You know cooking from scratch is healthier for you but you just don’t have the time. It happens to all of us and we find ourselves reaching for the take-out menus because we think it’s the only option. With a busy job, a family, a social life or whatever else takes up your time, how are you supposed to find time to cook as well? Wouldn’t it be nice to be one of those people who enjoyed being in the kitchen, chopping up vegetables and sipping on a glass wine while a delicious meal cooks on the hob? Well, you can be!

It’s all in the planning and here’s how to do it:

Plan Your Meals

Grab yourself some cook books and take a look at the recipes you fancy. When you’ve narrowed it down, make a list of the ingredients you’ll need for the week and go shopping. If you know you have dinner plans else where one evening, you’ll only have to plan for six days. If you have guests coming over, you’ll have to adjust the amount of ingredients you need. You get the gist!

How to Fit Cooking Into Your Life

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Pre-Chop

The great thing about fruit and veg is that it can be frozen. You don’t need to worry about using everything by a certain date if you pre-chop and freeze. Pre-chopping your ingredients when you have time, will save you time when you don’t have time. If you’ve had a hard day at work, the last thing you want to do is come home and prepare a meal. Take an hour or two on the weekend to do all of your prep work so you don’t have to do it in the week. Invest in some Kamikoto knives for chopping.

How to Fit Cooking Into Your Life

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Make Big Pot Dishes

Big Pot dishes can last for days, usually up to 3. Dishes like casseroles, stews and lasagnes are perfect for when you have guests or when you need a meal to last. You can freeze dishes like this and use them for lunches in work too. It’s an ideal way to make sure you’re getting nutrition and you know exactly what ingredients are in what you’re eating. Even if you buy the same dishes as ready meals, you’re often getting way too much added sugar and fat.

Stock Up on Essentials

You’ll need to keep certain ingredients in your cupboards for each time you cook. For example, olive oil is a must have when it comes to cooking. You can also pick up a variety of spices to add flavour to your food and it’s always wise to have things like onion, garlic, lemon, sauces and honey. You’ll never go far wrong with an essential food cupboard shopping list.

Cooking can be therapeutic and it’s no secret that we need the right fuel to stay active and healthy. If you’re cooking for yourself for the first time in a while and you know it’ll be a big learning curve, just remember it’s worth it! You may be surprised at how different you’ll feel.