If you’re the designated cook in your household, you know how stressful it can be most times. After all, having to keep on top of all your responsibilities, plus having to prepare 3 meals daily plus snacks can sometimes feel like a huge burden, particularly in the summer.
Here are 4 easy ways you can make meal time less stressful in your household.
Meal plan
Finding ideas for what you should prepare, fining a good recipe that uses ingredients you have on hand, and actually preparing the meal can take up a lot of time. Sometimes, it seem easier to just make something you’ve already cooked at least twice this week – I can’t tell you how many times I’ve done this. Because let’s face it, there are a hundred other things that need to get done that day too. But, if you want your family to enjoy their food, this may not be an option. This is where a meal plan comes in handy. If you have a proper meal plan, chances are you’ve bought all the groceries you needed before hand and you have the recipes you need for at least a week. Therefore, all that’s left is for your to cook the meal. Making the whole process a breeze and taking the stress out of it.
Pinterest has thousands of amazing recipes that you can make. If you’re one who often lacks ideas of what you should cook, check out Pinterest. I’m sure this site will become one of your favorite places to find easy recipes that taste great with easy to follow instructions!
Meal prep in advance
Sometimes you just can’t seem to find the time to make food. But, yet still, the food has to be prepared. Meal prepping for the week is another easy way to make sure that you’re not stressed out when it’s time to feed your family. I’ve found that meal prepping on Sundays helps me to focus on my work, my business and other important things without needing to spend 2-3 hours in the kitchen daily.
Print out favorite recipes and keep a recipe binder
A few years back, I noticed that I was printing out more and more recipes from online that I planned to make. I slowly accumulated hundreds of them and thus went on to figure out how to organize them. I came across something called a recipe binder and I love it! It helps me keep all my recipes, meal plan, measurements, substitutions and so on all in one place for quick access. I truly enjoy this system and it makes cooking a breeze for me. This saves me a lot of time as I don’t need to spend time doing research for everything I need to learn at the moment. if I need to know a substitute for an ingredient, I likely have this in the substitution section of my recipe binder. My favorite part of my binder is the 30 minute meal section!
These tips have help me and many others make cooking less stressful. Following these tips will ensure that you’re feeding your family right, without burning yourself out everyday!