“Cooking my own meals? I just don’t have the time for that!” If you’ve ever said this to yourself, chances are very good that preparing simple, healthy meals is much easier than you think. Read below for a variety of tips and suggestions about preparing your own meals.
Keep whole, rather than ground, spices on hand. Unground cinnamon sticks, nutmeg, and peppercorns last much longer than their ground counterparts. Just use a fine grater or mortar and pestle to grate them into your dish when needed. Their flavors will stay fresh much longer and save you from the costs of replacing your spices.
When cooking your next large pot of spaghetti, add a drop of oil to the boiling water. This will keep the pasta from sticking together and improve the taste. Your boiling time will remain the same and there is no extra work added by using this method.
As you cook your meal during the course of the night, make sure that you taste it at several different points. This will allow you to pinpoint exactly when it is done, so that you do not run the risk of overcooking it. Tasting your food is important to achieve the quality you desire.
Cooking made easier! Make soup stock in large quantities and put them in freezer safe containers to freeze for next time you need stock. This takes a lot of the work out of making homemade soup! Some people even think broth and sauce tastes better, after it is frozen.
To keep your burgers flat, indent the middle of the burger with your thumb, nearly leaving a hole, before frying or grilling the patties. As the meat draws up and shrinks while cooking, the indentation will close itself, leaving you with flat burgers instead of small patties with extra thick middles.
If you are making a sauce and you need to sweeten the flavor of it you can used mashed carrots or unsweetened applesauce instead of adding sugar. This is especially helpful for diabetics or anyone else that is trying to moderate the amount of sugar in their daily diets.
Use fresh carrots often in your cooking. They are versatile and easy to obtain. Carrots are very rich in vitamins and minerals that can help to keep you healthy. One of the best ways to sneak there goodness into your recipes is to use carrots in place of sugar.
Store your spices and herbs in a area that is cool and dark, and keep them away from the stove. Doing this ensures your spices are always rich with flavor every time you reach for them. Heat, humidity and light will cause your herbs to lose their flavor much faster.
Although many people think that preparing meals will be time-consuming, too hard, and stressful, the reality is often far from it! Making your own food can be an excellent way to save money while eating healthy, it’s a win-win situation! Leftovers are, after all, the original fast food!
