While I would love to spend all my time in the kitchen, sometimes life’s responsibilities simply don’t allow it. Over the past five years as a student, I’ve discovered a few products that don’t sacrifice quality in the name of convenience. Here are my top time-savers in the kitchen:

1. Canned beans. I’ve confessed my love of canned beans before, but I think it bears repeating: canned beans are a convenient and nutritious addition to any diet, provided that sodium content is kept to a minimum. Preparing beans from scratch is a rewarding but time-consuming process; I rarely know what I am having for dinner 30 minutes before mealtime, much less several hours. Accordingly, canned beans are perfect for last-minute meal planning. My preferred brands include Whole Foods’ 365 (no-salt-added) and Eden Organic. (FYI: Eden Organic cans are BPA-free!)

2. Jarred pasta sauce. Homemade pasta sauce is such a treat in the summertime, when fresh tomatoes are juicy and sweet. However, for the rest of the year, I often rely on canned tomato sauce and jarred pasta sauces. Not only do they make a tasty meal when paired with veggies and noodles, but they also are a convenient base for sauces. As a single person, I almost always have a half-full jar in the fridge, so I just add a few spoonfuls to curries and soups. I use no-salt-added tomato sauce and add seasoning,  and I also use Newman’s Own Sockarooni or any of the Classico sauces. Again, be sure to be mindful of sodium content!

3. Couscous. Even when I do have time to spare, I really loathe waiting around for grains to cook. I just want to eat my rice already! As a compromise, I often use whole wheat couscous in place of brown rice. It cooks up in just a few minutes—just add hot water, cover, and allow it to steam!

I have a few more tricks in my cooking arsenal, but the ingredients listed above are the ones I use most often. What are your favorite kitchen short-cuts?

I used a few shortcuts today—see if you can spot them!

This morning I found that my peanut butter jar was nearly empty—tragic, no?  Actually, this discovery was not so tragic because it meant I could enjoy a batch of oats in a jar

After a long afternoon of foods lab work, I came home famished for lunch. I used the same Harmony Valley mix that I used for last week’s meatloaf to make some pseudo-taco meat. I added a few exotic ingredients for a not-so-average taco salad

 

This evening’s meal was an Ellie recipe, Linguine with Shrimp and Vegetables.

My tweaks:

-I used whole grain spaghetti instead of regular linguine.

-The B-Hut is notoriously bereft of alcohol, so I omitted the dry white wine from the sauce. I added slightly more lemon juice to compensate.

-I used frozen shrimp instead of fresh…because it was on sale at Target:)

This dish was full of simple flavors, and it really highlighted the fresh vegetables. I would like to try the recipe again using the white wine to see how the flavor changes.

The recipe is available online: Linguine with Shrimp

Alright, I am off to dig into some textbook reading for my online nutrient metabolism class. Good night!

Filed under: Meals