| If you are a working mom, you would definitely like | | | | because you are no longer wandering around aisles all |
| to read this. For you, the work load and the pressure | | | | - confused, looking at all sorts of stuff, wondering |
| doesn't really end at leaving your office in the | | | | 'what the hell am I going to cook!'! |
| evening. You most probably dread having to go back | | | | While planning for the week's menu, one interesting |
| home, with the thought of having to cook dinner | | | | thing to do is to involve your family members, |
| after a hard day's work! Sound familiar? Listed below | | | | especially the children, in it. This would serve you |
| are 3 simple steps that you can apply and adapt to, | | | | three things - will give you and your family more |
| in your daily routine and save yourself a lot of time | | | | 'family time' in the process and increase the bonding, |
| and more importantly - a lot of effort. And who | | | | implicitly; will ensure that the meals are liked by all; |
| knows, you might as well stop dreading to go back | | | | and, as said before - will bring in variety on the dinner |
| home after office, so much! | | | | table. |
| The first thing that you need to start doing is to plan | | | | To complement your efforts of planning the menu in |
| the menu for the week ahead, during weekends. It | | | | advance, you need to implement the principles of |
| doesn't necessarily have to be a long and time | | | | time management and multi- tasking while in the |
| consuming process. Instead, it only requires you to | | | | kitchen. You need to break- up the menu and |
| keep it simple enough and jot down a menu, day - | | | | prioritize the items in terms of the time taken to |
| wise, for the week ahead. Trust me; this will save | | | | cook them - start cooking with the items that take |
| you a bunch of time and effort after that long, | | | | the longest to get cooked and work your way down |
| grueling day at work. While planning the menu, you | | | | the menu. Another useful tip is to keep the required |
| can keep these points in mind. First, look out for | | | | ingredients handy, before you actually get down to |
| easier to cook recipes - in terms of the time and the | | | | cooking. And, while cooking it is actually very helpful |
| effort involved to cook. You can sift through cook | | | | to practice 'multi- tasking', as in, go through the |
| books, or resort to the easiest method - 'Google' it! | | | | various chores involved, intermittently (wash and cut |
| Second, try and stick to recipes that involve lesser, | | | | up the tomatoes while the onions are getting |
| and easily available ingredients. The benefits of the | | | | sautéed); rather than handling them in a sequence |
| whole process of planning ahead for the week, other | | | | - experienced cooks are experts at this. |
| than saving you time and effort while cooking, are | | | | So, the key to saving your time and effort in the |
| that it will bring in more variety to your dinner table | | | | kitchen while making the process of cooking more |
| as you drift away from mundane recipes that you | | | | enjoyable and less stressful, lies in a little bit of |
| and your family are probably tired of. Also, the | | | | planning, and bettering your multi- tasking skills in the |
| planning helps you plan and optimize your grocery list | | | | kitchen. If you want to have to look forward to |
| accordingly, by identifying items that are not | | | | going home after a hard day's work, you know what |
| immediately required, and the ones that are. This | | | | you have to do from now on! |
| ultimately also saves you time while shopping | | | | |