I get asked all the time for ways to make dinner faster. I get that; we’re a microwave society. We want it quick, dirty, and hassle-free. This is why convenience foods are so popular (and expensive and 99% of the time, full of chemicals and lacking nutrients).
Here are a couple of things that I do that help me get dinner done quickly and efficiently:
1) Shear Strength. I use my kitchen shears as much as I use my knives. From snipping fresh herbs to opening bags of frozen berries, to cutting up chicken, I have two pairs, and one is always in the dishwasher!
2) Foiled Again. To prevent my celery from going limp and nasty (and listen, having to run out to the store to buy fresh celery in the middle of cooking is a total buzz kill) I wrap it in foil. It stays fresh for weeks this way!
3) Garlic Getaway. I use these little garlic ice cubes (Dorot is the brand) that I buy from Trader Joe’s to shortcut the fresh garlic pressing stuff. The garlic is better (in my opinion) than that of the jarred variety and it’s so easy and convenient, love them!
4) Spin on Spinach. I buy triple-washed tubs of organic spinach at the warehouse store. I saute it for a side dish, add it to salads, make it the salad, and stir it into soups, eggs, and quiches. It’s amazing and versatile and cuts my prep work way down.
5) More Spin. I use a salad spinner for my lettuce to get it nice and dry. Wash it, throw it in the spinner, take it for a quick spin, and voila, lettuce that’s washed, dried, and ready to go for your salad!
Last but certainly not least is our Dinner Answers program – always know what’s for dinner when you use our weekly menus complete with shopping lists!
These are just a few of my shortcuts. What about you? Do you have some tried and true ones you’d like to share?
4 Responses
I love sweet potatoes in stews, for breakfast sauteed with spinach, or sauteed with pumpkinseeds, coconut oil and seasonings. To cut out the peeling and chopping, I buy Organic Frozen, cubed sweet potatoes at Wal-Mart!! They are organic, inexpensive (their brand), and sooo easy to throw in the pan or crockpot! I also use them with my Lamb Curry!
That’s a great shortcut! I love buying the precubed butternut squash.
We bake several pounds of sweet potatoes at a time. Cool in the oven. Then store in the fridge. So easy to cut and use in almost any dish.
Yes! That’s a great way to keep them handy. They cook real well in the InstantPot, too!