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2) Freeze ahead. This technique has developed quite a following. These trailblazers have taken the concept of freezing an extra pan of lasagna to a whole new level. The premise is to take one day to prepare and freeze enough meals to last a month. This method saves time and allows you to take advantage of sales at the grocery store. Below are three popular books on the subject. All were given favorable reviews on amazon.com. It is difficult to recommend cookbooks because everyone is looking for different things. Some want fast, others want healthy, still others want gourmet. These three should give you a place to start:
3) Jump start your week. I first read about the “Sunday Start-up” in the Monday to Friday Cookbook by Michele Urvater. One of her suggestions was to roast two chickens, one for dinner and another to be used in a recipe later in the week. This doubling-up makes weeknight cooking much easier. Theresa Albert’s Cook Once a Week, Eat Well Every Day uses the same formula. Organize your meals and do advanced prep. The book offers healthful choices and speeds up shopping time by supplying a grocery list. Perform simple tasks like chopping vegetables, blending salad dressings or browning hamburger when you have a few spare minutes. Doing this prep work earlier in the day or the night before speeds up the process when you are assembling dinner. 4) Family Favorites. Make a list of family favorites, get input from the family members to lower the complaint factor. Rotate these recipes. If you have a lot of favorites you might make one recipe every three weeks. If you have less recipes it may be every two weeks. The time-saving comes into play when you eliminate the need to keep reinventing the wheel. You know what you are going to serve and you know how to make it. The more often you serve a dish the more efficient you become at preparing it. To save even more time you could create your own grocery lists which include all of the ingredients needed for that week. Gather the recipes and the grocery list in a three-ring binder. I’ve been reluctant to make the same thing over and over, lest we get tired of the favorites. So I use favorites for a few nights a week and then try something new on the other nights. The plan is to find more favorites. I have varying degrees of success with that! 5) Deliver! If shopping for groceries is slowing you down or keeping you from cooking the meals that you would like to serve have your groceries delivered. In the Twin Cities metro, try Simon Delivers: www.simondelivers.com. I have tried this service and feel that it is worth the $6. delivery fee because the prices are competitive and they do accept coupons. (That is the price for orders of $80. or more.) If you live outside the metro here are a few others to consider. They are not available in Minnesota, so I have not tried them.
6) Personal Chef. OK, I know this is a splurge. But sometimes time is worth more than money. Personal chefs work for multiple clients, unlike private chefs. They prepare specific meals for clients to enjoy later. Melanie McCoy of Meals by Melanie, is a personal chef in the Twin Cities. She provides full service meal preparation. Clients select meals from her seasonal menu and she shops for the ingredients, makes the meals, cleans up and leaves them in the refrigerator or freezer. Her list of recipes is quite extensive. She is very accommodating and will cater to special needs and diets. There is an initial interview with families to talk about food likes and dislikes. They discuss things like spice levels, onion and garlic and whether they would like to use organic food. Because this is tailored to specific family needs she can control things like calories and fat content. This differs from the meal prep places in that it is a full meal. Each meal includes an entrée, side dish, salad, homemade bread and dessert. Pricing ranges from $210. for three meals (4 servings each) to $350. for five meals. The meals include groceries, containers, food prep, packaging and clean up. Melanie also caters one-time events for people who need help preparing for parties or other special events. Gift certificates are available for new mom’s or people who are convalescing. Contact her at 612.718.1624 or at msmccoy@mcg.net. 7) Never underestimate the power of a frozen pizza! Prepare a list of meals that are quick to prepare from items that are stocked in your pantry, fridge or freezer. Keep a few meals at the ready, that don’t need to be thawed and can be prepared quickly. Use these in a pinch. Back: Dinner Inspiration KAREN HENKE is a professional organizer and the owner of Come2Order. With a collection of 17 years work experience in design, space planning and organization, she now helps others come to order. Disclaimer: Come2Order offers these links as a public service. Although we hope they are useful to you, we offer no guarantees of the products or services mentioned above. |
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