Home cooked meals are better for your health. It’s no secret that when you have handled every ingredient going into a dish, you have completely control and knowledge about what you’re feeding your family. When we don’t cook at home, it’s often because we don’t have the time or energy on a given night. Andrea Dekker has a wonderful blog post detailing her tricks for cooking less while still getting home-cooked food into her family.
Here are a few tips we particularly like:
Cook 2-3 nights each week. If you make large meals when you do cook, you can enjoy leftovers on another night. Some families like turning one day each week into their shopping and cooking day–making most of the food for the week so home-cooking takes no more time than a simple reheat for the rest of the week.
Have a backup plan. You may have wanted to make that wonderfully elaborate vegetable soup on Tuesday…only to have someone get sick, or someone’s car break down. Life happens. If you stock your pantry with items for one or two quick and easy meals (like pasta with pesto or bean quesadillas), you’ll be less likely to order out for pizza.
What tricks do you use to spend less time in the kitchen during the week?
Looking for more advice about home cooking? Watch the recording of our free webinar, Healthier Home Cooking!