Cook Smarter, Not Harder—5 Kitchen Hacks That *Actually* Save Time 🥳
(And the tools that make it all possible)
This week’s food focused newsletter is all about efficiency in the kitchen. Although I cook for a living, I actually do not like spending too much time in the kitchen. Funny, right? I like to make good, uncomplicated food, quickly, so that I can move about my day. Like you, I am juggling a lot. 🫠 Work, my two boys, running my own home and still trying to find time for a social life and get myself back out there. I also know I am not alone. So here are some practical tips that I use that minimize my time spent in the kitchen, so I can spend more time out of it.
Do you have any time saving tips that you swear by? If so, please leave a comment at the end of this post and share with us—swapping tips is what friends do :)
1. Pre-Chop On Autopilot: Batch Prep With A Twist
Instead of prepping your ingredients when you need them, spend 15 minutes when you get home from the grocery store cleaning your produce and pre-chopping your staples, such as onions, garlic, carrots, and herbs! If you do it when you get home, you will have instant flavor starters and minimal prep work on those busy nights. IDK about you, but sometimes the hardest thing about making dinner is the effort it takes to chop and prep the damn veggies. When I do it in advance, I am so grateful that dinner comes together in a breeze. And when I don’t do it, I end up ordering takeout. And don’t get me wrong, takeout is fun and sometimes it’s needed. But why do it when you have a stocked fridge with food that’s just begging to be eaten!
Oh and if you have produce that is starting to go bad that you don’t know what to do with, peel it, chop it and FREEZE it! That way, you always have veggies stocked up in your freezer that are ready to be put to use on those nights you are short on time. A little prep work goes a long way!
These two tools will be your LIFESAVER and help you do this quickly!
Electric Mini Food Chopper – Fast, compact, and surprisingly powerful for everyday prep
Fullstar Veggie Chopper – For bulk prep sessions when you want uniform cuts without a power outlet. It’s so fun to use and bonus: it’s a great way to get out any aggression. HAHA! Plus it’s 40% off today!!
Magic fruit & veggie cleaner - this wash is a total game-changer! It breaks down and lifts off that oily chemical residue you don’t want on your produce leaving everything fresh & clean!
Here’s my favorite salad that can be made almost entirely using the Fullstar veggie chopper:
2. Cook Once, Eat Thrice: Master the Meal Base
I SWEAR by this one. Make a neutral base like shredded chicken, roasted veggies and a grain at the start of the week and store them separately. Then repurpose it into different meals throughout the week: tacos, grain bowls, soups or even wraps. When dinner time rolls around, all you need to do is assemble your meals. I go by the rule of twos: two proteins, two grains and two veggies, so that things don’t get boring. One of my proteins is always rotisserie chicken. A rotisserie chicken is like the gift that keeps on giving. When you come home from the grocery store, the first thing you should do is remove the meat from the bones and store in a covered container. That way, your protein is SET!
These three tools will be your LIFESAVER when it comes to prepping the basics to mix and match!
Vertical Spit - Pile your chicken or beef on the spit and pop it in the oven. You’ve just made gyros meat for the entire week! It’s fun, too!
Instant Pot – Set it and forget it, even for meats, beans, or rice
Beast Mini Blender – Blend sauces, dressings, or dips in 30 seconds flat
I am obsessed with making carnitas in my instant pot. It takes about 30 minutes to make the absolute juiciest carnitas that you can then use in a million different ways during the week. Trust me, your instant pot is the best $99 you could ever spend.
But taking that further, if you watch my videos on Instagram, you will see that in almost ALL of my videos, I use my Beast mini blender to make dressings. Sure, you can whisk ingredients in a bowl, but BLENDING them in the mini blender will give you creamy, irresistible dressings that elevate any dish. Make your dressings and store them in the refrigerator to use all week long!
Here are two recent favorites!
Copycat Benihana Miso Ginger Dressing & 5-Min Healthy Ranch Dressing
3. Sheet Pan EVERYTHING
Instead of cooking your ingredients separately, layer flavors on a single tray! This will help you cut back on clean up, because IDK about you, once dinner is over, the cleanup is the worst. There’s nothing worse than staring at a kitchen full of dirty dishes and wishing someone would step in and clean up for you. But alas, it’s you that needs to do it. So why not set yourself up for success from the beginning and prep meals that involve minimal cleanup!
These three tools will be your LIFESAVER when it comes to sheet panning everything!
My fav gentle scrub brushes to clean your sheet pans: Scrub Brushes (trust me these are a game changer)
My fav non-toxic dish soap: Molly’s Suds
Dinner Tonight! If you are trying to decide what to make for dinner tonight, make the Sheet Pan Sesame Gochujang Salmon! This is my friend Monique aka Ambitious Kitchen’s recipe and we made it together when she came to my house last year during her book launch!
4. Clean As You GO (Without Losing Momentum)
My friend Melissa is the queen of meal prep and one of her biggest tips is to clean as you go; and once I started implementing this myself, I never turned back! As you are preparing one component of a dish, start your cleanup. For instance, if you have a meal in the oven, start cleaning up the rest of the kitchen. Got a pot of rice on the stove? Great! That means you have time to clean everything you’ve used up until that point. I like to think that the smartest home cooks are the ones that set themselves up for success—keep a little compost bin or bowl on your countertop for scraps and rinse your tools in between steps so you aren’t washing all 50 spoons in your kitchen afterwards!
These two tools will be your LIFESAVER when it comes to cleaning up as you go!
My fav kitchen drying stone - this thing is magic and it is BEAUTIFUL to look at! Set and forget drying so you don’t end up piling dishes in the sink mid-meal.
Countertop compost bin - my favorite way to turn food scraps into gold. Less waste and natural fertilizer with zero hassle! Plus this one is $60 off!
5. Preheat As You Prep—Sync Your Workflow
Now this one might seem intuitive to some, but I think we are all guilty of forgetting to turn the oven on until after you’ve finished chopping/prepping. It happens. But ugh—waiting for your oven to heat up after you’ve finished prepping when you are sitting there starvin’ marvin is not only a bummer but it also wastes time. Now, I make it a point to flip my workflow. If you are following a recipe, the first thing you should do is read it and decide when to preheat the oven. That way, by the time your prep’s done, your oven is ready.
Or even better, use your air fryer. My favorite air fryer requires literally ZERO prep time to heat up, making it perfect for those of you that are prone to forgetfulness in the kitchen and looking to speed up your cooking time.
Not to mention, you can make your own homemade pretzel bites in the air fryer! These taste like the pretzel bites you’d get at Auntie Anne’s at the mall, but better because you can make them at home!
These two tools will be your LIFESAVER when it comes to syncing your workflow!
Best ever air fryer - I have hooked HUNDREDS of you guys on this air fryer. It’s stainless steel AND non-toxic, which is a huge deal when it comes to appliances. The price point is also fantastic because it has 8 different functions and trust me, you will use them all!
Kitchen tongs - you need a good pair of kitchen tongs to go with the air fryer because it makes flipping food that much easier! My go-to tongs are from Material Kitchen because they have a hidden gravity lock. *Use code KALEJUNKIEMATERIAL for 20% off at checkout!
Need some air fryer inspo from my Instagram? Try my crispy air fryer garlic parm skewers or my salmon air fryer rice paper wraps!
As always, thank you for being here! Make sure to drop in below and say hi and introduce yourself 🥰.
One of the BIGGEST reasons I transferred my email newsletter to Substack is because it is INTERACTIVE. I got tired of sending emails into outer space and never having a space where I could connect and answer questions or just feel more connected to my community. So let’s make the most of the technology that we’ve been given. 🤍
XO,
Nicole
Love these tips!! As a sports mom that works full time, I learned that having food prepped ahead of time saves me on busy nights. It also allows me to get creative with prepped food and pantry items on hand. I also buy the big bag of broccoli, roast half and freeze the other half to steam! It’s more cost efficient and gives me multiple options to use and incorporate into meals!
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