Serious Eats - seriouseats.com

Cooking a double portion of dinner and saving the rest for lunch the next day. Stews especially taste better the next afternoon!

Since my children have left home, I had a hard time adjusting to just cooking for two. I decided not to decrease the amount of food and go ahead and make full quantity of the recipes I cook. I just divide it in half and freeze half of the quantity for a future dinner when I don't have time to cook.

When cooking rice cook more than you need and freeze it. What I do is before dishing out what I want I take a cup of rice and wrap it in clingfilm. This cup of rice then goes into a freezer bag. That way I always have a pre portioned amount of rice to add to my meal. The rice defrost easily in the microwave in about 3 minutes.

Gather all my ingredients together and do a mise en place before I begin cooking. Saves time when I (inevitably) realize I'm out of something and need to substitute -- or beg and borrow.

Invest in a good pressure cooker!

Brushing my teeth in the in my morning shower while my conditioner percolates into my hair. ;)

Powdered buttermilk. When you have a buttermilk emergency, it's sitting in your fridge.

Pesto or soffritto ice cubes. When they're hard I transfer them in bags and they keep for months. And they're practical too!

I use steel bowls with lids and chop my garlic coarse for one and minced for the other. no thinking, just add depending on what you want. if i need it whole i use fresh. OH! and i always use a little of the minced in my salads for that extra kick.

Making a huge pot of sauce and freezing it so I can use it whenever I need to.

reading the recipe all the way through - nothing worse than finding out that you were supposed to have something already done when you get to the next step of the recipe

organization is key, I am not very accomplished at organization. On the days that I am organized I find everything goes more smoothly. Also emptying the dishwasher first is also a trick I need to learn.

Cook on Sunday (stews, pulled pork, curry, etc), then you have several meals for the rest of the week! Example: curry with rice, curry ramen, curry meat sandwiches (use the solids, yum)

Slow cooker soups or stews -- dinner is ready in the evening when I get home, plus there are almost always leftovers for lunches.

Making lots of a sauce (ex: marinara, pizza sauce, etc.) and freezing it for quick use.

Frozen chopped onions and peppers make quick prep of a variety of meals as well.

I usually make more than food than I eat so I can eat the leftovers for lunch.

Also, I too freeze individual portions of sauces, especially meat sauce.

Making a list before I shop - if I am not focused I can be in the store forever (and of course end up with tons of stuff I don't need and missing stuff I do)

Baking several chicken breasts at once and freezing to use later. Very handy to have on hand!

if i know i'll be in a rush to get dinner on the table the next day, i'll do all the chopping the night before so that the next day, everything is prepped.

Cooking rice (esp brown rice which takes forever) and freezing portions in ziplock bags or those perfect 2 cup take out plastic containers.

I like to prep several veggies ahead of time so that I have them ready for recipes for a few days.

maintain an herb garden for rosemary, thyme, oregano, and mint. These are all hardy herbs that don't require anything beyond watering. Having fresh herbs on hand creates a lot of options for marinades, salads, and sauces that removes an extra trip to the store. (parsley and cilantro go to seed, you are better off buying)

I like to prep lots of veggies ahead of time so I have them already chopped for several meals during the week.

Thank you - love Nigella!

I make everything ahead of time, a huuuuge batch on the weekend to eat throughout the week.

Also, when in a pinch, I pull a Sandra Lee and use frozen veggies/fruit/couscous/canned stock. It's time efficient - but the home stock is better :).

I'm not organized enough to cook several meals ahead of time, or even to do the prep for multiple meals - but even I can cook a bit extra and use the leftovers in a breakfast omelet, or a lunch sandwich or stir-fry. It's amazing how versatile those few tools are.

Thanks for the dried buttermilk tip...the smallest size buttermilk I can find is a quart which is always too much.
I use an electric pot rather than the stove top to heat water for coffee, cooking rice, vegetables, etc. it is much faster and it saves electricity.

making lots of chicken stock. Freeze and use later.

Learning decent knife skills. Once you've mastered dicing onions, crushing garlic, etc., prep work goes so much more smoothly. It can be frustrating to watch people who don't chop onions efficiently.

Using pita bread as pizza crust. It taste just as good.

Many recipes call for 1/2 onion chopped - chop the entire onion and freeze the part you don't need to add to future recipes.

using a slow cooker to make all sorts of healthy recipes--not always easy with the recipes available!

I live alone and am sick of Ramen noodles and instant mac and cheese .I would love to try home cooking in 5 minutes. Please please please

Make a dish that would last several days in one go, and freezing rice in portions so I can nuke one portion whenever I feel like eating rice.

I go to salad bars, pick up some veggies and then cook with them at home. Saves time on chopping and avoids the hassle of doing dishes on cutting boards, knives, plates, etc. I like to do veggie stirfry and pasta with the salad bar veggies.

sadly, what saves us the most time in my house to prepare dinner is to eat out

Freezing sauces in smaller containers to pull out when needed.

When my girls are at school, I prep the dinner. Then when they get home I have more time to spend with them and just have to put all the ingredients together.

freezing lard, beef stock, etc in ice cube containers for easy portioning and use later.

and frozen lard makes wonderful pie :)

I make a batch of some kind of whole grain (ex. hulled barley) that take a long time to cook at the beginning of the week and then just refridgerate it so I can have leftovers for the week without having to wait a long time each night for my carb portion of dinner.

Once a month cooking--I make a list of the meals I need to make, do all the shopping, and spend a weekend cooking for a month or two. Since I'm South Asian and cook a lot of Pakistani food, the meals are often one-pot affairs that just require a lot of cooking time. I portion everything and stick in the deep freezer. Then, if I feel like cooking, I can, but if I don't, I have a month's worth of meals.

oh i thought i invented juice in ice cube trays! i love to do to oj that way it won't spoil befpre i need it. i also use a crockpot for tons of meals. i love my crockpot it's in my top 20 appliances:)

http://organicandnaturalmom.blogspot.com/

We buy meat in bulk and package it in portions that suit our needs.

Anything I buy in bulk, from chicken to nuts, I separate into smaller portions for quick meals and snacks. Also love making a big pot of Chili on a Sunday for easy lunches all week, or two lasagnas - one for dinner that night and one to freeze on a night I get home late.

I MAKE DOUBL BATCHES OF A FAVORITE RECIP[E AND KEEP THE EXTRA IN THE FREEZER

Store homemade cookie dough, frozen biscuits and scones in freezer. Bake when needed. Always something on hand to serve guests for tea.

Like so many others, I cook extra and then freeze it. If a recipe only calls for a portion of an onion, I chop all of it up so it's ready for the next time.

The best investment I made (after buying a chest freezer) was getting a slow cooker. I got a large 6 quart one and I throw in all my veggies and meat at night and wake up to an amazing stew every morning. There's plenty of food left for 3 dinners (it's just the two of us).

Someone's already said that they pre-soak their steel-cut oats, and that's my major time-saver too.

I also enjoy being able to just grab a veg out of the fridge and use it immediately, so I wash most of my produce when I get it home from the store. Doesn't work for everything, of course, but it's nice to know I don't have to wash the red pepper, etc...

Pre-washed bags of salad - it makes my sandwiches more festive with minimal fuss.

Washing dishes as I cook, so I don't have to face a huge pile of cleaning up after a wonderful meal.

buy peeled garlic cloves

Prep for more than one meal at a time.

Cooking extra and eating leftovers!

I keep a stash of ramekins in the fridge that hold misc small items: lemon wedges, minced garlic, sliced mushrooms, chopped ginger and green onions.

No need to defrost and makes it a snap to cook small dishes (my favorite is garlic shrimp) late at night when the hunger hits!

Also makes it easy to garnish items so it makes the quick dishes you prepared look much fancier.

I keep a well stocked pantry and freezer, as well as jars of marinated artichoke hearts, roasted red peppers, red and green Thai curry pastes etc... in the fridge. It's then easy to put together a quick and tasty dinner.

I am a sucker for those bagged salad mixes!

Pre-measuring ingredients such as spices and uncooked beans/grains can make a big difference. Anything that won't dry out or change due to pre-chopping can be prepared well in advance.

I like to buy bone-in chicken breasts on sale & cook then, debone & freeze the meat for future soups & casseroles. I also strain the broth & freeze it.

I just like to do things ahead of time. If I've got a few minutes, I'll toast some nuts or de-stem my kale. It makes it so much easier (and efficient) to jump in and start cooking.

It may seem strange to others, but I am V*E*R*Y S*L*O*W in the morning, and getting ready for work, or church, or whatever I have to do in the morning takes twice as long as it would if I were doing it in the afternoon or evening. To deal with that, the night before I lay out my clothes and morning meds, pack my tote or backpack, gather breakfast items, pack a lunch if needed, and line up my toiletries on the bathroom counter in the order I use them. That way, when I feel like a zombie, I can just go through the motions--and still make out the door on time.

I apply the same principles when preparing for dinner guests, or just a family meal when we won't have a lot of time before, after, or between commitments.

Thanks for the offer!

Saving bones, making a big pot of stock, reducing it down and freezing it in ice cube trays for other days.

prepping all my food for the week and using my pressure cooker!

George foreman saves me every time

focus. cook and concentrate on the food exclusively, no other tasks allowed. and relax. that's what will bring you to a great dinner the fastest. and you'll enjoy the process as well.

always make twice as much and freeze half for next week's meal

I keep cut up veggies and fruit in the fridge, ready to serve.

When I'm prepping veggies for a recipe--onions, carrots, red peppers--I make extra and freeze the rest in small Ziploc bags. Then when I need more, it's ready to go. I also pre-prep and freeze ground beef and sausage so it's ready to add to any recipe.

I like to prep my veggies when I bring them home so I don't have to slice n dice when I'm making dinner.

Right after I come back from the store...I clean and cut everything...and put them in my Tupperware containers. So when it's time for the next meal...everything is ready...and even the kids can grab it quickly-because they're ready to go :)

Cook double and freeze half, works a charm every time :)

making things in advance & freezing them. The microwave is great, too.

Make a big pot of sauce on Sunday's. Add meatballs and sausage, chicken and pork. Then freeze in bags. During the week you can throw a bag of frozen sauce in boiling water and make a little pasta. Bingo! Dinner in just 15 minutes!

Pre-weighed boneless skinless chicken breasts, frozen in vacuum-sealed Food Saver bags. The greatest thing ever for work day evening meals!

I like to put chicken breasts in a sandwich bag with dressing or marinade and leave in the refrigerator or freezer until I need them.

Sadly, the best way I have to save time is to order takeout on my way home from work. Actually cooking, though I enjoy it, always takes longer than I expect.

I save time by cooking extra and freezing the rest for later. Or I'll do everyting excep the cooking part, and then freeze it, leaving just the cooking to do on busy days. I also wash & chop up certain veggies (peppers, onions, carrots, etc) when I get home from the market. It makes dinner prep effortless!

When making an involved recipe like lasagna or chicken enchilladas, I make two pans and freeze one.

I'm an organizing freak, so in the morning (or the night before) I group together all the ingredients I'll need to make dinner. Then, I pull out all the non-perishable ingredients and leave them on the counter (a long with whatever tools I'll need--cutting board, measuring cups, knife, etc.). Then, when I get home and it's time to prepare dinner, I don't have to search for things. This also helps me avoid missing ingredients. If I know ahead of time what I have and what I don't have, I can stop by the store before getting home.

Simply put: minced garlic!

I freeze chopped garlic, onions, green peppers and just use as I need.

The ugly side of cooking is the cleaning up part. To save time and extend my enjoyment of the meal, I clean as I go so that I have less dishes to clean after the meal is over.

My pressure cooker and my rice cooker.

Multitasking while preparing the next day's meals the day prior.

It wasn't specified that it had to be food-related, so here's one:

Y'know how you always get those adhesive address labels in your junk mail? Take a sheet, fold it up and put it in your wallet. Whenever you are out at the store and have to fill out a form with your name and address, just pull one out and stick it on there. Saves a lot of time for you and for everyone in line behind you.

getting my stuff ready to go in advance, anything that can be done ahead, is.

Make 2 meals in 1- bake chicken is great because you can make a chicken salad with the left over meat.

I use a pressure cooker to make all my dried bean dishes like chili or ham and bean soup. I can go from dried beans to finished dish in 45 minutes. It's wonderful!

Time-saving tip : when you get home from the grocery store, always prepare at least some of the vegetables right away. That way, when it is time to make a meal, you don't have to do all the preparation from scratch for all the vegetables.

On Sunday I make a big pot of rice and keep it in the refrigerator throughout the week. For dinners, I just reheat the rice and throw on some cooked vegetables / sauces / Meats. Plain rice can turn into something fantastic and different every night with the right stuff mixed in.

Start your recipe the night before, or in the morning. You can wash and chop everything up, cook down your base, even fully cook some things to be preheated during that precious half hour in the evening. (I've got kids. Believe me, 30-minute meals are an absolute requirement for me.)

On Sundays, I brown ground beef & also cook and shred chicken that I will use for the weeks meals. I throw them in the freezer and they are ready to go when I need them.

Right now I'm cooking just for myself, so I will normally cook for two. When the fiancee is around, I cook for four. Leftovers make the best lunches.

Keep a big batch of caramelized onions in the freezer to make whatever awesome.

Maintain our own herb garden - very convenient and saves a ton of money! I also like to roast garlic in oil. It keeps in the fridge for weeks - and then you have both: sweet caramelized garlic and garlic oil. And finally, I always "marinate" chicken in buttermilk for 6 to 24 hours (in fridge) it makes the chicken remarkably tender and juicy and even "plumps" it.!

using the slow cooker on busy days, it easier to take the time in the morning when you are fresh and awake, rather than cooking after a 9+ hour workday

I make extra and freeze it. I like to use canned tomatoes and certain frozen veggies to save time on chopping.

I do the mise en place technique. Saves so much time!

buying pre-washed lettuce mixes saves tons of time!

Making a double batch of soup and freezing half is an indispensable time saver.

I prepare a weeks worth of meals on Sunday,