Fast Cooking - 10 Top Tips How To Create A Delicious Healthy Meal In As Little As Half An Hour

In this modern time our life has become so hectic that we often barely find the time to cook. Longer working hours and the very busy schedule of our loved ones are all against us, and on many days it’s so difficult to find the time to prepare home-made meals. And what happens when you don’t have the time to cook? It’s again time to call the pizza service, pick up chips or burgers, or grab a ready-made frozen meal from the supermarket that you just have to throw into the microwave.

We often can’t see another way than taking our refuge to these foods. That might solve our problem for the moment, but in the long run it’s doing more damage than good to us in many ways. Everyone who often buys take-aways knows: This kind of diet is quite expensive, and in our economically tough times with rising prices, it can place quite a strain on our budget.

And not enough: Studies have shown that these foods can also have many negative impacts on your health. Fast food often contains lots of fat, and many ready-made meals are packed with unhealthy additives whilst lacking important nutrients.

Cooking yourself would be a much cheaper option, and also much healthier as it gives you total control over what goes into your meal. But you don’t have the time. So, what to do? The answer is simple: Cook faster than you used to. Preparing your own food does not need to be time-consuming. In fact, you can prepare delicious healthy meals in half an hour or even less if you follow the 10 tips below.

1. Be organized
2. Keep your meals simple
3. Choose fast cooking foods
4. Choose foods that require little preparation
5. Use prepared foods
6. Prepare food to reduce cooking time
7. Choose quick cooking methods
8. Make use of “waiting times”
9. Share the work
10. Bulk cooking

1. Be organized
Plan in advance what you will cook. A weekly plan before your shopping tour will ensure that you will have all ingredients you need. It also saves you the daily What-should-I-cook-tonight problem. Further, know your kitchen and keep it tidy. You will be much quicker when you know precisely where to find your tools and ingredients.

2. Keep your meals simple
It’s usually quicker to use fewer ingredients than to prepare a complex dish with many different foods. Stick to a basic “vegetable + starch + protein” meal: One or two types of vegetables, a starchy food (rice, pasta or potatoes) and a protein-rich food (meat, fish, eggs or legumes).

3. Choose fast cooking foods
Some foods take longer to cook than others. A kilogram piece of meat will take much longer than a chicken filet because it’s bigger. Potatoes take longer than pasta. And hard veggies like pumpkin and carrots take longer than mushrooms or marrows. If you are in a hurry, choose the foods that are done quicker, and leave the longer cooking ones for days with more time. Another great option is fruits and salads: They don’t need to be cooked at all.

4. Choose foods that require little preparation
Foods that need to be peeled (e.g. potatoes or carrots) obviously will keep you up longer than the ones you just need to wash, like marrows or pepper. As for sizes, it’s less work to peel one or two big butternuts than three to four small ones. If you can get foods that are already cut or small enough to use them (cherry tomatoes), even the better.

5. Use prepared foods
Supermarkets offer a large variety of canned and deep frozen vegetables or fruit that can save you a lot of time because you just need to warm them. Make sure the foods are not processed, and that no or little preservatives, colorants etc. are added. If it comes to seasoning your food, ground spices are helpful. They might not taste as strongly as the fresh ones but nevertheless will spice your meal up nicely.

6. Prepare food to reduce cooking time
If you cut your meat and veggies smaller, they will be done quicker. It’s usually less time consuming to cut them than to cook the whole big bulk.

7. Choose quick cooking methods
A quick way to prepare vegetables is to cook them in boiling water. As nutrients are released into the water, be careful not to overcook them. Try to use the liquid as well, e.g. for a soup. Another great option is steaming which is even quicker and also healthier. When cooking pasta, you can pre-boil the water with the kettle to save some time. Other quick cooking methods are stewing and microwaving.

8. Make use of “waiting times”
Don’t prepare all ingredients in advance and then start cooking. Rather use waiting times, for example you can peel and chop your onion whilst the pan is heating up. Make the sauce whilst the pasta is cooking. If you use a slow and a fast cooking vegetable, cut the latter whilst the first one is already cooking and then add it.

9. Share the work
Involve your kids in meal preparation. Give them little jobs like cutting or peeling, or fetching tools or ingredients for you. This does not only save you time, it also is time you can spend together and will make your kids more eager to eat the meal.

10. Bulk cooking
Soups and stews are dishes perfect for bulk cooking and deep freezing. You will stand a bit longer in the kitchen when you cook a bulk of food (e.g. enough pumpkin soup to feed your family twice or three times), but this is usually less work than cooking the meals separately. Choose days with a bit more time for bulk cooking and keep the meals in the deep freezer for days with really tight schedules.

As you can see, there are many ways to prepare healthy meals in a short time if you just know some magic tricks. Be creative and come up with many variations of ingredients! Then your diet won’t ever be boring and you’ll get enough of all food groups. Use a variety of spices to give your meals different characters. If you need inspiration, then you should certainly find it in this blog. There are recipes enough to give you ideas.

If you follow the tips outlined above, you won’t need to rely on take-aways and ready-made meals any more. You can prepare your own healthy food, be healthier and have more money for other treats. How about taking your family out to a decent restaurant and spoil them with quality meals for a special occasion? Or going to the movies?

I’ve given a short explanation here to get you started. But you can look forward to more information soon! Yes, I’m working on follow up posts that will deal with each of these 10 tips more in detail and depth. So, keep an eye on this blog…

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