Kitchen Time Saving Tips

I've talked in the past about how I save time in the kitchen by meal planning. 

But I thought I'd share some other time saving techniques. 

1. Chop a week's worth of veggies all at once. 

If I know we're going to have some roast vegetables with dinner on Tuesday and roast green beans with dinner on Monday I will go ahead and just chop of all the veggies for a few nights at the same time. I already have my cutting board, I already have my knife. I just take 10 minutes to chop and place everything in freezer bags. I will go ahead and throw in all of the oils, seasons etc. I am going to use to cook my vegetables later one. 

2. Make your own frozen skillet meals. You knows those skillet meals you see in the freezer section where all the meat, sauces and veggies are ready to go? You can do that at home. Last week I bought a giant pack of chicken breasts. (They were really on sale!) I went ahead and planned a couple meals and again complied everything uncooked into  freezer bags and threw them in the freezer. 

For example, I put all the ingredients for stir fry in a bag, including the soy and teriyaki sauce. When it's time to cook I will dump it all in the skillet and go! The same thing can apply to crock pot meals you prep in advance. 

3. Brown your meat and freeze. Recently I browned an entire pound of ground beef, but I didn't use the whole pound for one meal. I placed it in bags again- in the freezer- and pulled it out when I needed it. 

4. Save your scraps. I save my onion peels, bits of garlic, even celery leaves for use later in stocks and broths. I just keep a ziplock bag handy in my freezer and dump them in. 

5. Preportion your beans. I cook dry beans instead of using canned. It saves a lot of money and I think tastes better. When I cook a big batch I freeze them in smaller portions measured out for recipes I know I will make. 

6. Group your ingredients. Keep canned tomatoes and chili seasoning together or pasta and pasta sauce for quick access when making your favorite dish. 

For more tips pickup a copy of the The Poor Girl's Handbook to the Kitchen. 

What about you? What kitchen tips do you have?