This post is sponsored by Blue Apron. Here are my tips for an efficient kitchen!
Are you one of those people who leaves the kitchen looking like a tornado came through when dinner comes to the table? Or are you a clean-as-you-go type? You can imagine where I’m going with this 🙂 I try to be as efficient and neat in the kitchen as possible (sometimes to a fault!)
Below are some of the strategies for an efficient kitchen!
1 // Let Blue Apron Do Your Planning And Shopping
With Blue Apron, efficiency starts before you even think about your meal plan for the week because their team does your meal planning, grocery shopping and ingredient measuring for you. This is my number one favorite thing about Blue Apron meals weeks! While we do still fit in a grocery store trip in person for staples, this trip in itself is a lot more efficient because we’re only buying the things we need for every week: milk, coffee, fruit, lunch staples, bread. It’s a quick in-and-out trip.
Also, Blue Apron allows you to make really special and delicious dinners without having to set aside hours at night for ingredient prep and cooking. They always source in season, fresh ingredients and put together unique flavor combos in their recipes.
All of their meals can be prepared in 40 minutes and many take as little as 20 minutes total which is lighting fast. I have been loving that they are including more and more quick recipes, because – at least for the forseeable future – I do not have much free time to spend in the kitchen!
If you want to try Blue Apron, the 50 readers to sign up with from this link will get $50 off their first two weeks of meals!
2 // Batch Your Cooking During the Week
This year I’ve been batching cooking my Blue Apron recipes much like I would do a mini prep day. I will choose a night or day time while Mazen is in school when I know I have more time and cut up all the veggies for the week, prepare any grains that can be pre-cooked, and use my nice All-Clad skillet as many times as I can! While you always want to be mindful of raw meat contamination (and use a separate board or wash thoroughly before and after) there’s nothing wrong with not totally washing a stock pot in-between cooking rice and pasta. The same goes for your garlic press and chef’s knife. If you’re sticking to all produce, use it 100 times before washing it instead of washing it each night. So save yourself the cleaning time by cooking as much as you can on the same day!
3 // Watch Out for Your Spoons!
Another favorite tip of mine: NEVER rest your spoon on the counter! The worst kind of counters to clean at the end of the day are those covered in multiple gunky spots of dried sauces and oils. Crumbs are not so much of a big deal. I always find something to balance my spoon on, whether that’s a bowl or the pot itself (depending on the heat). Sometimes even resting it over the edge of the sink allows the drips to fall in and keeps the counters clean.
4 // Select Recipes That Will Get Even Better with Time!
I generally make anything in advance that will develop flavor over time to save for the following night and make the fresher meat recipes first. This week I made Seared Chicken in Coconut-Peach Broth with Bok Choy and Jasmine Rice and Cavatelli & Shrimp with Vegetables. The coconut broth was SO good the next day after the flavors had really developed overnight.
We ate the cavatelli fresh that night (plus some leftovers for lunch the next day!) The two dishes had complementary flavors, so I didn’t even bother to wash my pot between recipes.
His, hers, and little’s!
One of my favorite feelings is coming home at night and knowing that you have a made-from-scratch meal ready to heat and eat.
“Thank you, past self!” -Future Self.
Blue Apron has always been great for inspiring home chefs with unique recipes and new ingredients. If making dinner in the past has felt intimidating or too draining for a weeknight , now is the time to try out some of their 20 minutes recipes to simplify your life and make mealtime as convenient as possible! Click through to get $50 off.
Thanks to Blue Apron for keeping our kitchen as efficient as possible and sponsoring this post!
Charmaine Ng | Architecture & Lifestyle Blog says
Blue Apron sounds perfect for us busybees! The food looks so fresh too 🙂
Charmaine Ng | Architecture & Lifestyle Blog
http://charmainenyw.com
Denise says
I really enjoyed having Blue Apron. However, it typically took me at least an hour! Maybe because I was doing it all myself? And I couldn’t square the amount of packaging it came in. Maybe it is recyclable now?
Kimberly says
They have a lot of options now that are much quicker! There are usually around three each week that only take 20 minutes to make. We started ordering again because of that.
Irene says
Am I reading corerctly that you do not wash your chef’s knife for several days at a time?
KathEats says
No in between chopping things within an hour! Like going from bell pepper to cabbage!
KT says
“The same goes for your garlic press and chef’s knife. If you’re sticking to all produce, use it 100 times before washing it instead of washing it each night.” — instead of washing it each night?
KathEats says
Translation: chop 100 things all at once and wash it once instead of chopping things each night and washing it each night.
Nikki says
LOVE these tips! My partner and I recently started doing Food Prep Saturdays, and I had that exact thought this past Monday when I went to heat up the slow cooker chili we made…”thanks Past Me” – “you’re welcome, Future Me” lol. Have a great weekend 🙂
Andrea says
20-40 minutes is long to me for a weeknight meal! If a meal takes longer than 10 minutes it’s not happening for us on a weeknight. I get home at 6 pm if I’m lucky and my kid is starving so it has to be lightening fast. To make this happen All of my meals are pre-cooked or heavily prepped on the weekend (no meal service!) so they can be thrown together in less than 10 mins on busy work nights (my under ten min or make ahead favourites are anything in the slow cooker, casseroles, stir fry, tacos/fajitas with everything prepped except the meat which cooks up in five mins, soups, or leftovers). Otherwise we’d be grabbing take out!
KathEats says
That’s why I’ve been batch cooking them and/or doing prep like I would if I just got everything myself. It makes such a huge difference on weeknights for us! The one dish I made 100% in advance so we could just heat it up at dinnertime.
Lauren says
I’m curious to try this. To end up with leftovers, are you getting the 4 person family plan?
KathEats says
Yes