps, frittatas, sandwiches….The list goes on.

Finally, there is a triple bonus with this. Leftovers stop food waste and save time and money.

9. Keep kitchen staple foods.

Importantly, it is always helpful to have some staple foods in the kitchen.

Having these basic supplies mean you’ll be able to cook a meal without having to get take away food, doing an unplanned shop, or spending time trying to figure out what to make.

Some examples of staples to keep at home for healthy weight gain include whole grain pasta, eggs, honey, legumes, milk, onions, rice, canned fish and yogurt.

10. Clean and clear as you cook.

It’s done!  You’ve planned, and batch cooked the food you had at home using your trusty kitchen tools to save you time.

On the whole you’ve finished! Except you haven’t.

Because when you look over at the sink and see those dirty dishes lying there, it’s enough to make a grown anyone cry.

Cleaning up as you go along will save you heaps of time at the end.

As I place food to cook on the stove/ in the grill/ oven etc, I start to put the vegetable peels into the compost, throw out rubbish, and start washing up.

While the food is cooking, I clean up whatever’s left in the kitchen so that after eating the meal, there isn’t something resembling a landfill site waiting.

Trust me, this is one tip you’ll want to try to save you time (and your sanity).

And that’s it. Those are some great ways to save time in the kitchen folks.

Finally, there are other benefits to these tips including gaining weight in a healthy way, saving money, avoiding food waste and living more sustainably.