30-minute meals

I enjoy cooking meals that take little to no time. Since I do most everything after work, the shorter time I have to spend in the kitchen the better. There are things you can do to help make meal cooking quicker though.

I have said it before and I will say it again. Your biggest time saver is going to be planning your meals. If you plan your meals in advance, you can purchase any groceries you might need and have them on hand instead of needing a trip to the store after work. Plus, if you don’t plan your meals, you really can’t precook anything because you don’t know what you are having. It really doesn’t take long to do either. My biggest issue is planning and then not wanting what I when it’s time to make it! I typically cook early in the week and then just eat leftovers to clear the fridge the last half of the week. It works well for us, most of the time.

Try making a meat one night and using the leftovers for a new meal the next day. That’s what I did with the chicken this week. I cooked the parmesan crusted chicken breasts Sunday and then Monday diced a couple of those breasts for the BLT salad. This way, you are far less likely to get tired of eating the same thing for a couple of days!

Try setting a theme. If you do Tex-Mex, my favorite, you can chop your veggies all at once and use them for any meals you make. Tacos need onion, tomato and maybe lettuce and jalapenos. Well, when I make any Tex-Mex casserole or skillet meal, I still top it with the same vegetables. Chopping enough with the first meal makes it so much easier to get meals ready during the week if you make the same types of foods. Careful when chopping early though. All vegetables spoil faster when cut.

Another timesaver is kitchen equipment. Slow cookers are great for starting before work and then having a meal ready when you walk in the door. If you forget though, there are a couple other options for cooking a quick meal. I love the instant pot. You can take completely rock solid frozen food and put it in there and have it ready in 15-20 minutes time. AND you can remove the meat and steam some vegetables right after and still have dinner ready in 30 minutes or less. The air fryer is a wonderful invention as well. This thing creates a crisp outer layer with a hot, juicy center in a fraction of the time. Also, any little frozen appetizer thing you might fry or bake in the oven crisps up so nicely in the air fryer.

The meals this week all took less than 30 minutes to cook. Baking the chicken took the longest, but still came in under the time I wanted. To shorten time even more, you can use precut vegetables or rotisserie chicken. Make your grocery list this weekend and meet me in the kitchen for easy recipes that will get you back out of the kitchen quickly without sacrificing taste!