This post may contain affiliate links. If you click one and make a purchase, I earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. It helps support the site so I can continue to offer great content to you!
Whether you live alone or have a large family, one of the most redundant things that we must do daily is EAT. Having to figure out what to put on the table every day can add unnecessary stress and anxiety. However, it doesn’t have to be that way. Here are 10 tips around how you can make cooking easier and more enjoyable.
1. Plan ahead
Planning your dinners for the upcoming week is essential to make cooking easier. Not only can meal planning save you from the daily anxiety of figuring out what to make, but it also has many other benefits.
It will save you precious time every day. You can easily plan your full week of dinners and make your grocery list in an hour on the weekend! Each night, you’ll get right into cooking and won’t have to make unplanned trips to the grocery or waste time looking through your fridge and pantry to come up with a dinner idea.
Planning ahead is more likely to keep you on track with eating healthy and nutritious meals because you have all the right ingredients on hand. By spending time to think through the different meals, you can also ensure you consume a variety of food to boost your nutrition and keep yourself from getting bored with your meals.
Lastly, by planning ahead you can say goodbye to the impromptu take out order and save money.
2. Go easy
Life is busy and most of us have a limited amount of time to get dinner on the table each night. It is important to stick with simple meals that your family will eat. There is nothing worse than spending time in the kitchen only to have everyone complain and refuse to eat the food. Focus on tried and true recipes that you can put on the table in less than 45 minutes. Keep the fancy, new or complicated recipes for the weekend or on days you have ample time to spend in the kitchen. For some inspiration, check out my weekly meal plans under food and find many of the corresponding recipes on my Pinterest page.
3. Cut the corners
We are not superheroes! We are normal people trying to fuel our bodies with good healthy food without going crazy. Don’t be ashamed to seek ways how to make cooking easier. There are a lot of products at the grocery that can make mealtime faster and easier. Here are some examples of things you can consider buying rather than making when time is tight:
- Pre-diced vegetables like onion, celery, or carrot
- Pre-made marinade or salad dressing
- Rotisserie chicken or other already cooked meat
- Hard-boiled eggs
- Garlic, ginger, or herbs in tubes
4. Use or invest in small kichen appliances
Some small kitchen appliances can make your life easier! A crockpot is particularly useful for people who work outside the house. You can put everything in the crockpot before you leave your house in the morning and have a meal ready when you return home. Some of my favorites to make in the crockpot include roast, beef stew, and whole chicken and vegetables.
My current personal favorite is the instant pot. The speed at which you can cook food is simply outstanding. An entire chicken takes about an hour! I have used it to make anything from roast and soup to spare ribs.
In addition to the speed of cooking, the instant pot is versatile. You can use it to saute the food, pressure cook, slow cook and keep warm
You do need to account for the time it takes to get to pressure but it truly is a game-changer in the kitchen.
Let me know if you would like for me to do a blog post about my favorite instant pot recipes in the future.
The last one I’ll mention is the air fryer. I do not own an air fryer at the moment but according to all the press they get online, they are amazing.
Ultimately, the best option will depend on your lifestyle and what you and your family like to eat.
5. Share the work
Unless you live by yourself, you do not need to do it all yourself. That’s right! Other household members are capable beings. Have the young children set the table and wash produce. Have the teenagers or your spouse cut vegetables and empty or refill the dishwasher. If you prefer to be alone in the kitchen while you cook, have other chores done by your family members simultaneously. Your spouse could be managing homework with the children, while a teenager could take the dog on his walk.
The point is, to be open to asking for help. Not only will your evenings be more enjoyable, but you’ll likely be in a better mood for others. And teaching your children to do house chores regularly will set them up much better for the future.
6. Stack your tasks
For some people, this comes naturally while for others, the concept of organizing each of your tasks efficiently is quite overwhelming. Start with the basics. If you are making spaghetti, for example, you can cook the pasta while you are making your sauce. Most people understand that and they would not perform these tasks one after the other but rather in parallel.
As a general rule, you want to start with the longest part of the meal to cook. If you are making a meatloaf that will need to cook for an hour, your need to start with this. No need to have the mashed potatoes ready when the meatloaf has not even started to cook.
Try to apply this concept to all the other tasks you need to perform around dinner time. Here are some examples:
- Put the chicken in the marinade first while you chop the vegetables
- Clean up the counter while the oven is heating up
- Set the table while the potatoes are boiling
7. Keep soap water in the sink
Not only can you stack tasks and clean some dishes while you wait, but you can also create less dirty dishes by reusing the same dish multiple times.
Rather than getting another measuring cup or knife out later during the meal prepping, quickly wash them in the sink and reuse them.
Saute your onions and garlic in the same sauce pan you will later use to make a sauce.
The possibilities are countless and you’ll be surprised to find the after-dinner chore of cleaning the dishes much quicker to complete.
8. Double batch or double prep
There is a lot of value in double batching your cooking. Even if your family does not enjoy leftovers, you could still double batch and freeze the other meal. If the meal doesn’t freeze well, consider double batching or double prepping portions of the meal.
I rarely make rice just for the meal I am currently cooking for. I make double and keep it in the fridge to add as a side dish to another meal later in the week. Chop double the amount of onions or garlic that you need in the meal (especially if you know another meal in the week will use them up). You can roast extra veggies, cook more meat than required for the recipe or make a double batch of salad dressing.
9. Refuse to be a short order cook
My rule is “I cook, I chose”. I refuse to make each kid a unique meal. I do take into consideration their preferences and dislikes but I won’t make completely different meals for them. For example, if the main side vegetable is carrots, I might choose to also steam broccoli for my son who does not like carrots. However, the main meal is the same for everyone.
To make this work, consider simple tweaks. Try serving the sauce on the side instead of pouring it on top of the meat. Chop disliked vegetables very small so that they blend in or rather large so that they can be picked out. Add spices after serving the pickiest eaters.
Not only will this make your job much easier, but you will also teach your children to be more flexible over time in what they eat.
10. Make it enjoyable
Try to make this task more enjoyable. Sure, not everyone will learn to like cooking and look forward to this part of their day. But you can make this more pleasant.
Play some music, listen to your favorite podcast or an audio book while you prepare dinner.
Ask that everyone sit at the table and eat together when the meal is ready. Use this time to connect with your family as you watch them enjoy the food you prepared with love.
Let me know if these tips have been helpful to make your cooking easier and share your tips with me in the comments below.
Bonne appētit!
