The best and healthiest food I eat comes out of my own kitchen. Freshly prepared with wholesome, real ingredients and a whole lot of love. It tastes better, I control the ingredients, and I am able to prepare exactly what my family and I like.
It wasn’t always like that. The first 12 years of my married life I barely entered the kitchen. I was lucky enough to have help, something that is pretty common in this side of the world. On the few occasions where I did make an attempt at cooking I decided I didn’t like it. I found it was stressful and took too much effort considering the short amount of time that it took to polish off the dish.
And then we moved to the U.S. where there was no help. And I was forced to enter the kitchen and make meal preparations a prime focus, something that initially did not make me very happy. Especially when one or all of my boys showed their obvious displeasure at what was being served after having spent what seemed like an endless amount of time in the kitchen.
But since I had no choice and my motto in life has always been: if you do something, do it well, I threw myself full-on onto my new task of feeding my family and myself healthy and tasty meals. I used family members and friends from around the world, cookbooks and magazines to find new recipes and try out different things and began to slowly master and enjoy the art of cooking. And now many years later I think can say I do a decent job in the kitchen.
What I did realize along the way is that cooking can be time-consuming especially if you cook from scratch with fresh ingredients, something that is essential if you want to create healthy meals. Many of the people I work with face the same problem when they embark on a health-building journey that involves connecting with the food they eat by preparing home made meals.
So for all of you that want to enjoy homemade food but find it difficult to allocate an adequate amount of time, here is a list of things you can do to reduce the time spent in your kitchen and still enjoy amazing, healthy home cooked food.
1. Plan ahead
There will be days where you have either no time to think about what to cook for dinner or simply no inspiration. It makes a lot of sense to take the last minute pressure out of the equation by:
- Keeping a well-organized recipe file that contains family favorites for easy reference
- Planning your menu for the week ahead
2. Shop smart
- Plan a weekly trip to the grocery store to stock up the ingredients you will need during the week. Fresh produce, unless it keeps well, can always be added later.
- It makes sense to buy certain ingredients (the ones you use a lot) in bulk so you have a ready supply and possibly save some money.
- I know it can feel very empowering to cook everything from scratch but there are limits in my opinion. It is a question of priority and sometimes it just doesn’t make sense to spend endless hours preparing things that can be “outsourced”. Easier said than done, especially here in India where there is a lack of high quality packaged goods and where certain basic ingredients such as almond flour, or almond milk, tomato paste etc. are just not available.
I have done it while living here: made coconut flour, almond flour, protein bars and many other things from scratch and I am glad I did. But I have decided I rather spend that time with my husband and kids, or do other things. So I make it a point to travel back to India with a suitcase full of these essentials or I ring up my mom and ask her to send me a package every now and then… (love you mom).
And I look for local likeminded foodie people who make and sell these items, often from home. Just discovered someone here in Mumbai who prepares and sells home made almond milk, nut butters and healthy treats. Yay! Check it out fellow Mumbaiites: Eat-A-Whey. For those of you that have easy access to high quality packaged goods that contain only healthy ingredients: awesome! Use it.
3. Prep ahead
By spending some dedicated time on prepping ahead for the week you can reduce your time in the kitchen on busy weekdays. For example:
- Wash and store vegetables in the fridge, fresh or even pre-cut or steam sautéed. Examples are broccoli, cabbage, capsicum, green beans, cauliflower etc.
- Wash and spin-dry your green leafy vegetables and store in paper towels in sealed plastic zip-lock bags
- Roast or grill some chicken and store it in the fridge for later use
- Stir-fry some ground meat with basic seasoning and store in the fridge
- Use these refrigerated items to prepare quick stir-fries during the week. Melissa Joulwan has some excellent recipes for what she calls “hot plates” and “cool salads” that turn prepped ingredients into quick meals. Check out her books Well Fed and Well Fed 2. Great tips and recipes.
- Grains and pulses such as brown rice, quinoa, chickpeas can be cooked and stored in the fridge and reheated when needed.
- Cook double quantities and store extra meals in the freezer. Yes I know: fresh is best but again, we don’t always have the luxury of time so don’t feel bad to use this option from time to time.
4. Make it a party
Turn the time spent in your kitchen into a party. Literally. Here is what I do:
- I enlist help. My husband is currently on a sabbatical and with the extra time he has on hand, he has become my right-hand man in the kitchen. (Don’t tell him because he likes to believe he is the master chef…) While I wash and chop, he sautees, seasons, and stir-fries. Much more fun having company in the kitchen! If not your partner, try roping in your kids. Depending on their age they can do a pretty good job helping out and learning how their food lands on their plate every day!
- Play some music. We have an iPod station in the kitchen and many a times our salads are being tossed to our favorite tunes and our meat is sautéed with a jiggle.
5. DIY
Do it yourself. It might initially seem like an extra effort but it eventually pays off to have things like homegrown herbs in the garden or on the balcony. Or vegetables. What about a chicken coop and have fresh eggs for breakfast? This seems a bit far-fetched from where I am at the moment but boy when I have my house and garden I will seriously consider having some chicken! Herbs and vegetables are a no-brainer.
6. Invest in the right kitchen tools
Cooking with good quality equipment can make a world of difference in terms of time spent in your kitchen. Some things you might want to consider investing in are:
- A good chef’s knife. I was gifted mine for my birthday after my friend whose husband is a well-known chef saw what I was battling with in the kitchen. Suddenly slicing and chopping was a dream. Couldn’t do without that knife.
- A high-speed blender like the Vitamix. Makes quick smoothies and soups in a flash without bits and pieces and lumps.
Heavy duty, high quality cast iron pans
- A good quality Dutch oven that can be used for making stews, braises etc.
- Coffee grinder for grinding fresh spices or flax seeds etc.
- A julienne peeler, which turns zucchini or cucumber into quick Paleo noodles
So there you go. Put all these tips in place and you should be able to cut down on your time spent in the kitchen. Remember that it is so worth your while to cook your own healthy meals. Your body and taste buds will thank you for it. And with a little bit of planning and organizing it is possible to do so without having to live in your kitchen.
Be Well!
Monique
