When I think about being self-reliant with our food, I am absolutely amazed at how past generations were able to complete the task. With little to no technology, food preparation and preservation was a long, tiring, and often times tedious task.
With the right tools, the preparation and preservation of your food can be quick and simple. I thought about sharing all the ways I save time preserving, but for me preserving and cooking are so intertwined, it just made more sense to talk about both.
I use preserving to make things easier when cooking. I’ve spent years cooking three meals a day, from scratch, for my family. It is a lot of work and can become overwhelming very quickly. So if you want to start cooking more from scratch and preserving but don’t know how to fit it into your schedule, I have some helpful tips for you.
Having a weekly meal plan proves incredibly beneficial for time-saving in the kitchen. By organizing meals ahead of time, you streamline your cooking process and eliminate the uncertainty of daily meal decisions. It will also save you time and money. Having a meal plan will give you exactly what you need for the week, eliminating extra trips to the store, where you end up getting more than you need. I try to keep our grocery store trips to once a month. It doesn’t always happen but that is the goal. You can check out my meal planning and prep post here.
I mention how important this is in my 9 Essential Tools Every Gardener Needs post and it honestly applies to most things in life. In the kitchen you can get by with the basics, but why double or even triple the time it takes to cook or preserve something when there is a tool that can do the same task at a fraction of the cost? I completely understand not all tools, gadgets, and appliances are going to work for every family. Limited space, financial constraints, and even skepticism about functionality can make us apprehensive about obtaining more stuff.
If you’re on a budget, really look into what is going to save you the most time. If you can try and save for the more premium option. I’ve ended up spending just as much money on some things by going with the lower-cost option and then needing to repurchase it because it broke. Or it ended up being a complete waste of money because it just didn’t work correctly and it was too much of a hassle to use. Over the years my Birthday, Christmas, and now Mother’s Day gifts have been things I use in the kitchen, including my pots and pans, Instant Pot, a smoker, griddle, and a mixer. You can check out my complete list of kitchen gadgets here.
You’ve got your proper tools, now make sure you know how they work and the best way to use them. Did you know the Instant Pot makes the best and easiest hard-boiled eggs and rice? How about that you can use your dehydrator to make yogurt. Figuring out what each of your gadgets can do is crucial in not only saving time in the kitchen but also keeping your kitchen space clutter-free. Why get extra things you don’t need if what you already have will work?
Mixer: I have a Kitchen-Aid mixer. You can get a bunch of attachments for it. Things like a pasta roller/cutter, meat grinder, and food mill (my most used accessory). Check out what your mixer can do and use it fully.
Food Processor: On top of normal food processor stuff, chopping, I use this for shredding bulk cheese and potatoes for hashbrowns, slicing veggies thin, and making pie crusts (really anything that the recipe says to mix butter into pea size balls in flour).
Immersion Blender: This thing is one of my most used gadgets. I use it probably 4 times a week. It works amazing for small batches of things you don’t want to put in the blender. It fits perfectly in wide-mouth mason jars to blend dressings, homemade mayo, etc. It is also a great way to make your own pureed baby food.
Dutch Oven: A Dutch oven is a must-have for home cooking. I have two of this exact one. One red and one blue. I use it for most meals, the red for any soups, stews, chilis, pasta/one-pot dishes, braised meats, roasts, and even as a deep dish for frying. The blue I use exclusively for baking breads.
Blender: Getting a high-quality blender and knowing all the functions of your blender will save you so much time and energy. I use mine daily.
Bulk or Batch cooking is something that everyone mentions when talking about how to save time in your kitchen. The reason is because it works. One way is to double or even triple a recipe, then freeze what you don’t eat. I do this with lots of recipes, the main one I make and freeze consistently is pizza dough and toppings. We have homemade pizza every Friday, so having these premade to pull out cuts down my weekly prep. Make sure you and your family like the recipe first. Do a test with a small amount in the freezer and then cook it up. Some meals texture and taste can change after freezing and cooking. Do not waste your time, money, and ingredients by doing make-ahead freezer meals you and your family will find inedible.
I do a lot of “Meals in a Jar” canning. Unfortunately, this isn’t a complete meal as there are ingredients not safe for canning but having 90% of your meal done for you is a huge time saver. Throwing some pasta in a pot to cook and warming up a jar of pasta with meat sauce is a quick 20-minute meal. You don’t have to worry about thawing meat, chopping vegetables, and cooking it all down. Soup bases are another great meal in a jar. I do a bunch of chicken soup base that I can throw in a pot with some noodles and have chicken noodle soup, and add rice for chicken and rice soup, I’ve even thickened it up and made chicken pot pie with it. Having the basics for a meal done makes cooking so much faster.
At the end of every year, I go through my pantry and do an inventory. I ask myself a couple of questions. “What did we use the most of this year?” “What did we run out of?” “What did we not use?” and most importantly, “What do I wish I had in my pantry that I had to buy at the store and can replace with what I can grow?” These questions help me determine what I am going to preserve for the year and how many plants I’ll need to plant to reach that goal.
You want to focus your time and energy on growing things you will actually eat. Don’t grow 20 okra plants if you don’t enjoy okra. It’s a waste of time and space. Once you get a good idea of how much you generally use of a vegetable or fruit, you’ll just need to slightly tweak the numbers year to year. I always overplant certain crops to hopefully overcome any problems with that growing year. Anything extra at the end of the season I give away to friends and family. If you have enough space it’s a great way to garden.
