16 Ways to Save Time Cooking (and Still Eat Healthy)

16 super effective ways to save time cooking

Raise your hand if you don’t like spending a lot of time preparing meals….

Yeah, I thought so.

Even my overly-ambitious-homesteading-make-it-from-scratch-chicken-raising-Pinterest-loving-make-her-own-soap-friend doesn’t like spending hours and hours cooking.

And after spending the last 30 years developing and testing 1000’s of recipes, if I don’t want to morph into a permanent kitchen fixture, I need to save time cooking too.

Eat Healthy and Save Time

Thankfully, you can eat healthy meals without setting up camp in the kitchen. With a little thought, practice, and these time-saving tactics, you can feed your family well without taking too much of your time.

Here’s how I save time cooking.

1. Make once – eat multiple times

I almost never make a single batch of anything. When you double (or triple) a recipe, you get a “free” meal later in the week.

For example, I make a pot of rice at the beginning of the week and then use it to make Vegan Veggie Balls on Monday, Avocado Lime Rice (and black beans) on Tuesday, Lime, Rice, and Beans Bowl on Wednesday, and Mazidra on Thursday.

I use the same strategy with beans. I make these crock pot beans for a meal and then I use leftovers for burritos, taco salad, Mexican Cauliflower, soup, Loaded Sweet Potatoes, bean bowls, White Bean Garlic Dip, beans and rice, stir fry, wraps, and more.

Oh! And waffles! I can’t think of a better make-it-once-eat-it-all-week food! You only have to get the waffle iron out once, get the ingredients out once, dirty the blender once, and you have quick and easy breakfast all week long!

2. Wash the blender (or food processor) only once

8 What to Make in Your Blender (Besides Smoothies)

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Speaking of washing the blender only once, whenever I use it, I make it do double duty.

For example, if I’m making Creamy Cannellini Spinach Pasta for today, I will first use the blender to make this Creamy Italian Dressing or another dressing or sauce for tomorrow’s meal.

If I’m making No-Bake Walnut Fig Bites, I’ll also make some Apple Buckwheat Granola or Berry Breakfast Bars.

3. Don’t try to peel an onion.

Cut the ends off. Then slit the side and remove the entire outer shell. And done.

Much faster!

4. Use parchment paper

Use parchment paper to line baking sheets and baking pans. When you’re done baking, simply through the parchment away. No messy pans to clean up.

5. Faster lemon juice

I never squeeze lemons with my hands. Too messy and takes too much time. If I really, absolutely need fresh lemon juice, I use my citrus squeezer. (It’s way more convenient than a lemon juicer.)

But most of the time I use frozen lemon juice or a good-quality bottled lemon juice. Though its not quite as flavorful as fresh, it’s still very good! And it saves me loads of time squeezing lemons.

Many bottled lemon juice contains preservatives, like sodium benzoate or sodium metabisulfite. To avoid these additives, try one of these that are 100% pure lemon juice with nothing added.

6. Get a good food processor

60 seconds. That’s how long it takes me to shred cabbage for coleslaw.

I don’t even own a box shredder. I would never use it because it takes too much time. Yes, a food processor is an investment, but it’s an investment you’ll never regret.

I can make these scrumptious Skinny Scalloped Potatoes in less than 15 minutes with my food processor. Cut all those potatoes by hand? No thanks.

Need help choosing a food processor? After 30 years of developing thousands of recipes, I’ve learned which food processors are worth the money and which aren’t.

7. Take advantage of the original fast food

Fresh fruit and raw veggies are the original fast food. Easy and good for you! Two great reasons to eat them more often and more of them.

It takes very little time to prepare an apple or an orange for breakfast. Add some almonds and whole-grain toast and you have a very quick and nourishing breakfast.

8. Own a good chef’s knife

A good, sharp chef’s knife may just be the number one way to save time cooking. A sharp knife can sometimes cut your kitchen time in half – and make it much more enjoyable.

This is my favorite knife – I use it every day.

9. Put a lid on it

When you need to bring water or soup or whatever to boil, put a lid on the pan. It will come to a boil faster.

10. Eat more beans

I cannot think of an easier, healthier food than the beautiful bean. They are loaded with nutrition (including slimming fiber) and healthy food couldn’t be easier.

To cook your own, simply sort through them, place in a colander, rinse, and cook in your crock pot over night. Now you have a highly nutritious base for hundreds of delicious dishes, like

If you don’t have time to sort and rinse beans (wow, you are busy, aren’t you?), have your kids do it. (It’s easy! They can do it!) I assigned this job to my children starting when they were four-years-old and I’ve rarely had to do it since.

Or, if all the above fails, open a can. Canned beans are very nutritious.

Here are some yummy bean recipes.

11. Get Your Kids Involved

This may sound counterintuitive (“I can get more done when they’re out of my way”) but this tiny investment will pay off a hundredfold! I brought my little ones into the kitchen with me before they could walk and by the time they were four years old, they had mastered quite a number of kitchen skills and were such good help that they saved me hours of kitchen time every week.

12. Use a vegetable chopper

Using a vegetable chopper is another way to save time cooking.

If I have more than one vegetable (or fruit) to chop, I usually pull out my veggie chopper. It’s so fast that even after calculating the cleaning time, it still saves many minutes.

13. Pre-prep vegetables

Okay, so this is the one tip in this post that I don’t actually do regularly. HOWEVER, the two times I did do it, I loved it! When it was time to eat, I could go to the frig, grab the lettuce (or whatever veggie I needed) and it was ready to go. And, it did save time in the long run since it is faster to was two heads of lettuce once than to wash a few leaves one day, a few leaves another day, a few leaves the next day ….

14. Cut with kitchen scissors (kitchen shears)

No need to dirty a cutting board. Kitchen shears are great for:

mincing herbs
trimming pie crusts
chopping canned peaches, tomatoes, or other foods right in the can (drain juice first)
cutting chives or green onions straight over your baked potato
cutting salad greens right on your plate
making pita triangles
trimming ends off green beans
cutting tortillas or quesadillas
or even cutting pizza

Another reason why I like kitchen scissors? Children can more safely help in the kitchen using them.

15. Stock your pantry

In my book, there is not much worse than wanting to make something and discovering you don’t have the ingredients for it.

Keeping ingredients on hand so that you can feed yourself and your family healthfully without the stress of trying to figure out what you have the ingredients for or running to the store is an important key to getting quick and healthful meals on the table even on the busiest of days.

At any given time, my pantry and freezer are stocked with large quantities of oats, brown rice, quinoa, buckwheat, chickpeas, lentils, almonds, walnuts, dates, and frozen fruit. That way when I need a quick meal, I have all the ingredients on hand.

16. Create a menu

For years I thought that making a weekly meal plan or menu was an unnecessary bother. Obviously, I had no idea how much time a menu plan would save me.

And then I tried it. The weeks when I did have a menu went sooooo smoothly and were stress-free (as far as meals go).

Plan meals for a week (or even a month), and you’ll make shopping trips more efficient and reduce the time spent staring into the refrigerator wondering what to make. If you have a plan, you’re less likely to fall for unhealthy temptations at the last minute.

Need some pre-planned menus? I have some easy and delicious ones in my online weight loss program.

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