How to Cook During the Week
- 1). Plan ahead. Half the battle is knowing what you're going to put on the table. You won't waste time pulling together a meal if you know ahead of time what you're going to prepare. Sit down on Sunday afternoon and make a list of meals for the week ahead.
- 2). Assemble your ingredients. Make a shopping list for the week's meals. When you get the groceries home, group the ingredients for each meal together. You can set dry ingredients on a shelf together and bag frozen or refrigerated ingredients together in the freezer or refrigerator. Use your plastic grocery bags for this. This also keeps other people from accidentally using up an ingredient you need.
- 3). Prep ahead of time. Assemble salads, chop vegetables and grate cheese when you get home from the store. When you get home from work during the week you won't have to spend time on these chores. Put meat to marinade in plastic bags, too.
- 4). Delegate. If another family member --- a child or spouse --- gets home before you do, assign them a task to help get the meal on the table. While you cook, ask others to set the table or make a salad. You don't have to be the only slave in the kitchen.
- 5). Develop a repertoire or fast-to-fix meals. Do an online search or visit the library and check out cookbooks and compile recipes you can pull together in a few minutes. Look for recipes with few ingredients and short cook times. Photocopy or print off your favorite recipes and assemble them in a binder. When you plan the week's menus, flip through the binder for ideas.
- 6). Use time-saving appliances such as the microwave, crock pot, rice cooker and bread maker. Put a meal in the crock pot before you leave for work in the morning and it will be ready when you come home. You can fill a bread maker with ingredients, set the timer and enjoy hot bread for dinner that evening. Microwave vegetables or use the microwave to thaw frozen foods faster.
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