Clever Ways to Save More Time in the Kitchen

For home cooks, it is always essential to be more time-efficient in the kitchen. Why? Apart from their great love for cooking, they still have a bunch of responsibilities to attend to. Hence, saving more time in the kitchen is definitely a dream come true. There are multiple ways of doing it, and most of them might have already been applying for quite some time now.

All these kitchen hacks are also economical, which can allow home cooks and those people who are starting to practice the art of cooking to be more functional yet time-savvy in the kitchen. So, here are some clever ways to maximize your time in preparing hearty meals that you never thought you needed.

Keep your knives sharp

Imagine spending a handful of time and effort in meal preparation just because of a dull knife? Cutting, dicing, and mincing ingredients aren’t that hard, but with a low-quality knife, there would definitely be a struggle. From your chef’s knife to your cleaver knife, ever to your kitchen shears, you must maintain their sharp edges to assure convenience and safety. Hence, you might consider investing in honers that can guarantee efficiency and longevity, such as LeBeau’s honer. So, purchase LeBeau’s Honer to experience an easier and quicker meal prep process.

Prolong the shelf-life of your herbs

Parsley, basil, thyme, cilantro, dill, rosemary, and the likes are among the essentials in the kitchen. Witnessing them wilt is surely the saddest part, especially when you just bought them from your local farmers market. So, prolong the storage life of your fresh herbs by trimming their stems and putting them on an appropriate-sized glass. Then, add a generous amount of water, cover it with a plastic bag, and tie the bag with a string to keep them fresh, just like putting freshly picked flowers in a vase minus the cover. With this technique, you can at least prevent them from wilting for two weeks!

Maximize your mason jars

Mason jars are a game-changer; why? In the kitchen, you can actually see mason jars on the counter — even in the photos on Pinterest. It is a good option for storing your herbs, spices, and other kitchen essentials. You can also opt to use these jars for your homemade broths and pickles, which you can store for how many days or months. If ever you have leftover food, smoothies, iced coffees, nuts, sourdough starters, and grains, you can use them for storage. Moreover, mason jars can also bring you a lot of benefits, such as cost-efficiency, accessibility, environmentally friendly, versatility, and more; just make sure you put labels on them.

Substitute trays with sheet pans

Many food establishments make use of trays, especially in serving dishes. There are many benefits that trays give, such as productivity, convenience, long-lasting, neatness, and more. But, their popularity in restaurants is in contrast to at home. But with this hack, people can definitely see how efficient and more preferable it is to use trays. In most homes, trays are unpopular, but sheet pans are. Thus, you can use sheet pans as a substitute and utilize them in your meal preparation. You can put the entire ingredients in one place to help you become more organized and expedite both your cooking and cleaning processes. 

Peel kiwi faster

Kiwis are one of the fruits that are commonly found in fruit bowls, smoothies, acai bowls, and the likes. It is indeed a delectable fruit that brings a bunch of health benefits. But sometimes, peeling them can take time. Often, people use peelers and knives; however, there is an easier and faster way to peel them. The trick is you slide both ends of the fruit, then you use a spoon and slip it under its skin. Afterward, begin running it around but make sure not to break the skin.

Soften butter quickly

Another staple in the kitchen, butter, is used in multiple ways — such as in baking and in frying. But the catch is butter can become a handful, especially if you forgot to take it out prior to cooking. Worry no more, because you can actually soften it faster by cutting it into smaller pieces and leave it on for a short while on the kitchen counter — the smaller the pieces, the better.