If you come across this article, you might be someone who prefers to experiment with food at home, or you might be just looking for ways to get your cooking done easily.
Cooking different dishes at home in your own way is always better and healthier than grabbing snacks from outside. Not only does it save a huge amount of money, but cooking at home can also bring out your fun and creative side.
Yes, cooking at home after a long day at work could be tiresome, but that’s what this article will help you with. You can look into different websites like Foods Guy to find out different recipes and cooking tips. Here are some little tricks on how to do cooking at home easily.
Keep a Notebook or List at Hand
Have a Dishes List at Hand
Prepare a Checklist of Groceries
It is extremely annoying when you want to try out a recipe but fail to find all the ingredients at home. It always ruins the mood for cooking. What you can do is always prepare a checklist beforehand to keep in your kitchen. This will help to make sure that you have got all the ingredients. Whenever you see you are running out of a certain item, write it down to not forget to get it next time you go out for grocery shopping.
Have Your Ingredients Ready
Stock up your kitchen with spices, grains, and oils. Having these ready would help since cooking almost anything requires these ingredients. Another interesting and creative thing to do is using different spices or seasonings in place of the ones you regularly use. You can easily try out different recipes without having to go and get these common items every time.
Prepare Your Ingredients
Getting your ingredients prepared is probably a major part of cooking. Once you’ve got it done, putting everything together is not that much of a deal. So always prepare your ingredients and keep them ready before you start cooking. Grind any spices if needed, chop your vegetables, cut the meat, and just get everything ready to be popped into the cooking pan. A list of substitute would be good as well where you can find the most suitable substitutes if missing an ingredient for recipes.
Upgrade Your Tools
It is essential for making your cooking experience fun and easy. Low-quality utensils may get rusty easily or could break. They aren’t that easy to work with. Investing in good quality pans will help you work more efficiently and give you a way better experience. It is also recommended to get a few versatile tools, such as non-stick pans to do all the frying and a cast iron pan to cook anything that requires a big pot.
Plan Your Meals
Sorting out what meals you want to prepare throughout the week helps a lot. This will enable you to do your grocery shopping and ingredient preparation more efficiently. For example, if you want to cook rice items twice a week, planning ahead will save you from the hassle of going out shopping for rice twice.
Try Different Methods of Preparation
It might get boring to chop the veggies on the chopping board every day. So why aren’t you trying out a grater instead? Use the same ingredient for different meals as well. You can try different alternatives for the same recipe and improvise. Using various methods and substitutes will save you from boredom and make cooking more exciting.
Organize Your Kitchen
It is essential that you are comfortable and you enjoy the place you’re working at. Organize your kitchen in such a way that would be convenient for you. You can use shelves to keep your dry ingredients or just use your cooking counter, -whatever works the best for you.
Get a Cooking Partner
Everything seems pretty fun when you have a friend to do it with you. This can be a great idea if you like to work with people. You can invite a friend to cook with you or ask your significant other to join. Not only is it more fun, but this will also help save some time. One person can do the preparation while the other person cooks.
Try Packaged Items
Preparing ingredients can be tough and tiresome. In this case, you could use packaged items like chopped veggies or pre-cut meat. This will save a lot of time and make cooking so much easier. Also, a variety of food items can be found in frozen packaging. They are hassle-free and very easy to use and store. Including them in your cooking can make your experience more convenient.
To save money on cooking, make the main dish and then one or two sides. You can even save a little more by buying frozen mixed veggies and a bag of frozen french fries and then just reheat them when you need to eat. Doing this has saved me a ton of time!
Use Music or Podcasts
Listening to your favorite music or podcast might help your cooking more fun. Cooking can surely stress us out sometimes, but listening to soft music may help calm you and get you going. Music can have a great impact on your mood. Playing an upbeat song can literally make you dance around the kitchen while you cook.
By adding this as an element of your cooking, it may make you feel better. It will also make your cooking more fun.
Invest in Containers
Good-quality containers to store fruits, vegetables, meat, etc., can reduce a lot of hassle. You can use these containers to easily refrigerate items or heat them. Glass containers are a better choice than plastic as plastic can be sensitive to heat and cause leaching. These containers are super handy and are easy to clean too.
Clean Efficiently
Cleaning is one of the ugliest parts of cooking. The whole cooking process can be amazing, but the thought of cleaning everything can always ruin the mood. So it is important to have some cheats in this step. While cutting, you could use a sheet underneath, which you can just throw away. This would keep your counter as clean as new. Use good dishwashing soap to soak all your tools and then wash them.
Cooking for some is a hobby while others do it unwillingly because it is essential. Whichever category you fall into, following these amazing yet short tricks can make your cooking experience more fun and well organized.
Roll up your sleeves, prepare your pans, and let’s cook right and easy.