Nowadays it seems like family time is more precious than ever. With busy schedules and parents often working more than one job, saving time and money in the kitchen can give you back more time to focus on your family.
In this blog, we want to give you some of our favourite kitchen hacks that can reduce the time and money you spend in the kitchen. From time saving kitchen hacks to creative ways to get your kids involved, we know that you will appreciate the extra time and savings you can get by following a few simple hacks.
Let’s get started with our favourite kitchen hacks today…
Time Saving Cooking Hacks
Saving time in the kitchen can be a great way to give yourself more time with your friends and family.
It can take a bit of time to get used to following these genius kitchen hacks, but once you do, you will be able to enjoy the rewards of more time and less kitchen waste.
Efficient Meal Planning
Meal planning is one of the best ways to save time in the kitchen. But more than this, it will make your shopping more efficient and it will help reduce your food waste as you can just buy the ingredients that are necessary for your meal plan.
To create an effective meal plan, you will need to consider the following:
- How many people are you cooking for?
- How many nights of the week do you need to plan for? (do you enjoy a takeaway once a week? Or do the kids go over to the grandparents on tuesdays?)
By asking yourself these two questions you will be able to buy the right amounts of food and prevent food waste.
While fresh fruit and veggies are an important part of a balanced diet, they can start to go bad if you buy them too far in advance. My top tip here would be to buy fresh vegetables for 4-5 days.
Or, take a look at our section for preparing in advance to see how you can save even more time with our kitchen hacks.
Batch Cooking
Batch cooking is a great time-saving kitchen hack for busy families. By cooking multiple servings of the same meal, you can freeze portions and microwave them for a convenient midweek meal.
It’s essentially a healthy ready meal, so you can control the ingredients that are added to yours and your children’s meals.
A little preparation goes a long way when it comes to preparing nutritious midweek meals for the whole family.
Slow Cooker and One-Pot Recipes
If you want to save time, minimising the number of dishes you need to do is a great tip.
A slow cooker is a relatively low cost kitchen gadget that can save you hours of time in the kitchen.
It really is as simple as throwing in some prepped ingredients and letting time infuse all those wonderful flavours.
Check out these delicious slow cooker recipes to get started.
Prepping in Advance
With a lot of these simple kitchen hacks, it really comes down to preparation and thinking ahead.
Set some time aside every few weeks, buy some of the vegetables you use frequently, chop them up and leave them in the freezer for easy use, just make sure to store them in the freezer suitably to prevent freezer burn. There are plenty of fantastic freezer storage tips to find out more.
Ingenious Kitchen Hacks
Baking Soda for Greener Vegetables
If you want to keep your green vegetables colour bright and vibrant, baking soda can be your best friend.
Add a pinch of baking soda to your full pot of water and it will help your veggies maintain its wonderful appetising colour.
Organisational Kitchen Hacks
Organising your Kitchen Space
When it comes to organising your kitchen space, there is no one solution.
You need to find a method that is suitable for your kitchen. Think about what is going to make your life easier and more efficient, think about the following:
- Keep your knives near your food preparation area, but out the reach of children.
- Are common ingredients like herbs and spices within reach of your preparation area.
- Keep your cleaning chemicals in a safe location away from food and preparation areas.
Cupboard Organisation
We understand that feeding a family can often lead to a huge amount of tins and packets in your cupboards.
And while tins can be stacked and stored in a space friendly manner, packets of pasta, grains can often create clutter and take up a lot of space in the cupboard.
Try buying plastic storage containers and decanting these items into the container for a more structured cupboard space.
Get your Children Involved
Child Friendly Food Preparation
If spending more time with your family is what you want to achieve, getting the children involved is a great way to keep them involved and interested.
Try and give them simple tasks that are safe and easily achievable with your kids.
Some child friendly tasks are:
- Peeling fully cooled boiled eggs
- Moving veggies from the chopping board to a casserole dish or slow cooker
- Mixing together ingredients
- Measuring out liquid ingredients
Children adore and love spending time with their parents, giving them simple tasks will make them feel involved and give them a sense of responsibility.
Cleaning and Maintenance Kitchen Hacks
Quick Cleaning Solutions
There are many cleaning products on the market that sell quick and efficient cleaning methods for your kitchen. And while many of these products work incredibly well, there are often cheaper alternatives using ingredients often found in your home.
Acidic ingredients like lemons and vinegar are great for cleaning your oven, microwave and work surfaces.
You can even use plain salt to help remove stubborn food scraps baked onto pots and pans.
Time Saving Kitchen Hacks for you and the Family
There you have it, some fantastic kitchen hacks that will save you time and space in the kitchen.
While these tips may add a little time in preparation, they can save you loads of time in the long run. If you enjoyed these top kitchen hacks and want to find out more about kitchen hacks, recipes or sustainable cooking, see more of our blog and head over to our socials for more.
