Cooking daily can become an irritating chore especially when you have to do it day in and day out seven days a week, thirty days a month ...But with some planning one can cut the effort and time that is required and one may not find it so bad or irritating after all ! One can say that our kitchen is the nerve centre or the heart of a home where meals are planned and produced bringing together family and friends.

Cooking can be an enjoyable experience but at times all that you want to do is get a meal ready in the limited time you have and put it on the table. For busy working housewives assembling a nutritious healthy meals throughout the week and also find time for other activities outside the kitchen becomes a tough balancing act.

While the main purpose of a kitchen is to prepare ones meals , we also need to do a lot of other peripheral work which helps in making the entire process smooth sailing. It really helps to organize the kitchen so it is user friendly by taking a few essential steps.

Get Organised

This is the first step. If it is going to take you ages to look for the peeler or an egg beater that gets lost amongst the large cooking spoons and spatulas then it is time for you to find a new place for it. It is a good idea to keep all such appliances in a tray or standing in a mug. Also take that extra few minutes to put things back where they belong after use, this will hold you in good stead the next time when you need that egg beater or peeler.

With kitchens getting smaller these days most housewives have to manage with limited space. If you are short of space and do not have enough counter space, store your appliances such as mixers, food processors etc in shelves bringing them out only as and when required. If possible more Wall shelves or cupboards can be made so that you have more storage space in your kitchen. A clutter free counter top is easier to use and increases efficency thereby saving time and energy spent on putting away or moving things here and there to make space .

It really helps to make a list of all the things that you need at hand in your kitchen on a daily basis and put away the rest in the cabinets or elsewhere. A golden rule here – if you have not used a certain gadget or utensil or anything for that matter for more than 2 years then it is better to give it away since it is more than likely that you may never use it unless it is a family feast heirloom which you would like to retain it and dont mind the space it is occupying.

Planning Ahead Helps

Every weekend make a list of groceries you need for the entire week, also make a rough plan of what to cook for the week ahead .This will automatically cut down the number of times you eat out or order a home delivery meal , thereby keping your family healthy and happy with nutritious home cooked food. In fact, nothing slows you down more than rummaging through your cupboards and the fridge trying to pull together a meal only to realise that the key ingredients are missing. If possible create a full menu for the entire week changing, adjusting and adding as you want since you already have the ingredients handy.

Some small yet timely measures like keeping masalas and sauces handy helps you get a meal ready in an hour at the most. Ginger-garlic paste, sauted onions, tomato puree and coconut milk kept in the refrigerator in air tight containers can be used for a few days and definitely cut down on your kitchen time.

If possible cook some extra food over the weekend and freeze it in meal size air tight containers so that you can easily bring them out on a day when you are pressed for time and thaw and heat it. All that you need to do is make rice or rotis and save time cooking an entire meal. It is however better not to store food for a long time.

Using the right sized pots on your stove burner can not only save fuel but also time since the fuel efficiency increases. Also keeping the burners clean ensures for maximum utility and efficiency. Blue flames indicate good combustion whereas yellow flame means your attention and service may be required.

Get help

Not everybody can afford to get help these days since labor is expensive and more importantly it is not easy to find the right kind of help that suits our needs. We have to make the most of the part time help and by giving them some extra payment get them to either chop vegetables in bulk, knead aata, clean the rice, peel garlic etc. all of which will save time for you.

It is also a good idea to get your part time help to scrub the stove plates and clean the counter tops with a diluted disinfectant fluid along with the other cleaning jobs.

Once in a while it is a good idea to make a meal out of canned stuff like using canned tomates, baked beans or soups which saves time and effort. There is no point in being fastidious about meals and stick to a few dishes only. As long as you dont make a practice of having most meals out of tins or packets it is a good idea to give your self more time so that you can concentrate on other things in the kitchen or within your home that needs your attention.

Keep a paper and pen handy in the kitchen under a magnate in the fridge where everybody gets to read it. Ask all the family members to jot down their requirements like soft drinks, chips, cheese or snacks and your own requirements for the kitchen like vegetables, groceries and other stuff. This really saves time!

Cleaning Ritual

We take a lot of care about our looks and beauty regime every night before going to bed. We have to follow this routine in the kitchen to make things easier for us. It will take 10 -15 minutes at the most but you will save some vital seconds or minutes when rushing through the next morning also boost your hygeine quotient. The easiest routine to follow is clean up as you go. Facing a mountain of dishes at the end of the day is not inspiring so cleaning as you go keeps a straightened kitchen besides clearing your mind.

Rinse and wash out the vessels needed for the next morning for your breakfast - spoons, plates, spatulas, cups and bowls. If you are storing dirty unwashed vessels in your sink overnight, make sure that they are rinsed of all the stale food partcles so that bugs or insects dont get at them at night. Sponge down the entire kitchen counter top with a disinfectant mixed with water ( make a solution and keep it handy near the kitchen sink ) before wiping it dry with a kitchen towel. A clean and sparkling kitchen does a lot to put you in the right frame of mind in the morning.

Used and soiled Kitchen towels should be ideally rinsed out at the end of the day and soaked in warm soapy water so that they can be washed and dried in the morning.

Never leave your garbage bin bag filled with kitchen waste and kept open at night. Make sure that it is tied and put away to be disposed off in the morning and a fresh bag is put in the bin before you close your kitchen for the night.

Scout the market for appliances that help you cut kitchen time.The Microwave oven and microwave cooker both help us in cutting down on cooking time with their efficiency and it is worth investing in them.