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Simplifying Dinner: Four Tips To Simplify Cooking

I am not going to recommend that you simplify your cooking by eating processed foods. I believe that cooking your own food from fresh ingredients is the way to supplement a healthy lifestyle. However, it is easy to streamline how you cook to make it simpler.

Use A Crockpot

My crock pot is my best friend in the kitchen. I make at least one crock meal a week, and more in the winter when we eat soups. It cuts way down on cooking effort because you just throw the ingredients in, turn it on, and walk away. That being said, you do need a good cookbook for crocks. I personally like The Everyday Low-Carb Slow Cooker Cookbook: Over 120 Delicious Low-Carb Recipes That Cook Themselves
(aff) and Fix-It and Forget-It Cookbook: Feasting with Your Slow Cooker (aff).

Buy Appliances You Will Use To Simplify Your Cooking

This varies from person to person, but the appliances I use most (other than my crock) are my griddle and my bread machine. The griddle can handle cooking an entire pound of bacon for both a current breakfast and a week’s worth of omelettes. The bread machine can be set to have a fresh loaf of bread come out at the same time the soup is done in the crockpot.

However, don’t get carried away. My husband decided the portable deep fryer would really be used. We used it twice. I decided that the grilled sandwich maker would save time and effort on weekend lunches. That got used maybe a dozen times before I decided I could do better with a baking sheet or frying pan to make melt sandwiches.

Cook Extra

One way to stretch your cooking time is to double a recipe and serve leftovers. Another way is to cook more of an ingredient and use it in another dish. An example: you are roasting a chicken for dinner; roast two and use the other bird in chicken pot pie.

Assemble Meals Ahead Of Time

We have all seen the growth of stores that offer you the ability to walk in, pay a fee and walk out with assembled meals that go in the freezer. You can do this to simplify your cooking, or use a cheaper alternative, like the Mega Menu from SavingDinner.com. I was able to assemble 28 complete meals in about 4 hours. That is over two months worth of dinners for us. The beauty of this particular product is it comes with a complete shopping list and preparation instructions.

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