Healthy Cooking Hacks for Working Women to Save More Time
Women are breaking new ground in the workplace every day, but balancing an ambitious career with home life remains a challenge. Many women find that the demands of work and family leave little time to prep healthy meals. Fortunately, there are ways to increase efficiency in your kitchen and find time for nutritious food. Working women must strike a balance between their professional and personal lives, which can be challenging. It can be difficult to manage everything that needs to be done in a day—and that's before you factor in home life!
Cooking can feel like one of the things you have the least amount of time for. However, with some expert advice on how to get more out of your time in the kitchen, eating well doesn't have to take up more of your time – just some creative thinking!
Plan and prep
One of the first things to do if you want to eat better, healthier meals is to plan. Finding time to plan is tough, but it's an important step to streamlining the cooking process. You could even want to adopt the habit of planning your meals for the entire week, as many working women do. If you have a child in the house who needs feeding, you may have to adapt this process to suit their specific needs.
Planning meals also gives you a chance to do some prepping that can save you time and money in the long run. Try to make large quantities of food to freeze and eat later or to take with you if you're eating on the go. This is especially helpful for breakfast and lunch, two meals that can be difficult to prep for.
Set up a meal rotation
A meal rotation is a great way to plan your meals and use up ingredients while also saving time and money. This is enormously beneficial if you have a child who has special dietary needs or if you have a sensitivity to eating the same foods every week. A meal rotation, like a sales cycle, is a sequence of marketing efforts and actions designed to get a specific product to the right customer at the right time. It's also a great way to reduce food waste, as you can plan to use up ingredients before they go bad.
A meal rotation is helpful if you have a child who needs to eat certain foods at specific times or if you are sensitive to consuming the same foods each week. This will not only help you plan your meals and use up ingredients but also save time and money.
Buy in bulk
A lot of people don't think about bulk buying for things like spices or grains, but it can be a great way to save money and time. By buying in bulk, you also reduce your carbon footprint, so it's a win-win. Avoid buying in bulk if you don't have a way to store it properly. Make sure you have storage space for bulk purchases before you buy. Most grocery stores have bulk sections where you can buy things like spices, grains, and nuts. They're usually priced lower than the packaged options and are easy to scoop into small containers to store in your pantry. You can also purchase large quantities of food items directly from farms, either with a group of friends to reduce costs or in bulk at your local farmer's' market.
Cook double batches
Cooking double batches of certain foods can save not only your time but also money. This is great for staples like rice, oatmeal, or beans. It takes a bit longer to cook in double batches, but it can save you time in the long run. Double batches are a great way to make sure you always have leftovers for lunch. You can also freeze half of it for later if you're worried about it going bad before you can eat it.
Meal prepping is a culture in itself. The internet is full of guides, tutorials, and communities that practice meal prep and prepare food for even up to a week at once. Even if you don't want to prep whole dishes at once, cooking large quantities of certain foods, like pasta or rice, can save you time and money. It may take a little bit longer to cook in larger batches, but it's worth it in the long run as you do it on one designated day to save you the time it would take to do it every day.
Utilize your crockpot
A slow cooker, also known as a crockpot, is a great device to help you save time and money in the kitchen. You can make everything from soups to desserts and even use it as a warming tray for leftovers. It's a great investment for any working person with a busy schedule. If you're crunched for time, a slow cooker is a great option for making a meal. You can put almost anything in a slow cooker, throw a few spices on top, and hours later, you'll have a delicious and nutritious meal.
Eat leftovers
Eating leftovers is a great way to make better use of your time and money in the kitchen. Cooking multiple servings at once, then using leftovers for meals throughout the week is a great way to save time and energy, especially if you have kids. You can eat leftovers cold or reheat them in the microwave or oven.
Rotate your cooking times
If you have certain foods that take a long time to cook, like a roast or large chicken, consider cooking them on a different day. This way, you still have fresh food for your meals, and you can take advantage of off-peak hours for electricity. You can also split up the cooking times, with one person managing the oven, one doing the stovetop, and another person managing the microwave or slow cooker. The most effective way to rotate your cooking times is to set out a schedule based on your normal cooking process, This can include not only cooking stuff but everything from buying, cutting vegetables, taking inventory, and maintaining your kitchen.
Organize your fridge and pantry
Sometimes the hardest part about cooking is knowing what you have on hand. If you're not careful, the contents of your fridge and pantry can become a cluttered mess. Take a few minutes each week to make sure your fridge and pantry are organized, and you'll find that cooking is much easier. This will help you make better use of your time and also reduce food waste.
Conclusion
As women continue to make strides in the workplace, it's important that we also prioritize our personal lives. Achieving a healthy balance between our career and home life can be challenging, but there are ways to increase efficiency in your kitchen and find time for nutritious food. Planning your meals and buying in bulk are just a few ways you can streamline the cooking process. Visit Womenwire.com for more information, tips, and advice related to life hacks for working women!