One of my favorite tools is a julienne peeler. I much prefer to shred 1 carrot at a time than have to clean the food processor. And then the dog gets to eat the leftovers, so everybody's happy.
I think one important reminder is: just keep cooking. Experience is a blessing. It takes too much time now but soon it will be quicker and it will be embedded in your routine.
Building experience is a good reason to just start with those simple 5 ingredient recipe books. It's still possible to screw things up, but with so few ingredients you're probably going to know quickly if you have everything you need and a lot less time spent on the logistics of grocery shopping. Less time on that and probably more time on actually cooking. Those recipes are usually pretty simple, but it does give a lot of opportunity to practice just he basic techniques that will be used for more complicated recipes if you so choose.
Hi, just want to say that as someone with ADHD who never learned to cook this video is literally everything I could ever ask for in a cooking instruction video. Extremely clear, everything explained, to the point with no extra fluff, and a focus on the skills AROUND cooking that SUPPORT cooking (which I have to say have never crossed my mind until now). I love all of these tips so so much. I've never watched a cooking video as helpful as this one ever. It's like you know the exact things I struggle with and have a solution for each of them, it's crazy. Thank you SO MUCH!
#1 Tip To Become A Much Faster Cook. Think the process and steps out completely before you actually do it. This only takes all of about 30 seconds but can often lead to using just one pan instead of a couple so less time digging out pans and utensils, , Almost always makes cooking quicker as you're not thinking about what's the next step or ingredients, and results in far less dishes. So it saves time in 3 different ways.... Something as simple as making a broth can dirty a shocking amount of dishes with all the filtering if you don't think it through.
Yeah, this is such a time saver. If I'm prepping two or three meals, I'll even cook them in a specific order so that I can reuse the pots and pans without washing them. So if I'm making a basic, veggie soup and then a curry, I'll cook the veggie soup portion it out and then I'll use the same pan for the more aromatic curry. It saves so much time loading and unloading the dishwasher with umpteen utensils, pots and pans.
I don't really have the headspace for that with my ADHD, esp with new recipes. I can remember maybe 2 steps ahead. But I'm constantly checking the recipe "did I forget anything?". So fellow ADHD peeps: do whatever works 🙂
One thing that's saved me time in the kitchen is just simplifying the meals themselves--I keep a rotation of simple meals that don't require more than a handful of ingredients and trips to specialty food stores. I love cooking so I keep the fancier recipes for the weekend and rely on staple ingredients only for most of my weekday cooking. It keeps my pantry neater too not to have too many different ingredients on hand all the time.
And after you get your kitchen scale... for recipes that don't provide weights, measure the ingredient out by volume, weigh it, and write it down for next time you make the recipe. Or look on the package, because the weight per tablespoon or per 1/4 cup or whatever is often there (on nut butters, flours, etc.) in the nutrition facts label, so you just have to do a little math, which is faster than washing a measuring cup that had almond butter in it!
Yes, this is exactly what I've done for a bread maker recipe I increased by two thirds. Because who has a third of a teaspoon/tablespoon measure lying around? Certainly not me!
Clean as you go 100% agree, my father always taught us to clean as we go while cooking when we were younger as teens.. as an adult I still do it and yes, less dishes and lack of feeling overwhelmed with pots and pans etc every where..
Also got two tips to add: (1) Soak your legumes to reduce the cooking time. It even works to portion them up and soak them inside the fridge for 36 hours up to several days, so you have all your legumes handy for the week. (2) Cook your (soaked!) legumes in a pressure cooker to reduce cooking time even further, while also avoiding the need to check and stir. You just have to get your ingredient water amounts and timings right once for your exact pressure cooker, then follow the same processes every time to get the same perfect results.
A lot of speed in the kitchen just comes with comfort and time. I will make things in my partner's home, even before I started prepping it for myself to move in, and he was astounded with how much faster I was than him. I usually would just look at him when he said something and ask how frequently I cook compared to him. I then point out how he plays instruments with his eyes closed, and he generally understands. It's a skill just like anything else, and that comes with practice.
Thank you, Nisha! These are fantastic tips! I have a tip to add, too - just the other day, Adam Savage (of Mythbusters) uploaded a tour of his newly reorganized shop, and a number of the shelving units were built by a maker on the shorter side. Instead of fishing around to see if a small drawer had the component he needed, he installed mirrors above them so a quick glance could let him or another model-maker know if they had the necessary parts instead of grabbing a stool or stepladder. Our pantry is, unfortunately, rather deep, and you're more likely to find a can of cherry pie filling from 2012 than the ingredient you're actually looking for. So I'm thinking of transferring a bunch of things to jars, labeling the tops, and putting mirrors above them. Wish me luck, lol
It sounds like you could use some shelf dividers aka partitions aka organizers. They effectively double the amount of beach-front real estate in your cabinets.
If you need a lot of hot water, to boil vegetables, pasta, make rice etc, divide it up. I put some in an electric kettle, some in the microwave in a Pyrex, and some in the pot I will use to cook. I can get a couple quarts boiling in about 90 seconds. I also start my pressure cooker with hot water, it comes to pressure much faster. Finally, I chop a weeks worth of onions in my food processor, and freeze them in half onion size clumps on a tray, and put into a bag. A clump can go straight into the pan.
To make the focus even wider, when you move and have the chance to get a new kitchen, plan it according to how you work, so that pans, spices, knives, fridge and stove are all close together. I took the time to do exactly that when planning our new kitchen and it makes cooking and everyday life really so much easier
Fantastic video with wonderful ideas and advice. My favorite was your last tip - be mindful and enjoy the cooking. I find this to be the key for me, even though I do try to stay within a time frame each time I cook. When it feels like a chore I try to find another healthy solution for family food. But on most days I make an effort to view the cooking as my hobby or recreation. This works and I love it! Two other ideas I would add to your great list - 1) make sure the sink and dishwasher are empty before you start cooking and 2) don't worry too much about recipes unless the meal needs precision to be good. Finally, my wife always places flowers from the garden in our cooking area and we always play music while cooking for added inspiration and creativity. Thanks, John Gig Harbor, WA
I also print out my recipes but I take it one step further - I put them in a clear plastic folder (to go in a binder afterwards) so I don't sully them during the prep. I put a sticky note on it with any adjustments I made, plus which pot or pan I used; nothing worse than using too small of a pan or skillet and having to transfer everything mid-cook and then dirty a second dish!
So brilliant, thank you. What saved me in this regard was Flylady's (aka Marla Cilley) advice: "Do not let any soiled kitchen item out of your hands until it's washed or taken care of." So I either wash or rinse and put in the dishwasher before putting it down, no matter how much of a rush I am in. It works beautifully. I also have a towel on a designated side of the sink where I place rinsed items if the dishwasher is unavailable. This has worked amazingly for us.
🤯 After watching this a couple months ago, I started using a SCALE instead measuring cups. I’ve been cooking professionally for a long time and never saw anyone do this. I just made pancakes at home this morning: I was delighted they turned out perfectly and I had fewer dishes to wash because I had weighed the flour mix, egg replacer and nondairy milk in the same dish (using tare button) rather than dirtying a measuring cup for each one. 🤯 Life changing. Thank you. 🙏
I made the squash and bean tacos from the meal plan today and shared them with a non-vegetarian and we both loved them! Although full disclosure I still had a huge thing of lentils left over from last week's recipes so I used those instead of black beans. This meal plan is going to make my 2024 so much more fun and healthy!
I accidentally used the entire lentils for the stew then had to make another batch for the bowl.😢 Suffice to say I'm done with lentils and so happy this week is lentil-free ❤
@@nadia93ie I guess we both proved the lesson that you need to read the recipe first. You that you don't need to use all the lentils and me the "serves 4" when I'm cooking for 1 😂
Also you may have to pay my 95 year-old mother a commission because she liked that crema so much that she was on Facebook telling everybody how good it was, then shared the recipe, and now she just asked me for the name of your website because someone was curious to check it out 😂
I am so slow when I cook. I usually double the amount of time the recipe says it's going to take. I chalk this up to ADHD & time blindness. Lol! I have started prepping most things (mostly chopping veggies) before I start the actual dish &, aside from having to wash extra dishes, I like doing it that way. I also like your tip about don't worry about being faster! I love cooking & the kitchen is my happy place. I'll take some of these things & incorporate them, & then just enjoy cooking.
My recent favorite tip is to have bins in the pantry that you can place items in for meal planning. I just use cardboard trays from our recycling stuff. It makes it easier to visualize what you need and what you planned to make, and sets those ingredients aside so they are easy to get out together and they don’t get used in other meals if you share a pantry. You can do the same in the fridge too if you have space for it.
Thanks! Came for the brownies; stayed for the other amazing recipes. I don't multi-task well at all. I am pretty good at the other things you listed - except the meal planning. Fortunately, I have a master chef I can lean on for handling that part for me. Very much loving your meal plan service after 1 week. 🤩 😍
Love 5:21!!! Veggie scrap bag for vegetable broth! I have been doing this for years to help reduce my environmental impact and wish it was more common ❤️
@@alybyrne4142 Add it to the broth. I also freeze veggie scraps that aren't suitable for broth. Instead of cooking they're put in the Vitamix with water and poured in the garden.
These are great tips, and I already use almost all of them! In my opinion, a digital scale is an essential tool and my second favourite tool is a bench scraper. However, I do not print out recipes as that would be time consuming and would generate too much paper which I would then have to file away in space that I don’t have. What I do is to find the recipe on my iPad and go to the Print Recipe page. I take a screenshot of that. Then I put my iPad on my lectern with the screenshot enlarged so I can easily see the ingredients while doing my mise en place. Then I do the same for the instructions. I have my iPad set to keep the screen on indefinitely so it remains visible while I’m cooking. I keep a washing up bowl in my sink and put dishes and tools that need soaking in there as I go. The washing up bowl has a smaller volume than the sink, saving hot water. I have an electronic composter and I put the inner vessel on the counter and put scraps in there while cooking. This keeps my garbage to a minimum and keeps my kitchen clean and odour free. I totally agree with not rushing. I prefer to enjoy the process of cooking. One area where I do multitask when time allows is in keeping a running list of ingredients I’m running low on. I am not a slave to recipes and when I find a recipe or a method that I like, I will experiment with different ingredients, particularly when my local farmers’ markets are open. Finally, I always consider whether the recipe, or part of it, could be made in my Instant Pot. I bought it six years ago to make yogurt and I make delicious Greek style yogurt every week, using a Eurocuisine to strain it. This saves a lot of money. Cooking with the Instant Pot also uses far less electricity than other appliances.
I have been watching your videos in the last year and one of the things I picked up based on your advice is purchasing a food scale which has helped immensely in the kitchen. I do use a cannister I put all my cooking tools i . I love a lot of your ideas to make cooking quicker. This video was sooo helpful! Have a great rest of the weekend.
I love a bench scraper. If I ever do a gift basket for a wedding or housewarming it will always include a bench scraper. It makes chopping veggies all that much more enjoyable (though it's already enjoyable IMO).
I actually only bought a bench scraper for bread dough, and that’s all I’ve used it for! I will start using it for veggies because it will be very useful!
Sort of piggy backs off cleaning as you go but start with a clean kitchen and empty the dishwasher and sink. That way you won't be fumbling around clutter and dirty dishes and also you will be able to clean as you go faster as you won't have to stop to empty the sink or dishwasher. Also I find it handy to keep a small plate or bowl near the side of my chopping board to put scraps on. Way less messy that way and I've only gotta put it all in the bin once, not multiple trips throughout the cooking process.
Labeling saves me time! I use white vinyl sold in sheets. I pre-cut a sheet into sizes that work for my containers and jars and keep them with wax pencils (Listo is my favorite) by the fridge with a rag for rubbing off and replacing text. The labels will make it through a few dishwasher runs but eventually need to be replaced. I also loosely organize my fridge by how prepped ingredients are. The top is heat-and-eat, the middle is prepped for cooking, the bottom is raw.
Awesome video! You covered all my tips of Mise en Place, clean as you go and figuring out when to multi-task vs prep in advance. Must try out my bench scraper...have had it forever, but it sits in my drawer. One tip to add is I use my iPad that doesn't auto shut off for referring to recipes. I love all your recipes and think you are amazing. Thank you for taking the time to make this video.
Thank you for posting these tips! I will definitely use the mobile prep tray method and the bench scraper you recommended. I'd like to add a couple tips. If you have a smart speaker, such as Alexa, use it to 1) set timers (you can set multiple, which is great for making big holiday courses), 2) send yourself voice messages (such as changes you made to the recipe), and 3) make grocery lists while looking in the fridge/pantry. It's great because it's hands-free, so you can keep your hands clean as you cook or handle food 😊
Those are really great! What I also love to do to save time is to reuse. E.g. for my mise en place I use the plates we will later use to eat. Also I use plates (soup plates) rather than bowls, because they fit much better into the dishwasher. #7 is now a challenge, as the regular portions for my family already max out my pots and pans. 😅
I like to keep masking tape and a sharpie on top of my fridge. That way if I have leftovers icon put them incontainers write what they are on the masking tape and pop them in the fridge or freezer. I also use my wine rack for frequently used seasonings. I lable the top of the containers and slide them in like I would if it was a bottle of wine. The big clubhouse containers fit perfectly. Don't worry my wine rack has 24 spots so I still have lots of room for wine lol😂
@@RainbowPlantLife Nisha, I am a preschool teacher and sometimes it is so difficult to do a teddy bear picnic for children with severe allergies. I am sure a lot of parents go through this plannng their child's birthday. Can you do a vegan/ vegetarian teddy bear picnic with fun stuff to eat and kid friendly? That would be an awesome video if you could. Something with colorful foods.
french tip: a "mise en place" quite directly translates to a "set up" (or "mettre en place" for "setting up"). And in cooking, it's all about setting yourself up for successful cookin' ;)
Look for recipes while you wait in lines or sit in the car pick up line or have a few minutes before clocking in. Also keep a list of go to favorite meals ♥️
I agree with re reading a recipe if you have not cooked something often, or if you are inexperienced. On the other hand, if you are an experienced cook, you do not need to cut, dice and slice everything before you start cooking. Chopping vegetables for your sauce or wok dish is quite possible while your rice steams or your noodles cook.
Thank you so very much for these tips! This is great advice for a single parent with two picky eaters. One pescatarian, the other a carnivore, it's hard to find meals they'll both like and they really like all your recipes. Thanks again!!!
I agree with all your steps and already use them, except I'm a little weak in the future meal planning department. One thing that also is extremely helpful for me, is I use a Cuisine Art food processor for a lot of my food prep. First I process garlic cloves, then the onion, then go chop from less watery vegetables to those that contain more water. Learning the skill of how to chop to achieve good results with a processor is also critical to success.
My husband is leaving for a week to do training for a job and I'll be alone as a blind individual. I love vegan food (although I'm not fully vegan) and try to implement a lot in my daily life. This week coming is going to be amazing as my husband is 100% a meat guy. Whereas if I lived alone I'd more than likely be 98% plant based. Thank you for all of your videos they inspire me so much.
Another life saver for me, more than any chef's knife I own, my right hand in the kitchen, is the Breville Sous Chef Food Processor. It can even dice onions, chop, grate, pulverize, mix quick doughs, smooth lumpy sauces, the list is endless.
I use a bunch of very simple-shaped stainless steel bowls for food prep. They have a lot of advantages over glass bowls: weight, strength, easier to wash, stacks smaller, cheaper. I understand that a RU-vidr would use glass bowls, it looks a little nicer.
An efficiency expert concluded his lecture with a note of caution. "You don't want to try these techniques at home." "Why not?" asked somebody from the audience. "I watched my wife's routine at breakfast for years," the expert explained. "She made lots of trips between the refrigerator, stove, table and cabinets, often carrying a single item at a time. One day I told her, 'Hon, why don't you try carrying several things at once?'" "Did it save time?" the person in the audience asked. "Actually, yes," replied the expert. "It used to take her 20 minutes to make breakfast. Now I do it in seven."
My tip. Have a kid. They are always hungry and the most honest critics. And they want you to keep them entertained while cooking. You will find the most clever ways to speed up everything
My kitchen is super small…think camper space and you’ve visualized my kitchen! All my kitchen appliances are also small. The good side is that I don’t have any additional steps between my stove, counter, sink and fridge! I don’t have a dishwasher so I have learned to try to wash as I go. One thing I gained from your video (well done I might add!) is to have a tray to place the dirty dishes/utensils on a tray. I’m going to try that this Sunday-my prep day! I just signed up for your meal plan program so this should be the start of a great adventure!
I think what also helped me to manage my weekly cooking is so always plan according to time available. I won't spend a lot of time cooking if I already did shopping prior. So most weeks I will choose like 1-2 dishes that are more Complicated for the days I know I have time on my hands. And for the rest of the week I have quicker more simple meals planned that won't frustrate me at the end of a long day. That said I almost always do double batches especially for the more time consuming recipes, because I don't see the sense in taking all the time to make just 2 portions. . As a teenager I did most of the household-cooking for 4-5 people, and I just ever stopped using those measurements though nowadays it's just my husband and I. We don't mind eating the same thing twice in a row. So I try to for example plan the double-cooking in a way that I know the next day when I will be short on time can just eat leftovers. While cooking I also do the multitasking thing a lot. When I stir fry for example and I know certain veggies need the longest to cook I toss them in first and cut the other veggies meanwhile. So from longest-to shortest cooking. And then there are the days I skip cooking all together and just make a simple sandwich lol. I think most of normal household-cooking is all about balance and taking out pressure. We don't need to constantly try new recipes. Some weeks the few simple "Go-to's" are fine. They help us getting so comfortable with the recipe that we mostly can just wing it without measuring anything. So those will eventually be time-saver-recipes that would be rather tome-consuming for others. This way when we add a new recipe in between those same-Olds, cooking will stay exiting and overall will take less time. The main thing is that we enjoy it
In addition to these tips I find the thing I have done to save me time and mess is starting any cook up or prep session with my second sink full of hot soapy water.
- Read the recipe thoroughly before starting to cook, to understand all the steps and avoid mistakes. - Mise en place - prepping and organizing all ingredients and equipment beforehand saves time during cooking. - Identify opportunities for multitasking during passive cooking time to accomplish other tasks. - Stay organized in the kitchen by keeping frequently used tools/utensils easily accessible. - Clean as you go to minimize post-cooking cleanup and maintain a clutter-free workspace. - Invest in time-saving tools like a digital scale, mandoline slicer, and sharp chef's knife. - Batch cook and meal plan to leverage shared components across multiple recipes. - Meal planning can save time, but the planning process itself takes time, so consider using a meal planning service. - Don't solely focus on cooking speed - be mindful and present in the process to avoid mistakes. - Combining these strategies can significantly improve your overall cooking efficiency and speed.
Thanks for the tips Nisha. I'm using your meal plan and REALLY enjoying it. You took all that "planning" work out of it and made cooking a much more pleasurable activity. You always share great ways to save time. I would love to know where you got those little block freezer trays that you put your soup in. If you have a resource for them I'd love to know about it. My biggest tip, the one that I find extremely useful, is that I cut a whole bag of onions at one time and freeze them for future use. It saves so much time and grief, less tears and I actually look forward to cooking more. I've heard that I can do the same thing with minced garlic and ginger. My next experiment is to try and freeze garlic and ginger pucks. Wish me luck!
Candles and dim lighting. I love funky lamps and my fav is a motion lamp. Guess I am a bit of a light freak because I also have solar flame torches in my yard which i can see from my dining room. When traveling, I pack tea lights and a set of string lights if the place needs a little something. My 27 year old daughter is also a light freak😊
my kitchen has VERY little counter space and this wierd tall pantry thing with shelves behind doors. I went online and ordered those do-it-yourself shelf-drawer thingies (technical term, sorry) and installed them. Turning that weird cabinet into 4 slide out drawers has changed my life.
I love your recipes, Nisha. I've had fun making several of them... all delicious! And it is even more fun to watch you cook (and prepare to cook!) before I try them out. Thanks for encouraging me as I journey into veganism in 2024! (PS Mise en place saves my sanity repeatedly!)
I will admit I don't really meal plan. I don't cook to a recipe rather what I have available at home determines what "recipe" I am cooking. Because of this much of cooking is improvisational with out using a preset recipe in mind. Now when I was just starting out cooking at home I did not do this but as I gained more experience I realized I could cook by feel or taste more so than following a recipe. Obviously not great advice for beginners but as you gain more cooking experience this ability to improv in the kitchen will allow you to cook faster as well.
Could you do a short quick video on how to make chickpea flour? Is it cheaper to use dried chickpeas? Or should I go to the store because it's more convenient? Thank you for all of your educational videos!
As a chef, who has no time to cook for myself make todays and tomorrows dinner at the SAME TIME. Maybe even lunch for another day or something to keep prepped in the freezer. Most of your cooking time is not active so make use of that. Use all 4 hobs ( at low heat so you don’t burn) and your oven. Yes it’s a lot of dishes but realistically you’ll wash it all in 10 mins versus cooking three meals three seperate times
Not to continually fan girl the meal plan, but this is fantastic. My whole family - including the 11 year old - went crazy for the refried beans this week. My husband is not a big tofu fan so i swapped that protein out for king oyster mushroom (which by the way was fabulous in that dish). By far the best and most economical meal “kit” that we have ever tried.
"shared ingredients"- that's a concept I've been working on! I'm using the "roll-over method" but for food- example: if I have lunch meat, cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, and avocados, and of the "breads" I have bread, tortillas, and bagels, I "roll-over" all of the same ingredients except for the bread for a few different lunches. I'm developing my own meal plan like this. :) great minds! I love what you're doing here! (^.^)
Great ideas. Also, I make notes on my recipes so next time I use the recipe, I can see my comments. Often it’s just a comment like tastes great. But sometimes I might write in a suggestion to use a different oven temperature or baking time etc.
Amazing tips! PS loved week 1 of the RPL meal plans - prepping week 2 in a bit!!! ❤❤❤ bought the annual membership without a second thought. Best investment of 2024 🙏🏻
Step 1. live in a mansion with a giant kitchen Step 2. use a separate bowl and spoon for every ingredient Step 3. ask someone to clean after you're finished because half the stuff is now dirty
I have ADHD and prepping everything before cooking is the most important thing for me. But I’m really struggling with cleaning while cooking an the kitchen is always a big mess afterwards 🙈 I love cooking but hate the cleaning part 🥲
You know, I was looking at the part where you said to read the recipe and it occurred to me that had elementary, middle and high school used real recipes in their story problems in math class that not only would I be better at math because I'll ACTUALLY BE USING IT DAILY IN THE KITCHEN but also I would have actually been good at cooking by the time graduating high school nearly 20 years ago. I only just began enjoying cooking and using recipes this year (currently, my favorite thing is to try new curry recipes and try to make more vegetarian and vegan options for whenever I run out of meat) and I used to be really bad at doubling or tripling recipes (still am, but better at it). This would have been way more applicable in school had they used real examples instead of thinking about trains going a certain miles per hour and how far little Timmy can fly in the sky with scuba gear or something weird like that.
