Get More from Your Time and Money
Get two meals from one recipe. Double the recipe when cooking soups, chili, casseroles, and other dishes that freeze well. After you have served the meal and the food has cooled, put the leftovers – enough for another whole meal – in containers with tight-fitting lids and place them in the freezer.
On days when you are running late and don't have time to cook, thaw and bake (or microwave) the frozen meal you have prepared earlier. Add a quick and easy salad and some bread, and dinner is ready. These low-fat and low-calorie meals taste far better and are far less expensive than any “meal out of a box” from the supermarket.
Enjoy more salad greens with less work washing them. Do you love salads but find yourself skipping them because of the time it takes to clean all the fixings?
When you bring home fresh greens from the market, wash enough for several meals. Then, because dry greens stay fresh longer than wet ones, remove all the water with a salad spinner. Gently wrap the greens in a clean cotton kitchen towel, place them in a plastic produce bag, and refrigerate until needed. This way, you only have one cleanup, and the washed and dried salad fixings stay fresh for three or four days.
Hoard the makings of quick sauces and soups. When you are stocking up on canned nonfat chicken or vegetable broth, always buy more than you need so that you have an ever-ready supply on the shelf. The cans only take an instant to open, and either kind if broth adds flavor to many dishes.
Meal Planning and Organization
Time Savers