8 Kitchen Organization Tips to Reduce Cooking Time by 50% | Folsom CA

Cooking in the kitchen can take up to 4-6 hours a day depending on how many meals you cook a day and how many mouths you have to feed in your household. Nowadays, time is precious, especially with the fast-paced world we live in. What we’re going to help you in this article is to cut your time in the kitchen with these simple, yet highly-effective strategies.

Bulk Prep & Freezing Applicable Foods

Bulk prepping ingredients such as vegetables and meat (seasoning/marinading) can save you a lot of prep time for the next day or so. Also, certain cooked foods are great reheated even after being frozen such as soups, stews, rice, beans, noodles, pasta, and more! If you need to buy bigger pans and pots, it’s definitely a wise investment.

Leftovers for Lunch

Making leftovers during dinner can often substitute your lunch depending on the type of dinner you’re making. Of course, not all foods taste great when reheated, but there are many types of foods that CAN be reheated. Also, there are ways to reheat your food so that they taste better, such as reheating on the stovetop versus the microwave, or adding fresh ingredients to the reheated food. Don’t be afraid to make plenty of leftovers!

Clean and Cook

We all know how long cleaning can take especially in the kitchen. A great habit to have is to clean as you cook. There is always time while you’re waiting for the pot to boil or food to be heated. Even if you only have 15-30 seconds, wash something! You’ll be surprised how little you have to wash after your meal finished cooking.

Functional Kitchen Pantry Cabinets & Shelving

One of the biggest factors that will save you time is your kitchen pantry organization. Are your shelves and cabinets serving you properly? Is it easy to find and store all your ingredients? Do they all have a default home to go to? Can you find what you need at a glance? Your ability to stay organized is hugely dependent on the organizers you have. It may be time to upgrade your pantry.

Group & Categorize Items

Depending on your household’s needs and lifestyle when it comes to food, the best way to categorize your pantry items may differ from others. For some families, grouping similar items together may be the most effective way of group items. For others, it may depend on certain routines such as your children’s lunch box items, ingredients for commonly cooked meals, Taco Tuesdays or Pizza Fridays. Only you will know.

Use Spice & Ingredient Containers

Sometimes, finding the spices you’re looking for can be an exercise. Maybe all your spice containers are different shapes and sizes, or are stored in packets or bags. Keep them all uniform by using uniform spice containers with labels. This goes for bulk ingredients as well such as rice, flour, oatmeal, etc. You can also save money this way as well because you can buy spices in bulk and they’ll be cheaper!

Intelligent Kitchen Workflow

Having an intelligent kitchen workflow makes time in the kitchen flow without much thought and decrease your overall walking distance. Next time you’re cooking your next meal, observe how many times you have to walk to your pantry and fridge to make your meal. Keep your similar ingredients together and maybe grouping your breakfast, lunch and dinner so that you decrease the trips back and forth. You may also come to enjoy the cooking experience more!

Get Help

Ok, so you’re cooking for the entire family and most likely for your guests when they come, right? You may find that prepping, cooking and cleaning can easily be your full time job! Teach your kids common courtesy of contribution by helping out. If you have certain guests that are frequent comers (or free-loaders), ask them to give you a hand. They won’t get mad and if they do… maybe it’s time to reconsider who visits your home during meal time!

Take Action

If you implement the tips above, you can save hours a day that can be spent reading a nice book or doing something else that you’ve always wanted to make time for. One of the biggest tip is to consider upgrading your kitchen pantry so that it is functional for your family. The key is to have a home for every item that every person can easily identify. Otherwise, your pantry can easily be a mess.

If you’re around the Folsom and El Dorado Hills area, you are eligible for a FREE in-home 3D kitchen pantry design and a consultation for a full customization. Take advantage of it today by calling {{content_library.global.phone.0}}.

If you want to learn how you can further simplify your life, Download the Tao of Home Organization Guide below.