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Top Tips for Spending Less Time in the Kitchen

We all want to spend less time slaving over the stove and more time enjoying life with friends and family. But, what with all the time spent chopping, slicing, prepping, cooking and serving up meals to our loved ones, the kitchen often ends up being a place where we spend most of our time and, let’s face it, it’s not exactly relaxing.

Well, we’d like to change that with some handy tips and tricks. Below are some of the best hacks for spending less time in the kitchen to free up your time to enjoy life doing the things you love with friends and family:

Meal prep in advance

Preparing lunches for work, or for the kids to take to school, can mean spending extra time preparing food each day. After a hard day at work it’s usually the last thing you want to do when you get home. A good way to cut down the time spent preparing food is to meal prep a batch of food in advance. Once you’re done, divide the batch up into portions for each day of the week. Keep the remaining portions in the fridge or freezer ahead of the day you’ll need to eat them to save time.

Use a slow cooker

Prepping meat can be one of the most time-consuming cooking tasks so using a slow cooker can be a real life saver. With a trusty slow cooker all you need to do for prep is pop your meat in and then you can head out for the day while it slowly cooks away. The best part of it is, by cooking on a slow heat, you’ll be able to bring out all the best and juiciest flavours, meaning you’ll have a tasty meal waiting for you when you get home.

Invest in an Airfryer

One of the best ways to cook healthy, tasty food in an instant is with an airfryer. Designed to cook traditionally fried foods in a healthy way, an airfryer means you can eat the foods you love without having to worry about calories or compromise on taste. Philips digital airfryer is great for preparing a number of different dishes and is super easy to clean too, helping you trim down time spent on two of the most time-consuming kitchen tasks.

Plan ahead

One of the simplest and easiest ways to cut down your time spent in the kitchen is to plan ahead and shop smarter. By actively planning ahead you can schedule the type of meals you’d like to eat each day, so you know exactly which ingredients are required. By looking in the fridge and cupboards before you go shopping, you can make an accurate shopping list with exactly what you need to buy. This means less time spent trying to make a meal out of a few odd ingredients and means you’ll never run out of the essentials again. Planning also helps to prevent you from rustling up something that’s unhealthy as you’ll always be prepped with the essentials for a nutritious meal.

Use pre-prepared food where possible

From toasted grains to canned goods and pre-prepared vegetables, shopping wisely means you can instantly reduce the time spent washing, peeling and cutting food before cooking. When in the supermarket it pays to ask butchers and fishmongers to prep the meat and fish to your needs by shelling prawns, filleting fish and trimming off bits of unnecessary fat.

There are so many ways to save time in the kitchen by planning and preparing in advance. These are just some of the best tips and tricks to try to make your life a little less stressful.

This content is sponsored by Phillips

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Janine Mergler

Janine Mergler is a veteran Queensland teacher, graduating from QUT with a BEd majoring in Social Sciences. After many years in the classroom, Janine moved on to academia. She has proudly trained new generations of teachers in her role as a lecturer at Queensland University of Technology Faculty of Education. She has also worked in the Queensland Government as an education specialist, developing education resources and delivering community awareness programs to help families conserve water. Currently she is the owner and editor of Families Magazine, a publication specifically targeted at parents who value a quality education for children.  Janine leads a team of professionals who write about family lifestyle, early childhood, schools and education information and family-friendly events.

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