Preparing nourishing meals for you and your family can be time consuming, stressful and maybe even exhausting. I’ve found that taking time on the front end can save immense time in the week to week functioning of my kitchen and my entire home. Begin implementing all, or even just one, of these tips and see your meal time stress slowly melt away. 
1. Meal Plan – For some of you it may sounds more fun to just go with the flow, but I find this to lead to increased stress and undo time spent in the kitchen trying to figure out what I’m going to make and then realizing half way through a recipe that I don’t have an ingredient or I failed to prep some essential item ahead of time. If you’re not used to meal planning, give it a try for a few weeks and see if it benefits you! Use my meal plan template or check out this fun design I selected on May Designs after a client showed me her adorable meal planner (this is definitely on my wish list!)
2. Create a document with your favorite meals – I take no credit for this one. It was my husbands idea. We started a shared google document where we can add meals we both love. This has made meal planning so much easier. We all have those times where we’re staring at an empty weekly meal plan completely brain dead. This document has saved me immense time as I prepare each week! This is simply something we have built on. Each time we have a meal where we’re left saying “yes! That was SO good!” one of us takes less than 30 seconds and adds it to the appropriate category referencing the cookbook and page where it can be found. I do this with my clients as well. After we’ve worked together to create several weeks of satisfying meal plans I create a similar document so they are ready to be successful for the long-run! Below is a small section of our document.
3. Get Organized – I recently worked with my friend and professional organizer, Allison Flinn of Reclaim, to get my kitchen in better shape and let me tell you it has paid off! It’s amazing how getting rid of clutter and having everything in orderly fashion can make you more clear-headed and efficient when trying to get dinner on the table. Check out Allison’s 4 tips for organizing your kitchen and get started today.
4. Prep Ahead – In the winter I’m more apt to enjoy being in the kitchen a bit more – humming along to my favorite tunes while creating fun new dishes, but when warmer weather rolls around I want to finish a busy work day, go on a walk or bike ride, and come home to a simple, fresh meal. This is where preparing items in advance is really beneficial. Considering trying any of the following:
- Complete most of your prep work one day a week – I have a friend who leads a busy career and is a wonderful wife and mother of two. She has also been called the “Martha Stewart of Raleigh”. When asked how she does it all in the kitchen she shared that on Sunday she looks at every meal she has planned for the week and preps necessary items at one time. Chopping produce, mixing sauces, and pulling items out of the freezer. It’s all complete in one hour and off of her mind.
- Look to dinner at lunchtime – If you work from home or are a stay at home parent you can use lunchtime to prep ingredients for dinner. This is the route I take. After lunch today I prepared produce for tonight’s dinner and mixed up the peanut sauce. After work I can go on a bike ride with my husband and all I need to do when I come home is cook the noodles and toss everything together! I’m not able to do this every day depending on my client load, but its a nice routine when I can pull it off.
- Look to tomorrow’s dinner tonight – If you’re waiting for tonight’s dinner in the oven use that down time to get ready for tomorrow night in the same fashion I mentioned above.
There you have it! Four simple tips that can truly streamline your time in the kitchen allowing you to nourish your family and still have time for some fun!