Meal Preparation Shortcuts

In life, there is often a price to pay for any shortcuts we choose to take. Food preparation is no different. The price we pay may be at the supermarket check-out, or it could be in nutritional value. There are times, however, when a relatively small price paid for a shortcut in food preparation is well worth it. The following is a list of shortcuts that can make preparing a mostly-homemade meal a whole lot easier:

SHORTCUT FOOD ITEMS THAT MAKE MEAL PREP EASY AND QUICK

The Frozen Food Case: The frozen food case offers packaged vegetables (one kind in a package or several different kinds mixed) that can be microwaved in the package in about four minutes. The packages are marked, "steam in package", and all one needs to do is toss the package (correct side up) in the microwave.

Also in the frozen food case, packages of cooked rice (white, brown, white with vegetables, and brown with vegetables) are sold. Like the steam-in-microwave vegetables, these packages of rice can be placed in the microwave for about four minutes.

The above two products can be combined in a casserole dish and served with or without seasoning or sauce.

Tossing in some pre-cooked chicken pieces, soy scrambles, shrimp, or any other source of protein; and microwaving briefly, makes a meal in a casserole dish.

Also in the frozen food case, there are packages of vegetables specially designed for one serving at a time.

The Rice and Noodles Aisle: The grocery aisle where rice and noodles are sold offers a number of shortcuts. There are single-serve, microwaveable, rice containers. A variety of noodles and rice are sold in foil packets. These cook in less than ten minutes and only require a little water and margarine.

Canned Soup: Canned soup makes a sauce for a variety of pasta or noodle-based dishes.

Canned Vegetables: Adding canned vegetables to a pasta or noodle-based dish adds more nutrition and taste.

The Meat Case, The Deli, The Frozen Fish Case, and The Canned Tuna Aisle: This is where protein shortcuts can be found. Meat cases often have pre-cooked chicken breasts, chicken chunks, meatloaf, roast beef, or other meats that require only microwaving. Some packaged and frozen fish needs only microwaving or oven-heating. The tuna aisle offers foil-packages of tuna fillets (seasoned or not), salmon fillets, crab meat, and shrimp.

When meals call for something like pieces of ham, canned ham can be used.

In one of the refrigerator cases ready-to-heat mashed potato is available.

The Soy Case: The vegetarian version of hamburger, sausage, bacon, and chicken are often microwaveable, although some are better when heated in a pan. Like pre-cooked poultry, fish, and meat, these products don't require hours in the oven and can be enhanced with seasoning.

The Produce Department: Packaged salads can easily be washed (even though they are said to be ready-to-eat) and added to a bowl. If a head of lettuce is preferred, an easy (although not fancy) salad can be made by adding tomatoes, black olives, and dressing.

Don't overlook the packaged baby carrots, celery and other ready-to-eat vegetables in the produce department. Vegetables don't have to be cooked to be served with meals. Raw vegetables offer lots of nutrition.

The Pasta Aisle: Choose pasta that cooks quickly. Angel-hair pasta is super-quick to cook. Vermicelli cooks quickly, and fettuccine is another fast-cooking pasta.

Handy Items: Olive oil, basil, oregano, garlic salt, onion salt, Parmesan cheese, vegetable bouillon, celery salt, frozen peppers, frozen chopped onions, canned black olives, artificial or real bacon bits, and canned mushrooms. These items can be used in a variety of ways to add flavor to any dish. Another extremely handy item is canned, stewed, tomato with or without seasonings. Of course, keeping a variety of pasta offers a base for a number of easy, quick, meals.

TIME-SAVING TRICKS

Prepare Ahead: Whether you're preparing meals for one or several, preparing ahead always makes things easier. Besides preparing one day for microwaving another day, there is a "divide-and-conquer" approach to meal prep tasks when some tasks are taken care of ahead of time.

Whether it's meat, poultry, fish, a casserole, a pasta dish, or eggs, most things that don't contain vegetables (and some that do) can be prepared ahead of time. Many can be frozen. Others are better used the next day.

For breakfasts, prepare breakfast sandwiches for the next two days ahead, wrap, and refrigerate. For super-rushed mornings pour everyone's breakfast cereal in a paper bowl the night before and wrap tightly with plastic wrap. The next morning one wave of the milk carton over several bowls makes breakfast super-fast and super easy to clean up.

One oven can cook more than one thing at a time. Cook more than one item ahead of time to have several meals ready to microwave. Not only does this save time and work, it saves use of gas or electricity (depending on the kind of oven you have). Take advantage of items that can be frozen after cooking. They allow for long-term meal readiness.

Don't wait until preparing dinner to cut fresh vegetables. Cut them earlier, and either wash them after cutting or before dinner. Washing vegetables all in one colander. If acceptable, wash them all at once.

Keep pots, pans, dishes, and utensils to a minimum. It's faster to use one spoon to stir everything (rinse between stirring) and throw it in the casserole dish you'll be using (rather than dirtying a spoon rest and three others spoons). One wouldn't think this would save time and effort, but it does.

Cook pasta, rice, or noodles for casseroles early.

Keep packaged seasonings and sauce mixes on hand. These can be used in a variety of ways. When used as directed these are quick and easy to prepare. They can also offer a quick way to add flavor to a number of dishes.

HELPFUL ITEMS

A Rice Cooker: Let rice cook itself while you prepare other dinner items.

A Slow Cooker: Yes, it's slow, but it's easy. Meals cook themselves.

Microwave Cooking Items: A small microwave pan with a rubber cover will cook a fast-food style egg (scrambled or "fried") in one minute and 6 seconds. Microwave browning dishes increase the number of foods you can microwave. Large microwaveable bowls with covers.

Roasting Pans, Casserole Dishes, and Cookie Sheets: Having more than one of each will allow cooking more than one item in the oven at a time. These aren't Earth-friendly, but for emergencies, disposable foil pans make things even easier.

Freezer Dishes and Containers with Covers: Preparing meals (or parts of meals) ahead and freezing is easy if you have plenty of freezer dishes and containers with covers.

One giant skillet with a cover: Skillets aren't just for frying. One large skillet with a cover (for when needed) can be used to cook a number of single-skillet meals.

Finally, ask yourself which cooking steps take up most of your time and effort and think of ways to eliminate those steps - or at least divide and conquer them.