How can I be more efficient in the kitchen...?

[Cindylouwho]

Okay, I've got a pretty organized kitchen. And I do a lot of doubling up on my cooking. And I do freezer meals sometimes. But lately, I'm telling ya, it feels like making dinner takes FOREVER! I just want to get it done, clean up, and get OUT. I'm trying to figure out WHAT is taking me so long. And I'm multi-tasking here! I had a relative come in and was amazed at how fast she could move in the kitchen. I thought I was pretty good, but I have apparently got to hone some more SKILLS here. The biggest thing I noticed is she simply "moves" fast. Said she loved my kitchen because everything was where it was supposed to be but, seriously, I cannot move in my kitchen as fast as she does -- and I LIVE here! What's the secret of fast cooks? Are they more focused? Are they less afraid of breaking things?

I just ordered Tim Ferris' "4-Hour Chef" to see if he has any brilliant ideas. And I googled and found a couple of links that I thought were good:


http://www.buzzfeed.com/christinebyrne/tips-for-cooking-faster

http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/346963


There are 2 areas that I'm thinking need work:
1. Thawing further in advance -- cuz that will sometimes get me.
2. A better spice layout -- since I tend to use a wide variety of spices and they take up space. I sometimes have to root for things.

But this will not cure all.

Do you have any tips for me? I'm not looking for "fast recipes". I'm looking for "how to actually move fast".

 

[luludou]

The article with the 1st link is excellent! 19 good ways to go quicker in the kitchen.
The 2nd thread is also interesting.

Have nothing new to add but can,t wait to see al the tips people give.

 

[teachermomof2]

I find that things go smoother if I read the recipe thoroughly, especially if new, and if I lay out my ingredients before I start cooking or baking....saves time searching for ingredients.

 

[missjane]

Not to be a downer here but....

I have a DSisIL who is a whiz in the kitchen, but I realized she is fast paced at EVERYTHING. So, I tired being "fast" like her and ended up with more messes than anything.

I think some of us may be hot wired to be fast paced, and others of us are more slow and deliberate about things. I don't know why we are different, but just are.

Now, about the thawing. If you do menu plans, look at them in advance and put those things in the refrigerator at least 2-3 days before you plan to use them. Most things take at least 2 days to thaw, many 3, so plan ahead. Thawing at room temperature is the least safe way to thaw.

Wash as you go and wash and reuse any equipment you can rather than getting out more resulting in even more to wash and put away. Pare down what you have and only keep what you really use.

Get out and put up as much in one area as you can handle. EX: Get out everything you need from the pantry in one trip...use a tray or flat pan if you need to. Then make one trip to put it all back.

Wish I had more, but that's all the brain storms I have.

 

[Ahorsesoul]

Prep your food.

I find if I prep my food then cooking goes faster. I wash most veggies when I get home from the store. Those I'm going to use that week go into the frig and the rest get chopped and tossed in the freezer. I usually have things like chopped onions, peppers and celery in the freezer so I do not have to chopped when I prepare dinner.

I also have some quick dinners in the pantry. These are dinners that take 20 minutes or less. I pound out chicken breasts and have then frozen. They defrost fast or I use the microwave to defrost. I can also toss a frozen thin chicken breast right into the pan. It cooks fast even frozen. I can make Chicken Alfredo or fried Chicken breasts with capers and lemon. Or yummy Lemon chicken with these breasts. All are fast and easy.I believe most of these recipes are posted here.

I make a spaghetti with diced canned tomatoes that is really good. All it takes if frying up some onions, peppers, celery. Adding a little olive oil and spices. I toss my cooked pasta with equal parts of butter and parmesan cheese. Sprinkle with fresh basil. Sometimes I add those little round balls of mozzarella in it. This is also good if you use fresh tomatoes from the garden. Toss in some frozen cooked Italian sausage if you'd like meat.Or if you have frozen meat balls. If I make a meatloaf I always do enough to freeze one.

I keep cooked hamburger with onions and peppers in the freezer. Makes fast tacos. I also usually have cooked Italian sausage in the freezer either cut up if links or scrabbled if not in a casing.

I have large bags of frozen mozzarella shredded cheese and Colby cheese too. No stopping to grate it at the last minute. When I baked potatoes I bake lots of very large ones and use the extra ones for frozen twice baked potatoes. Defrost in the microwave and finish off in the oven while a steak or pork chops cook.

I can put a meal on the table fast with the prep that I do. Right now I really need to get some food to prep. It's rather slim pickings since I tried to use up freezer food before the Holidays.

 

[jampss]

Kitchen

Well, I am not a whiz ...

Sometimes, I like to put everything in little bowls like they do on TV cooking shows. Then all I do is dump in when needed.

I found a Pinterest spice chart that is about having all the kinds of spices together for say Asian dishes, Mexican etc. I sure do hunt and peck for spices in my lazy susan spice cupboard ... sigh.

 

[Winged One]

I can be fast but usually am not.

One thing I find really helps for cooking dinner, especially coming in from work, is to have the prep work done the night before. So when it is calmer after dinner, and you are cleaning the kitchen anyway, I will wash, peel and chop any veggies needed, pull anything out of the freezer, make sure any marinades are started and check if I have everything or need to pick something up in the shops around work.

The times when everything is where it should be are also faster times (life can be so fast paced at times that others put things away in the cupboards and not always where they should be!).

 

[teachermomof2]

Jane, as an aside, I loved your comment that not everyone is fast paced. A colleague told me that she and another teacher were talking and they said they are amazed that for someone (me) who doesn't move very quickly, I sure accomplish a lot. I think it's all about organization and being prepped...in whatever you do...and finding a system that works for you. Also, not every dinner has to be huge and have 100s of ingredients. That saves time too.

 

[AnnieClaus]

I was going to say what missjane said- in the evening when you are cleaning up the kitchen, think about what you want 2 nights from now and if you have to pull something from the freezer- do it right then and there.

I don't like to/don't have the time to spend a lot of time on dinners during the week so what I like to do is cook a couple of dinners- or things for dinner- at the same time.

I figured out that I can have something cooking in the oven (for ex: baked fish) and while I'm waiting for that- can cook something on the stove top (ground hamburger to use in spaghetti sauce the next night).

With spices and the pantry as well- I don't like things to get "too deep"- I keep everything right up front. If it's not front and center, I know it will get lost in there.

I was watching Pioneer woman over the weekend and was impressed with her cooking/freezing. Even simple things like ground hamburger- cooked up and frozen and chicken breasts- cooked up and frozen.

Good topic!!!

Annie

 

[Winged One]

I do the "cook ahead" thing too. Every Sunday, while I am cooking something a bit more fiddly for dinner (usually a roast but not always), I make a dinner for Monday - lasagna, bolognaise sauce, chilli (well, DH does that one!), curry sauce, smoked fish pie etc. So all I have to do on the Monday is either turn off the oven (the BEST nights!!) or reheat the sauce and boil some rice or pasta - which I can turn on and then ignore for 20 minutes while I change, look at homework, tidy the day's mess etc. And I always do a double batch of that Monday dinner, so that later in the week I can pull the second portion of a previous week's option from the freezer as another fast dinner. All while I happen to be in the kitchen Sunday evening anyway (and making salads for 2 days lunches for me and sandwiches or whatever for DH and DD Monday lunch).

Sometimes, I'll also make a basic tomato sauce - onions, garlic, tinned tomatoes and seasoning - that I can throw into lots of different things. So I can put it on top of Enchiladas to bake, under salmon fillets to bake (with baby potatoes thrown in to roast as well), mix with leftover roasted vegetables to serve with pasta, or toss with meatballs or chopped nice sausages. That can also be frozen in meal-sized batches. The seasoning is generally relatively plain, so that I can adapt it to Italian, Mexican or stay plain as I want when it comes to using it.

Speedy midweek dinners are a combo of those pre-made types of dishes and some fast dishes (like fresh pasta with sautéed leeks and a handful of strong grated cheddar). A bag of frozen peas is always in the freezer to add some to mixed veggies/stir fries etc, or to do a fast side vegetable option. DH likes to have a tin of baked beans some nights for veg (I don't like those). Another fast veg option is wilted baby spinach - put a bag of clean leaves into a colander, slowly pour through a whole kettle of freshly boiled water, press a little to get rid of excess water, and- hey presto! - your spinach is ready to eat!

Chorizo potatoes is a very fast prep dish that cooks itself - chop a chorizo sausage and mix with a small pack of bacon lardons, 1kg of baby potatoes, and a jar of tomato and chilli sauce. Put everything into the oven, set the timer to cook it for an hour (maybe a little longer if potatoes are large) and to turn off at your expected arrival home time.

And while it may not be the absolute healthiest, I do have some jars of good sauces that I can throw together dinners with, mainly curries and pasta sauces - I don't use them every week but always have a few in the cupboard, just in case. I keep a bag of pre-cooked prawns in the freezer, that can get thrown into sauces still frozen and just heated through (often with a handful of frozen peas!) while rice or pasta boils. And bacon lardons last weeks in the fridge - fried up, using the fat to fry some mushrooms and then adding back the bacon and some tomato sauce, with pasta, is another favourite fast dinner.

 

[Cindylouwho]

Wow! I'm so impressed with all the great ideas coming in! Have to comment more in-depth on some of these later as I have much on the schedule today. I've been analyzing the way I move in the kitchen and caught myself doing things twice because I overlooked something the first time. Or have to spice twice because I didn't put in enough the first time. Wondering if part of this is because I'm multi-tasking SO much that I'm not fully focused on the task at hand. Seriously, I really multi-task. Still analyzing. The meat thawing is definitely part of this. You guys are GOOD on that. My spare fridge and freezer meats are in the basement. That's part of the reason I don't grab them out earlier.

Where are you keeping all this food for the week? Are your fridges just jammed? I hate using plastic, as it stains. I hate using ziplocs as they don't pack neatly. I need a nice square container freezer system (maybe glass or a hard plastic) that I can keep things in. Many of my containers are round and don't cram together well. My in-kithen freezer is a pull-out dump drawer and everything gets easily jumbled...

More later. Gotta run!

 

[AnnieClaus]

Here's a link to Pioneer Woman's description of what and how she makes and freezes things. I love how she stacks the ziplock bags like packets.

http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2013/07/freezer-cooking/

 

[luludou]

Annie that was a good article on the Pionneer woman.

 

[Ahorsesoul]

I started doing the frozen stacking like PW and it make a huge difference.

 

[Winged One]

I freeze things in square and rectangular plastic tubs, and then pop into ziplock when frozen if I need extra room. I also have 1 great Pyrex rectangular glass dish with a plastic lid that can be frozen, take off lid and defrost, put into oven so great for lasagne and other pie type meals. I need to get more, one broke and two wasn't enough either.

 

[ChristmasPir8]

If I know I am making something to be frozen I have bought dishes at the dollar store either foil or the regular ones. the bigger dishes hard to work with sometimes but not too bad. I also have put down the foil in the dish, filled, froze then popped out to freeze out of the pan. Freezing bags flat are good. I really need to defrost my freezer and get space in there again.
Like you my kitchen freezer is a bottom drawer so that is no for meals it's the day to day stuff or bagged foods. I have a small upright freezer in the laundry room and that is where the meals are kept.

 

[AuntJamelle]

Lots of great ideas!

I think that one of the best ways to gain efficiency is exactly what you are doing, closely observing and analyzing your movements and habits as you go through the process of making the meal.

It is so easy to get locked into a pattern of behavior just because that is the way its always been.

Everything is up for possible tweaking - where and how the tools you use are stored, how many trips you make back and forth, etc.

Sounds like you are already going down that road and that your kitchen is well organized - which by the way - I would love some tips! We'll be moving back into the rebuilt house (post fire) in March and I'm starting to plan where to put what in the new space I have. A daunting task!

I'm going to read all the articles referenced! Thanks for posting those, guys!

Trying to remember what I did to save time when I had a real kitchen - not the little closet I have now - LOL

Prepping something the night before was something I did a lot. Or using something I'd pre-prepped in the freezer.

If your freezer is out of the way, is there a place in your evening routine that you could be reminding/training yourself to get something out to start thawing? A place to make a note - by the stairs? So when you are going down for something else (i.e. laundry perhaps?) you could grab things out of the freezer too?

Just brainstorming!

We had/have a multi-level home and the deep freeze will be in the finished basement area again, along with laundry. I used to repeat in my head a lot "Never a trip up or down the stairs without something!"

Will post more ideas if I can think of them!

 

[Cindylouwho]

Good stuff! Aunt Jamelle, I like that notepad idea. I can easily stick on on the downstairs fridge and note things as I'm up and down throughout the day. Probably won't have to do it for long til I establish the habit of getting everything in one shot.

The Pioneer Woman link was great. Just added that season (Season 5) to my Amazon Prime Watchlist. Was looking at the Pyrex containers at Costco yesterday. They are absolutely perfect, BUT one package was mostly round containers and the other set had only 3 and I kept asking myself where I had room to store these things in-between uses. I don't have room. So they stayed at Costco. Hadn't considered the aluminum trays. That may be the answer. And they would stack nicely. PW shows alway make me drool. She is amazing.

Continuing my analysis yesterday of actually "moving" faster, I started a list and made notes of every time I duplicated my efforts in the kitchen. O M G. Really?!! I caught myself again and again and then it hit me. When I took the whole family gluten free in the Fall I started a lot of new recipes, and bought a lot of new products. The toast for instance, has to be toasted longer than wheat bread toast. So I put it down in the toaster, then come back and check it and put it down again. Meanwhile, whatever I have cooking gets delayed because the toast is not ready. So over time I started cooking on lower heat, so that it wouldn't be done as fast. The same was true for spices. I've adjusted my spices because I'm cooking larger sized meals to cover the kids bento boxes at school the next day. That threw off my proportions. Instead of changing to "new" proportions I've been simply adjusting as I go. I've spent months "adjusting" and not just "changing". Okay, now I'm on it. I'm going to watch that toast and change the setting! (Its not just the toast, it's lots of little things). That was a big wake-up moment I had there yesterday!

But I'm still not as fast as I want to to be. More thoughts in a bit. Have to get Kid #1 off to school.

 

[Ahorsesoul]

I started a list and made notes of every time I duplicated my efforts in the kitchen. O M G. Really?!! I caught myself again and again and then it hit me. When I took the whole family gluten free in the Fall I started a lot of new recipes, and bought a lot of new products. The toast for instance, has to be toasted longer than wheat bread toast. So I put it down in the toaster, then come back and check it and put it down again.

This is so true with gluten free eating. It takes time to adjust your cooking habits.

 

[jampss]

Kitchen

This is so true with gluten free eating. It takes time to adjust your cooking habits.

Oh boy, is it!