Kitchen clutter and endless cooking tasks can easily take over your life and sap your joy.
Not if you tame the beast, though!
In episodes 133, 134, 135, 136, and 137, I shared bunches of traditional cooking time-saving tips.
Which ones do I really use all the time in our home to lighten my traditional cooking load?
These 11…
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Video from Blab
I recorded this podcast live on Blab last week and here’s the video from that! It’s just like the audio file above, except you can see it, too. 🙂
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11 Ways To Lighten The Traditional Cooking Load
The video or audio above contain much more info about each of these points, so why not listen in while you’re doing something else?
Here are the cliff notes. 🙂
1. Work with the seasons.
We don’t eat the same year round so why worry about keeping up with all the techniques of traditional cooking year round? Some seasons you put away the sourdough starter or Kombucha scoby and you just take a break. Winter is soup weather, summer is cold salads, vegetables, grilling, pizza, and fresh foods.
2. Prioritize — don’t do everything all the time.
What’s important right now in your healing or your life? Work your cooking around that, and let go of the other things that don’t fit.
3. Delegate.
This is a gradual process and may take investment time up front. Kids are the obvious choice — involve them in the kitchen and before you know it, they’ll be so competent they can do tons of things themselves. Listen to the podcast to hear how our son has risen through the ranks and is becoming an excellent and dependable cook.
4. Leftovers.
One night a week at least, or maybe even every 2nd or 3rd day, pull out all the leftovers and you’ll likely have a whole meal!
5. Soups.
Soups couldn’t be easier or more delicious!
6. The InstantPot.
Need I say more? Heard of the InstantPot yet? It’s a pressure cooker, rice cooker, and more — all in one. I started out with pressure cooking using a Kuhn Rikon pressure cooker and I do still love it. However, it takes monitoring, while the InstantPot does not. (Just plug it in, press a few buttons, and let it take care of pressurizing and cooking all on its own.) So I love the InstantPot more now.
Here’s more about pressure cooking. And inside Traditional Cooking School, our next class is pressure cooking!
7. Everyone washes their own dishes.
Big time saver right here. Plus, why shouldn’t everyone pitch in? Like we say in Real Food Kids, “everyone eats, everyone cooks!”
8. Big batches.
Whenever you’re making a staple food (yogurt, bread, beans, etc.)… make more and freeze, can, or otherwise preserve.
9. Follow easy recipes, not complicated.
Easy recipes are… easier. 😉 They’re also delicious when we use the simple, beautiful whole foods that are so much a part of traditional cooking.
10. Food components ready to go.
Invest some time as you can to have foods ready to use in quick meals. Like pre-cooked meats, already washed veggies, or triple-washed salad greens. Whipping up a simple meal or salad take just minutes.
11. Cultivate a set of easy go-to recipes that your family loves.
Over time, build up a repertoire of easy recipes your family loves. These are your go-to recipes during busy seasons, or when you get enough of them built up, you can even create a menu plan for a week, month, or even longer just rotating through them.
Examples: pizza, fried chicken, nachos, hamburgers, chicken soup, chicken salad, sandwiches.
You can even put these sets together by the season and then rotate through them seasonally.
Links Mentioned
- Real Food Kids eCourse
- InstantPot
- Kuhn Rikon pressure cooker
- Traditional Cooking School — next class is pressure cooking!
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I love to make a monthly menu plan, then do a huge monthly grocery shopping trip for all nonperishables for the month and perishables for the first week. Then my weekly grocery trip is very short.
Oh my!! I need these ideas. We are 5 weeks into the GAPS intro. I work full time (plus) as a teacher and then come home to cook and clean all evening and weekend. Thank goodness it is winter and I am inside–but this cannot go on forever–I need a life outside of the kitchen and classroom. Looking forward to getting into a flow with all of this food prep. Any suggestions to make GAPS easier are welcome.