Clever Kitchen Hacks to Simplify Your Routine

We all know the importance of home-cooked meals and a regular, balanced diet. The way you eat reflects your health and looks, and preparing meals at home is the best way to eat well. However, cooking can take away a lot of your time. Whether you’re a parent preparing meals for your big family, or you’re an individual ensuring they’ve got their health in their hands, cooking can be time-consuming. That’s why these clever kitchen hacks will help you simplify your routine when it comes to cooking and be more efficient with meal preparations.

Simplify your grocery list

When making a list for going grocery shopping, you probably buy certain items every time. These are the food basics you use up week after week, and foods that your family loves. Make a checklist you can use every time you go shopping, and only add specific items you need in that week. This will save you time making the list, but also ensure you don’t forget the essentials.

It’s easier to stay motivated while cooking if you have all the ingredients ready.

Have cooking inspiration handy

Probably the most challenging part of cooking is getting an idea of what to prepare. This can depend on the current mood, your family’s favorite dishes or some specific diet restrictions. To make things easier, make a list of staple meals in a notebook or on your phone, so you can always have it handy when you need to decide what to make. Divide the recipes into breakfast, lunch and dinner dishes, and keep them at hand so you can easily get inspiration for the next meal. The Internet can help a lot here. Social media is a great place to look for cooking inspiration, and most of the networks allow you to save interesting posts and create lists, so you can save those ideas for later. You can also have a 7-day meal plan and rotate the meals whenever you haven’t got inspiration for something else.

Have organized food supplies

It’s much easier to cook and use up all the food supplies efficiently if they are well-organized and labeled. Take some time to declutter, restock and organize your fridge, kitchen cabinet and pantry, so you can have all the food at hand and know your food supplies before you go shopping for groceries. Invest in clear containers that you can easily label and stack on shelves for better organization and easier access.

Most importantly, declutter your food storage before you sort the food out. Remove all the expired foods, bad leftovers and other unnecessary items. Then you can proceed to organizing what you have left, and plan future shopping a lot better. Then, your organized pantry will help you use up the ingredients efficiently and rarely have the need to throw away expired foods in the future. Moving house is a perfect moment to go through each shelf and cabinet and remove all the unnecessary pieces. Packing pantry and kitchen cabinets will be easier after a decluttering session – however, make sure you do it with extra care to protect your kitchen pieces well during transport.

Clean while cooking

If the pile of dirty dishes discourages you from cooking healthy meals, then you’re not doing it right. Cleaning as you go is a super clever technique to always have a tidy kitchen and enough space on your counter and in the sink. While you’re waiting for something to cook on the stove, use that time to quickly wash the tools or dishes you used to prepare it. This will prevent dirty dishes from piling up in the sink and make it a lot easier to clean up after everyone finishes eating. Post-meal clean-up will be a piece of cake, and you’ll be able to move around and cook more comfortably and freely.

Consider one-pot dishes

There’s no better kitchen hack to simplify your routine than choosing recipes you can prepare by using only one pot. Find a good-quality universal pot you can use to prepare all sorts of one-pot dishes – soups, pasta, rice, goulash, stew and others. This shortens the cooking time and makes it incredibly easy to clean up after you’re done. One-pot meals are easy to make, and you can be sure the whole family will enjoy them even when there are not too many dirty dishes and tools in the sink.

One-pot meals will simplify your routine and make cooking more efficient.

Prep the foods for maximum efficiency

We’re not always in the mood to prepare food. You need to go shopping for groceries, wash, chop and prep the ingredients before you even start making a nice meal. However, if you know you’ve got fresh ingredients ready in the fridge, you won’t reach out for a takeaway flyer but decide to make something healthy instead. Make some time every couple of days to prep foods such as fruits and vegetables to make sure they are ready to pop in a pan whenever you need them. This is something you can do every three to five days, and make sure you’ve got fresh ingredients ready in your fridge. Meal prepping can be incredibly useful during major life events such as moving. Miami Movers for Less advises prepping meals for all the days during your moving week, so you have extra time for packing and preparing for the move. You won’t have to think about cooking while your home is a mess, and you’ll be able to pack your kitchen on time.

Meal prep for succes.

Let technology help you out

We live in a modern world, and the cooking market has developed incredibly in the last couple of years. You now have gadgets for almost every task in the kitchen and be sure to use them to simplify your routine while cooking. A smart oven will offer settings appropriate for different types of meals, making sure you don’t overcook your foods. Smart home systems such as Alexa can sync to different appliances and save you a lot of time, but also give you greater control over your cooking sessions.

It’s easy to be efficient in the kitchen and simplify your routine – use these clever hacks in the kitchen to maximize your cooking skills and actually enjoy making every meal for your loved ones.