By Jenny Wang.

Courtesy of culinaryschools.com.

Now that orientation is over, the supply of free food has dwindled, and you might have to fend for yourself when it comes to eating.  You might have to fend for yourself when it comes to eating.  In addition to generally being cheaper than restaurant fare, home-made foods are often far healthier.  Even if you don’t make everything from scratch, you’ll at least know what you’re eating from the ingredients and nutrition labels.  In this article, I will share some tricks I use to make things a bit easier in the kitchen so you can enjoy nutritious meals without spending too much time cooking.

The key to easy cooking is thinking ahead and planning. Stock up on long-lasting pantry staples like pasta and canned goods when they go on sale.  Then, before each trip to the grocery store, consider how many meals you’ll have to cook in the next week so you know how much to buy.  I like to make sure I always have a selection of longer-lasting fruits like pears and apples on hand for easy snacks and canned soups and noodles for easy meals.  (Tip: Use a creamy soup as a sauce over noodles or rice for a heartier meal.  If you have a rice cooker without a timer, convert it to an automatic cooker with a cheap timer outlet.  Set the timer to also turn off after a certain period so the rice does not dry out from being warmed too long.)

Planning ahead so you can pre-prep commonly used ingredients can save you a lot of time when cooking on busy evenings.  When you have some time (for example as a study break or while waiting for pasta to cook), be your own sous chef and prep herbs, vegetables, and fruits ahead of time.  Even if I’m not using them that day, I like to wash produce when I’m waiting for something to cook in the kitchen.  This way, I’m not wasting time standing around and the produce will be ready for whenever I use them.  However, not all vegetables and fruits keep well after being washed, so you may have to experiment a bit.  I like to reuse plastic salad mix boxes to store washed vegetables.  Line the container with a cloth napkin (or clean kitchen towel or paper towel) to keep washed produce fresh longer.  The napkin soaks up excess water so the produce does not sit in a puddle.  (Tip: Keep washed fruits in the fridge as grab and go snacks.  You can put them in a bowl in the produce bin to keep them from drying out.)

While cooking, do everything you can to expedite clean up.  Be neat when transferring ingredients from the cutting board to the pot (Tip: A flexible cutting board can help prevent spills when dumping ingredients into the pot.)  For recipes that require precise amounts, consider using a food scale instead of measuring cups and spoons.  Cover the scale with plastic wrap to keep it clean.  If the food is too hot to eat right away, put it aside and clean up while waiting for it to cool.

Of course, having a good stock of fast, easy recipes is probably the most important part of saving time in the kitchen, so check out next month’s SPeaker for some of my favorite easy recipes.

Warning: Do not leave food that is cooking unattended.   Also, do not let smoke out into the hallway outside your room unless there is an actual fire.