Week 10 Monday Meeting (March 8)

Thanks, Teresa!

How to Save Time in the Kitchen

Making healthy, South Beach Diet-friendly meals doesn’t have to take up a lot of your time. There are many ways you can save minutes in the kitchen and still eat nutritious, delicious food. It’s just a matter of having the recipes and ingredients on hand and learning a few shortcuts. So, if you’re feeling time-pressed and daunted by the idea of preparing healthy meals, here are simple time-saving tricks to help you get started:

Always read through the recipes you plan to make to be sure you have all the ingredients prepped and assembled before you start cooking.

As soon as you get home from the grocery store, prep fruit and veggies and separate them into individual containers to use during the week. Always keep a bag of pre-washed greens on hand to create a healthy salad in minutes.

Instead of mincing garlic each time you need it, throw whole cloves into the food processor. Refrigerate any leftovers in a plastic container and use within one week.

Cook once so you can eat twice (or more). On Sunday, for example, prepare enough food for two or three meals so you can freeze some in microwavable containers and enjoy the leftovers throughout the week (and take a night or two off from cooking). If you’re grilling, grill extra for lunch the next day.

Stock your kitchen with easy non-cook foods, like canned or pouched tuna, plain low-fat or nonfat yogurt, or ready-made hummus, to grab for on-the-go snacks.

Prepare veggie crudités once a week and keep them in the fridge to snack on or chop to add to soups, salads, and more.

Clean as you cook -- rather than stacking the dishes in the sink to clean after dinner, wash pots, pans, bowls, and other kitchen utensils as you’re preparing the meal.

Hi Marie & Teresa,

I have a tip.  I don't know that it saves that much time but it helps with my portion sizes.

I don't know what they feed the chickens around here, but when I buy boneless chicken breasts, 1 single breast can easily weigh 8 oz or more.  For many of my recipes, I substitute the chicken tenders instead.  They cook a little faster because they're smaller, and I can have 2 or 3 tenders instead of having to cut a breast in half.

I agree preparation is 9/10's of the battle. Yesterday I chopped up ingredients for a salad, made a huge soup to use up veggies that were reaching their prime, popped garlic out of their skins and covered them in EVOO for later ease of use, and made Yam chips (oven dry with EVV and spices)

Marie - are there any products you have seen that really stand out in your mind that might help us in the fast paced environment we all live in?

Laurie

Teresa,  how do you store this for the week?

Several years back, when I tried SB the first time, I tried making the Quiche-To-Go cups (I think that was the name) from the first SB book.  I stored them in the freezer because I didn't know how long they would keep in the fridge, then I microwaved them to heat them back up before I ate them.  I don't know if it was the freezing or microwaving, but I found that they were dry and a little rubbery.

Zebra_2 wrote: "I agree preparation is 9/10's of the battle. Yesterday I chopped up ingredients for a salad, made a huge soup to use up veggies that were reaching their prime, popped garlic out of their skins and covered them in EVOO for later ease of use, and made Yam chips (oven dry with EVV and spices). Marie - are there any products you have seen that really stand out in your mind that might help us in the fast paced environment we all live in?"


Congratulations on all the cooking, and especially the early preperation -- that will save you a ton of time. I myself am certainly always looking for quick and easy. The artichokes I use so often in omelets is one way I do this; I occasionally use frozen artichoke hearts (or canned in water) to save time. I've also picked up pre-chopped vegetables, frozen chopped onion, and sliced peppers from the produce section. There's nothing wrong with using pre-chopped vegetables to save time and energy in the kitchen.

I agree !

While this is a little "off" topic, I find having the right equipment for the job is very important. My garlic press of many years went missing about a month ago and I just about went crazy without it. I had to run out and buy another! I also can't live without a good chef knife and a high quality blender.

For those not used to cooking much, what would you recommend be in their "south beach kitchen toolbox" ?

Laurie

Some things I do to save time:

Plan my weekly menu and buy groceries for the week - I had to do this for a while as my husband and I were sharing a car (he works nights, I work days) and I didn't have a way to the store in the evening.  But I still continue this practice even though we have our own cars now, because it saves me from having to run to the store every day.

Prepare salad greens - I buy a head of iceberg and 1 of romaine, and sometimes baby spinach or other greens when they're available (I've stayed away from the pre-packaged salads since that salmonella outbreak a while back).  I wash them and tear them into bite-size pieces when I get home, then store it in a large tupperware-type container in the fridge (a bag would get crushed in my fridge -- I need a bigger one!).

Chop my snack veggies - as others have mentioned here.

Buy the already minced garlic.

Save leftovers for lunches - My family frowns upon having the same meal more than once a week, so I usually use leftovers for my lunches.  If I had a bigger freezer, I'd make a double recipe and freeze one to have a week or two later, but that's not feasible right now.

Maybe I'll try those again, but not freeze them.

Thanks.