Home-cooked meals are essential for a healthy lifestyle, so mothers focus on providing nutritious meals for their loved ones. Unfortunately, with a full schedule, kitchen work, especially cooking, can be quite challenging at times.
We have compiled a list of cooking tips for moms who have their hands full so they can streamline the cooking process and make wholesome meals for their loved ones.
1. Rediscover Slow Cooking
Slow cooking is the process of making food on low flame for a long time so it retains maximum flavor. From red meats and chicken to lentils and even vegetables, you can slow-cook plenty of ingredients to create flavorsome and healthy dishes for the entire family. One major benefit of slow cooking is that it enables you to carry out everyday tasks while your food cooks to perfection.
Slow cooking is an art that requires the right accessories. You should have the correct utensils and cookware to slow-cook a particular dish. Stock pots, crock pots, heavy bottom pans, long tongs, and spatulas are essential for slow-cooking a hearty meal.
It is also important to understand the optimal cooking times for various ingredients to end up with delicious, slow-cooked meals. For instance, if you want to make chicken that is easy to shred, you need to figure out how long to boil chicken thighs. Also, make sure to use a large stockpot and spatula for the cooking process to yield the best flavor.
2. Advance Planning and Preparation
Meal prep is the activity in which you plan and prepare the main elements of a dish beforehand. Planning ahead of time is a lifesaver for busy moms. Prepping your meals in advance means you won’t have to start every dish from scratch.
Set aside a specific time to plan your meals and complete the groceries. It can be any day of the week when you don’t have to go to work or have extra help around the house. Start by making a menu for a week. Divide your meals into breakfast, dinner, lunch, and any snacks. Look into your pantry and fridge to check the ingredients and things you might need.
Once everything is ready, chop the vegetables, marinate the meats, and precook your legumes and grains. Store the ingredients separately in airtight containers or resealable bags. Dedicate a section in your freezer to store the chopped and semi-cooked items.
An extensive weekly or monthly meal prep will save you time and ensure you and your family have daily nutritious meals.
3. Consider Batch Cooking
Batch cooking is a great way to save you time. Start by choosing safe recipes to store in the freezer for a longer time period.
Apart from cooking in bulk to save time, batch cooking is also cost-effective in the long run. Plus, since you spend considerable money to prepare batch meals, you are more likely to eat healthy and avoid wasting food.
4. Use Modern Appliances
Thanks to technological innovation, kitchen appliances have evolved to a massive extent. Modern kitchen appliances are designed to streamline cooking processes. There are multiple gadgets available, like food processors, choppers, slow cookers, instant pots, and pressure cookers, that help cook meals without any hassle.
These appliances complete more work in less time and are quite efficient in performing various tasks. For instance, slicing, shredding, blending, chopping, and pureeing can all be done with one food processor.
Modern kitchen appliances come with built-in timers, temperature settings, and other programming features that help prepare meals without destroying their flavors. You can conveniently store and transport modern kitchen appliances from one place to the other.
5. Reuse Leftovers
A lot of food goes to waste because people don’t know what to do with their leftovers. You can get creative with leftover meals and repurpose them to create something new and tasty. There are plenty of ways to reuse leftover meals. For instance, you can add leftover chicken stock to tomato soup to enhance its flavor.
6. Dine Out Sometimes
Sometimes it’s better to give yourself and your family a little treat. You don’t have to cook at home throughout the week. Take your kids out for lunch or dinner and have something delicious at a restaurant.
You can follow this practice once a week or once a month, depending on your budget. Eating out or getting food delivered to your home can sometimes be a convenient and enjoyable option that saves you the time and stress of cooking a meal.
Conclusion
Being a mother is a full-time role that involves caring for your child’s well-being. If you cannot devote time to the kitchen, the simple cooking tips and tricks covered in this article will help you streamline your cooking processes and offer healthy meals every day to your loved ones!
