I love to cook from scratch. I think it’s the cheapest and most nutritious way to cook. But being a busy mum means that I don’t always have as much time as I’d like. These cooking cheats make life easier!
I really do love to cook. I like the chopping and the stirring and making those complicated recipes that take hours and have lots of different phases.
But I totally get that not everyone has time. And even when I can spend all day working on a new recipe, there are still some cooking cheats (or cooking hacks, but I kinda hate that word!) that I use all the time, because frankly, if it saves you time and improves a recipe, why not?
People can be so precious about cooking from scratch. But using prechopped ingredients saves you time, doesn’t alter the nutrition, and because it can reduce waste, could even save you money.
I’ll even admit to using the occasional jar of sauce. I very rarely make tomato pasta sauce. You can buy one really cheaply, and for a quick family meal, what’s the harm?
The Benefits of Cooking Cheats
The main benefit of cooking cheats or kitchen hacks is that they mean anyone can cook from scratch. Using a jar doesn’t have to mean that you don’t add fresh veggies, or extra herbs and spices, it just makes your base easier and saves you a bit of time.
Other benefits of kitchen cheats include:
- Some cheats save money by reducing waste
- Huge time savers
- Cheats free up time to do the bits of recipes that matter to you, prioritising your family’s needs and tastes
- A great start to help you experiment with recipes
- We’re not all good at everything, use cheats for things that you aren’t good at, or don’t enjoy
How to Find the Right Cooking Cheats
My cooking cheats won’t be your cooking cheats.
We all have different levels of cooking skill, priorities, tastes, and preferences. I’ve never made a white sauce in my life. When I make lasagne, I always buy a jar of white sauce, it’s easy and cheap and I like the taste.
If you don’t like the taste, you might prefer to make your own.
When it comes to finding the right cooking cheats, I’d spend a little time thinking about what you don’t like to do when you cook, what you feel takes too long to be worth the effort, or the bits that you really aren’t bothered about.
Buy Purees
I use a ginger puree and a red chilli puree from Aldi.
I use ginger and chilli in a lot of recipes, but grating root ginger and chopping fresh chilli take time, and I always end up with chilli under my nails and throwing old ginger away.
The purees taste great, you really can’t tell the difference, and they are in convenient squeezy tubes. They also make it much easier to adjust the flavour if you want something stronger or milder.
I find that generally if a recipe calls for 1 chilli, you need a tsp, and 1 inch of ginger is also a teaspoon.
Stock Up on Pre-Chopped Ingredients
Pre-chopped ingredients are also great, especially frozen ones that will last for a long time. These are especially useful if it’s something that you don’t use that often, and will help you to avoid waste while saving time, and making your recipes much easier.
Things like frozen chopped peppers, onions, fresh herbs and garlic are great.
You can also buy jars of pre-chopped chilli and ginger if you prefer not to use a puree.
My Favourite Cooking Cheat – Buy Your White Sauce
Honestly, I just can’t be bothered making white sauce. Jars are fine!
I still make all of the other bits, and I’ll add things like mustard, or nutmeg, to improve the flavour, but I always use the jar of sauce as a base.
I know it’s not hard to make your own, it’s just not something I care about enough to do.
Gravy Granules for Thickening
If you need to thicken a sauce, in something like a pasta dish, a cottage pie or a hotpot, then gravy granules are a quick way to do it.
I prefer to use a bit of cornflour, but gravy granules are great if a little beefy flavour won’t hurt!
Choose Full-Fat
Full fat has more flavour, and it’s far less likely to split than reduced or fat-free options.
I cook with a spray instead of oil, we eat lots of fruit and veg and generally have a healthy diet with lots of exercise. So, I don’t feel the need to skip the fat. Cooking is easier with fat and both texture and taste will be better.
Stock Up on Spice Mixes
Things like Cajun seasoning, peri peri seasoning, and garam masala aren’t just one spice, they are a mixture of different flavours.
Having things like this in your cupboard means that you don’t need to work out quantities or spend time trying to get the flavour right when mixing. You can marinate some chicken in a premixed spice, and it will be yummy with no effort on your part.
Warm Up Citrus Fruits
I bake with citrus fruits a lot. I love a citrus drizzle cake or cupcake.
But it’s so frustrating when you need loads to get enough juice.
Warming your fruit for 10 seconds in the microwave, or even in a bowl of hot water, and then rolling it on the side to soften before cutting and squeezing makes getting the juice out much easier, and means you need far less fruit.
These are my favourite cooking hacks, that I use all of the time! What are yours?
