Fast Cooking School – Lesson 3: Choose Your Foods And Ingredients Wisely, Then Cooking Can Be Amazingly Fast

One important key to fast cooking is the choice of your ingredients. They can make or break your success in performing quick cooking miracles. When you choose the wrong things, you will end up sweating in the kitchen for a long time, with everyone shouting “When can we finally eat, mom?” But if you make clever choices, you can produce delicious healthy meals in an incredibly short time. Simply try out these three magic tricks!

Trick #1: Choose fast cooking foods
If you have cooked before, you will know: Some foods cook faster whilst others take longer. When you don’t have much time and you need to cook fast, the secret is to simply pick the fast cooking ones rather. Nevertheless, you should make sure that on some days you also eat the other foods so that your diet is balanced.

Now, what is quick cooking?

• Pasta is definitely the fastest cooking starchy food. You can save time by pre-boiling the water with the kettle. If you make a soup, throw the pasta in together with the veggies. The only thing that beats pasta is the not so well known couscous which is done in a few minutes. Unfortunately, couscous is a bit more expensive.
• As for vegetables, anything that is rather soft, like mushrooms, marrows, tomatoes, cucumber, aubergines, avocados, spinach or leek will be done quickly. Pepper, if you cut it small, also goes quite quick.
• Salads and fruits don’t require cooking at all.
• In the world of meat, sausages, minced meat or mince balls and fish, filets and goulash are quick foods. In other words: Anything that is either small or thin.

Trick #2: Choose foods that require little preparation
If you don’t have much time, look out for foods that can be prepared with a minimum of preparation:

• These are fruits or vegetables that don’t need to be peeled and don’t contain pips or seeds you need to remove, like marrows, tomatoes or mushrooms.
• Bananas for example are fruits quick to peel, and berries and grapes don’t even need to be cut. Just wash them and they are ready for use.
• Salad requires very little preparation too, especially if you buy the pre-packed ones that are usually quite clean and neat.
• Pasta and rice are less work than potatoes because you don’t need to peel them.
• If you buy lean meat, you safe yourself the work of cutting excess fat off.
• When you purchase a bulk of meat to cut it yourself because it’s cheaper, choose a piece without bones, as removing them will be extra work and thus extra time.

Also pick the size of your foods wisely. It is less work to peel a few large fruits or vegetables than many small ones. You could also buy foods that are already cleaned, peeled and cut into handy pieces but these will usually be a bit more expensive. Meat on the other hand, if you want it in bite-size cuts, is quicker prepared when you already buy smaller pieces like filets than a big bulk.

Trick #3: Use prepared foods
Although many processed foods lack nutrients and ready-made frozen meals are often packed with unhealthy additives, not everything that is canned and deep-frozen is bad.
In fact, these foods can contribute greatly to our diet:

• They make foods available the whole year, even in their off-season time, providing a great variety of fruits and vegetables all the time.
• They are a great resource if you have to cook in a hurry, because canned foods just need to be warmed and the deep-frozen ones are cooked just as quick.
• You can find great vegetable mixtures that are deep-frozen, helping you to prepare great dishes in a much shorter time than when using fresh vegetables.

When buying these foods, just make certain that they are not processed and relatively free of additives.

To spice up your meals quickly and easily, use ground spices instead of fresh ones. They might not taste that strongly but they will certainly do the job and you get a large variety. If you use many different spices, this will also be a space saving option.

So, are you ready to prepare great meals in a flash that your family will love and appreciate? If you need inspiration, browse all the recipes I’ve collected for you!

Cook fast and enjoy!

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