The kitchen of often looked at in pain, "I hate cooking" you say. Well,
it doesn't have to be that painful. How? you ask... by pre-planning
alone.
One of the main reasons restaurants do so well is the fact that people
don't plan for the "at home" meal, so, it's just easier to "eat out".
Easy? yes, More expensive? YES! How often I see two income families
paying extra to eat out (frequently) when they don't really have to (and
they could be spending their hard earned dollars elsewhere). Fast food
is the best example, and for the most part, nutritional value is not
there. Don't get me wrong, a fast burger or something every once in a
while hurts nothing at all, but when it's four nights a week something's
amiss.
Let's look at a few things you can do that will allow you to cook more
at home.
Time is the biggest issue normally. It's a good excuse but, with some
planning, can become a non-factor.
One of the worst things you can do is to dream up a "spur of the moment"
meal and try to rush through it. Frustration will surely set in. Now
when I say meal here I don't mean ham sandwiches. A meal would be a
three or more course serving such as pot roast, green beans, a salad and
bread. Preparation is the key.
I'm too busy to cook!
I hear so often "I don't have time to cook, I work". It's true that the
workday leaves us little time to dedicate to a big meal, but, there are
ways around this. Planning is the key so plan your meal the day or week
before.
Here's a few things you can do to prepare.
First of all make up your mind to take a day a week to prepare for the
next weeks' meals. Incorporate that day with other activities that allow
you to work with your cooking plan. Let the kids help if possible.
Before jumping in here sit down and make a list of all the possible
dishes you would cook; and I mean everything. That's your menu! For some
this is a big list, and now you have something you can work with. With
that menu you can plan out an entire month of meals if you like. Oh how
dull, now I know what I'm going to eat three weeks from now....
boooorrrringggg....you say, okay, leave some of those days open for a
surprise. We all need a little surprise every once in a while so work
that into the mix. If you're the Mom (or Mr. Mom) it's your duty not to
publish this list for everyone else to see, it's your secret! You're the
cooking Santa Clause!
Here's an old phase I learned long ago, "Plan your work and work your
plan!"
Okay you get the idea about planning, let's get to the preparations.
We'll break this up in phases.
Phase 1: Getting ready
Phase 2: Putting it together
Phase 3: Cooking
Phase 4: Take a nap after you eat....
Phase 1: Getting ready
How would you like to get ready to cook seven dishes all at once? Sounds a
bit crazy but it's really easy. Look at it like this, I've got seven dishes
that each use one onion. If I chop seven onions all at once I'm ready (with
the onions) to cook all seven of these dishes. You getting the idea?
Where's the real advantage? If I got ready to cut one onion at a time
seven
times I have to get the onions out, get the cutting board out, chop one
onion, clean the cutting board and clean the knife SEVEN TIMES. Getting a
better idea now? What's the other advantage? Money honey! If you get
your onions on sale you can chop up the whole bag and put them in the
refrigerator for up to seven days! That
also means they won't start growing in your onion box!
Chopping vegetables, making sauces, etc.; all seemingly "little" things
take time as described above. This all can be done the day or week
before, put in the ice box or freezer and tomorrow it's ready to go. You
can even get lazy and buy all of this pre-chopped at the store but it
will cost you extra (hey, save your money). Don't hesitate to chop the
veggies up and freeze them, they'll keep for several weeks. Sautéing the
vegetables the day before and throwing them in the ice box is also okay.
Make a roux and other mixtures the day before and refrigerate or freeze
them. Here's another time saver, when making a roux make twice as much
as you need, refrigerate what you don't use. Same holds for basic tomato
sauces, make a bunch of it and freeze it in small portions.
The previous two subjects (veggies and sauces) are the base for several
meals. Now to the identifier, or, meat. The meat can be chicken, shrimp,
beef or whatever. It "identifies" the meal.
The bigger the piece of meat the longer it takes to cook, you already
know that. Here's what can be done to take care of the longer timed cuts
such as a roast. Season and/or stuff the roast. Bake it in the microwave
or oven, let it cool and throw it in the freezer. Here's the trick! Do
this while you're doing other cooking stuff. That's right, hey, you're
already chopping veggies or cooking a meal and you've got to be at the
stove already right? Take advantage of the time, cook the roast too.
Same holds true for a hen, that takes a long time to cook. Sit down and
think ahead, then, consolidate your activities.
Phase 2 & 3: Putting it together and cooking
You can put a fantastic spaghetti dish on the table in a mater of 30
minutes if you prepare for it, and, it's all "home made". If that don't
make you feel good I don't know what will!
The day before the meal, take the spaghetti sauce and meat you are going
to use out of the freezer and put it in the ice box to defrost. The day
of the meal put the sauce and meats in a pot and cook it all up the
proper time, boil the pasta, make the salad, fix the garlic bread and
bingo you're the "Italian Stallion".
Defrost the already cooked and de-boned hen, throw the roux you made the
other day in a pot, add the veggies you chopped the other day, season it
up and magically you have a homemade gumbo!! Cook the rice and you're an
instant hero! You've got to think ahead.
You can take that pre-cooked roast out of the freezer, make a quick
gravy, cook some taters and whatever on the side and bingo, pot roast on
Tuesday in a matter of moments!
Timing is everything....
How many times have you timed a turkey to be done at 12:00 noon? Shame
shame, that bird should come out of the oven around 10:30 or 11:00 to
allow for cooling and carving. You'll most likely have buns to bake in
the oven too. Even if you have a double oven get it all done a little
early. You can slice the turkey and put in back in the pan in the oven
on 200ºF basting every ten minutes and it'll be even better. What's my
point? Start everything a little early. It makes for less stress and
everything tastes better because flavors have time to come together
(marry).
You don't have to be a time management expert to do all of this, just
sit and think a while.....
Phase 4: you're on your own here....
Plan your work and work your plan. You'll be pleasantly surprised and
what you can "whip up" when you plan it.