7 Ways to Find Time to Cook

I know I’m guilty of this: When life gets busy  – I immediately resort to eating out at fast food restaurants instead of cooking a healthy meal.

Cooking for yourself and your family is one of the most effective ways to achieve and maintain good health.  But in this modern world, it’s not uncommon to fine yourself working 50 to 60 hour weeks and not having the time or energy to put together a home cooked meal.

As with most things in our lives, fitting cooking into the schedule is just a matter of priority, planning and organization.

1. Plan out recipes/meals for the week
I love trying out new recipes.  Every new recipe I try is like a new adventure.  One of my favorite things to do is to go to my local asian supermarket and pick out a “strange” new vegetable that I’ve never cooked (or sometimes heard of) before and figure out a new recipe to cook using it.

2. Schedule time to go grocery shopping
Once on the weekend and once midweek will usually suffice.  If grocery shopping at your local supermarket get tedious, try out new spots – like a Whole Foods, Trader Joe’s or H Mart during the winter.  Then during the summer, try visiting your local farmer’s market.

3. Use crock pots or slow cookers
Slow cookers and crock pots work by adding all of your ingredients into a pot on low heat and cooking them slowly for many hours (typically 8 hours) until the meal is ready.  On my very busy days, my crock pot is my best friend.  I’ll just do all the prep work and then toss everything in the pot, turn it on and go about my day.  When dinnertime rolls around, I just take off the lid and serve!

4. Build up your list of quick & easy meals
Just because you’re cooking a great meal doesn’t mean that it needs to take hours to make.  Some of my favorite recipes are those that take 15-20 minutes to prep and cook from start to finish.

5. Buy a rice cooker
Mine is my favorite appliance in the kitchen.  It takes all of the guesswork out of cooking rice, and if you cook Asian meals as much as I do – a rice cooker is virtually a necessity.

6. Stock up your pantry
Keep your pantry well stocked with pasta, tomato sauce, rice, herbs and any other ingredients that are a part of your favorite recipes. Pasta with tomato sauce is generally our fall back meal when we are low on groceries and aren’t feeling up to grocery shopping.

7. Cook for two or more
It’s much easier to cook for two people than it is cooking for one.  It’s also just more fun to cook for more people than just yourself.