There are times that cooking a meal seems like a breeze, or yes, a piece of cake. Other times it seems like it’s the most difficult thing to do of the whole day.
Why is that? How does a person make cooking simple and easier so those difficult times don’t happen so often?
Create an easier cooking experience for yourself by making a plan, choosing simple recipes, prepping ahead and cooking extra. This will ensure meals that are on time and cut down stress in cooking.
Sure, some days are going to be tough and cooking won’t be easy, but, when there is a plan to fall back on, it takes some of the difficulty away.
Or am I the only one that likes to have a plan? 🤔
Make Cooking Simple-Choose Simple Recipes
Choosing simple recipes works well for any type of cook, whether you love cooking or only do it to feed yourself and your family.
But choosing simple recipes doesn’t mean the food is going to taste mediocre. Simple recipes taste awesome!
Finding the simple recipes may be a bit more difficult, but once you find the ones that catch your eye, you can add them to your stash and make them again and again!
Here’s a list of pros on using simple recipes to cook.
- spend less time in the kitchen
- more time for other things you love doing
- last minute meals are a breeze
- meals are more likely to be on time
- easier to buy groceries
Spending less time in the kitchen may not seem like a good thing if you love spending time in the kitchen.
But even if you love cooking, having some simple recipes on hand can get you out of a bind. Like if you suddenly realize you are having company for dinner.
Having more time to spend on other things you love to do is great, though! If you didn’t have to cook at all, what would you be doing? Reading? Another hobby? Drinking coffee?
Some days feel like running in a race. A race that takes you here and there and the next place. And those days require last minute cooking. That’s when simple easy recipes are a real gift!
And since the recipe is simple, it’s much more likely that the meal you needed to cook last minute is going to be on time. Or at least not as late as it could be.
Finding recipes that are a cinch to make, but taste good is so rewarding!
Next item. How to make cooking simple by making a plan.
Make Simple Cooking Plans
Here are 3 easy ways you can make cooking plans.
- plan a week of meals
- make a list of meals
- plan meals each day
The first on the list is to plan a menu for the whole week. I won’t go into that here but if you want to know in more detail how to plan menus for a week go to the blog “How NOT to Be Overwhelmed With Meal Planning“.
The next kind of plans you can make is to make a list of meals. Meals that you like to make, meals that you and your family love and meals that you have made before.
Some meals might even just be on the list in your head. What meal is your go to meal when you don’t know what else to make? Like, besides cheese quesadillas or broiled hotdogs. 😉
Making a list may not seem simple to you right now, but once your list is made all you do when it’s time to make supper is to choose something off that list and start cooking!
It’s so easy to push off making a plan because there are always more important things to do right then.
So you may need to be quite firm with yourself. In the morning, before going about those important things, sit yourself down in a chair with a pen and paper and plan your evening meal.
Plan it all out, meat, side dishes, drink, the whole meal. That way all you need to do next is a little prep like thawing meat or setting some ingredients aside, and you’re done until it’s time to cook!
And now that you have a plan, whether it’s a full meal plan or a basic idea plan, you are ready.
Prep Ahead to Make Cooking Simple
If you are wanting to spend less time in the kitchen this one may seem a little contrary. But we’re not talking about a lot of prep here.
My prep ahead is getting the meat out of the freezer in the morning so that it is thawed out by the time I need to make supper. And that’s about it.
Another way to prep ahead is to do any prep ahead like if anything needs to be refrigerated or baked ahead. And of course, if you are using a slow cooker, the food will need to be in there ahead of time.
Peeling potatoes, cutting lettuce for a salad, baking a dessert are all easy ways to prep ahead. Simply doing just one of those is a big help because it’s one less thing to do later.
But don’t let yourself get caught up in prep, because you will find yourself doing it ALL and not actually saving much time.
Believe me, I’ve done it many times. Just do one or two things ahead of time and that’s all you need.
Cook Extra
Again, here is a tip that seems a bit contrary to make cooking simple. But it saves many hours in the kitchen!
Cooking extra food while you are in the kitchen anyway saves lots of time later!
If I am cooking pork roast for supper tonight I’m going to make sure it’s a big enough roast that it will give us one or even two more meals. And it doesn’t take any longer to make a large roast versus a small one.
Or if I am making lasagna I make sure it’s a big enough one to eat leftovers the next day or to put in the freezer for another week.
What’s great about eating it the next day or even later in the week is that it’s not so easy to forget that it’s there to be eaten.
And, like with the pork roast, cooking a big amount of meat can provide you with lots of variety in meals. There are so many options of different meals to make with that one roast.
You can serve the roast as is or make pulled pork sandwiches, add beans and serve chalupas, put in a tortilla with cheese and make quesadillas, the options are endless!
And all that from cooking once! Cooking extra always pays off!
Make Cooking Simple-for you
There are so many ways to make cooking simple for yourself. Whether it’s choosing simpler recipes, making more plans, doing more prep or cooking extra, find what works best for you.
You deserve to enjoy cooking more, so do what you can to make it easier. Your family will thank you. 😊
What is your biggest challenge when it comes to cooking?
Let me know below!
