We all know that with busy schedules, cooking something healthy can become quite a task for everyone. If you are also avoiding healthy food and opting for takeouts and junk food, thinking that its preparation will cost you hours, then you are certainly mistaken. Healthy cooking can be done in minutes with the right ingredients and strategies, which keep you fuller and provide nutrients for your body to stay active.
In this article, you can learn about ways of cooking and preparing foods that not only get ready in minutes, but also provide all the required nutrients for you and your family.
Begin with Simple Ingredients
You don’t have to buy a list of unwanted ingredients to prepare something nutritious and healthy. Some simple and healthy ingredients like whole grains, vegetables, lean proteins, and healthy fats are more than enough to prepare numerous dishes that are good for your body.
Your pantry should be filled with canned beans, brown rice, and olive oil in case you want to do some fast cooking. Furthermore, dishes like stir-fry chicken with salad, mixed veggies with beans or quinoa are some of the dishes that require no real prep, and they can be cooked in just 15 minutes. These kinds of meals are perfect if you want your food to be packed with protein and fiber. By doing this, you’ll not only enjoy a satisfying meal, but also know about what’s good for your body.
Use of Time-Saving Equipment While Cooking
If you want to speed things up a little, you can always make use of the best cooking appliances like an air fryer, a slow cooker, a pressure cooker, a blender, and so on. These cooking tools are becoming more and more famous due to their affordability, efficiency, and portability.
If you are someone who loves cooking fish, then you can always cook tilapia in an air fryer, which is a very crispy alternative to deep-fried fish, requiring much less oil and time.
Some other appliances, like food processors and rice cookers, are also very helpful during the preparation of food. If you use them while food prep, there is a higher chance of you enjoying home-cooked meals more often. They tend to save too much time.
One of the biggest benefits of using this equipment is that they are very beginner-friendly, meaning that someone who has never set foot in the kitchen can also cook delectable dishes with their use.
Preplan Your Meals for the Week
Planning your meals is something that provides various benefits, like saving time, money, and effort. When you plan your meals for the whole week beforehand, you don’t have to stress about what you’re going to cook.
While planning, you should choose ingredients that can be used in various dishes. For example, if you are cooking chicken for your lunch, you can use its leftovers to make a chicken salad for dinner. This saves your money while grocery shopping and prevents the wastage of food.
Preplanning your meals is a very sustainable option, especially for students and city dwellers. By doing this, you can cook effortlessly delicious meals with minimal ingredients.
Always Prep Your Ingredients in Advance
Prepping your meals beforehand is another step that you can take to save time while cooking. When your ingredients are already prepared, you’ll feel as if you’ll just have to assemble your food instead of cooking something from the start.
Prepping ingredients can only take around an hour or two, and you can do it on your weekends. You can usually cook your lentils, chop your veggies, prepare rice, marinate chicken, and boil eggs during meal prep, and store them in your refrigerator. With these ingredients, you are now able to assemble quick wraps or salads whenever you are running out of time.
If you have your ingredients ready already, then you are a lot less likely to skip your meal or eat fast food.
Opt for One-pot or One-pan Meals
If cleaning of utensils is something you dread after eating any meal, and it takes you hours to finish cleaning, then sticking to one-pot and one-pan meals is a perfect option for you. One-pot meals are usually filled with all the necessary nutrients like fiber, protein, probiotics, and many more in a single serving. Dishes like soups, skillet stir-fries, stews, and sheet pan dinners are some of the best dishes to cook in a single pan or pot.
This type of cooking is perfect if you want to cook for families and cook more than one meal for the whole week. You can also try different seasonings and flavors while cooking in a single utensil to enhance the taste. By doing this, you can easily achieve your goal of healthy cooking while saving time.
Try Quick-Cooking Proteins
Incorporating enough protein is something every person thinks of as a challenge while cooking because it takes too much time for proteins like lean meat and fish to cook. Since protein is an important part of every meal, and you should definitely not skip it, you can use chicken breasts, eggs, tofu, and ground turkey, which only takes around 15 minutes to cook.
Pre-cut or cooked meats are also available in the market for the convenience of time. Some vegetarian and quick protein options can be cottage cheese, beans, and millets. When your protein-packed ingredients are ready, completing the meals seems so simple and quick.
Summary
So, we can clearly see that healthy cooking is something that can be done in minutes if you have planned your cooking with some of the best nutritious ingredients and kitchen appliances. When you think of it as a fun activity, cooking can become a part of your life instead of some obligation. Healthy cooking is something that benefits not only your health but also your finances, as it is a very substantial way of cooking where wastage of food and money is prevented.
