Our grandmothers were brought up on the axiom that the best food is created when everything is made from scratch hence, the well-guarded secret meatball recipe and grandma’s insistence that the frozen ones can’t compare. While this is actually true, there are plenty of ways to simplify the cooking process and still make the food taste good so that you seem like a pro – while halving the time spent on it.
Do the Prep Beforehand
Interestingly, most dishes don’t take a long time to cook’ it is the preparation that takes the longest time. For instance, Italian meatballs take only a short time to cook but a very long time to knead into a mixture while sourcing and then adding all the different ingredients at the right time. the best thing to do is to have a meal delivery service either deliver the ingredients to you, all ready for cooking at the beginning of the week, or doing the prep yourself the night before. While the freshness of some veggies may be marred, doing it a mere 12 hours earlier will not make too much of a difference.
Vary Your Repertoire
Cooking the same few dishes or getting prepared meals delivered http://www.feastively.com/ no matter how good they taste, is going to start dragging on you eventually. So start varying it by adding more dishes and learning to make them fast. Never go for the complicated recipes with a million steps; always look for simplified recipes that don’t take a long time. By switching it up you can introduce your family and friends to a different taste. Being different, it won’t be obvious if you haven’t quite got it right so you’ll still look like a pro!
Pre-Cook Anything You Can
This is similar to prepping beforehand but if you can pre-cook your ingredients then you will save a lot of time. Meat items like sausages are already pre-cooked before they are packed; similarly you can boil pieces of meat, let them cool down a bit and then toss them in the refrigerator. They will still be eatable a few days later and you will only need to toss it in some oil on low heat on a pan for a few minutes before they are ready to be served with some seasoning. Vegetables can be pre-cooked too; potatoes can remain refrigerated once they have been boiled and then taken out later for frying, broiling, baking or cooking as curry.
Using the Freshest Ingredients Possible
There is a special zest in fresh produce that is absent in canned stuff. So even if you only make a garden salad, if the ingredients are super fresh, it will taste amazing, making you seem like a pro. Feel free to use a store bought salad dressing but make sure that the lettuce and tomatoes are garden fresh.