The kitchen is a part of your home where so many things take place: you make memories, pay your bills, and spend hours of your week planning, prepping, and cleaning. Having efficiency in your kitchen isn’t just something that’s nice to have; it’s necessary. These kitchen hacks are for you if you’ve ever wanted to make your time in the kitchen more useful and less expensive.
All the tips you’ll find here are meant to help you save time and money and enjoy the heart of your home a little bit more. They ranged from meal prep tips to smart storage ideas.
Save Money By Planning Ahead
Planning your meals once a week can help you save money. You can spend 20 minutes claiming your meals before you go grocery shopping to cut down on food waste and last-minute takeout. First, check your pantry and your fridge. Plan your meals around what you already have. There are also apps that can help you keep track of recipes and make shopping lists.
Make a list and stick to it when you shop. Buying things on a whim is the easiest way to raise your sugar bill. Make a list or use a grocery app, and don’t go shopping when you’re hungry. If you have a plan when you go to the store, you’ll be surprised how much you save.
Prep Like a Pro
Try preparing all of your onions and peppers at once instead of chopping them up every night. You can take an hour on Sunday to wash, chop, and divide up the vegetables you use the most during the week. Then put them in an airtight container or a freezer bag so you can easily grab them when you need them.
Put herbs in olive oil and freeze them. Fresh herbs don’t last long, you can freeze chopped herbs in ice cube trays with olive oil to keep their flavor and cut down on waste. Then add a cube to soups, stews, or sautéed dishes to quickly boost their flavor.
Make more food and eat it twice. When you make twice as much food and freeze the extra, it’ll save you from spending more time cooking. Soups, casseroles, meatballs, pasta, sauces, and chili are all great for the freezer. Having an extra meal, you made yourself in the freezer. I can help you avoid paying for expensive takeout on busy nights.
Make the Most of Your Food
You don’t need to throw away your stale bread, you can bring it back to life. If your bread is stale, try putting it in the microwave for 10 to 15 seconds or spritz it with water and bake it for five minutes. You could also cut it into cubes and bake it into croutons or grind it into breadcrumbs.
Eat all of your fruits and vegetables. The stems of broccoli, the ribs of kale, and the tops of carrots are all good for you. You can use stems in stir-fry, chopped leafy tops in pesto, or boil vegetable scraps to make your own broth.
Add vegetables or grains to meat to make it stretch. Most of the time, meat is the most expensive part of your meals. You can make your meals last longer without losing flavor by adding lentils to ground beef, tacos, oats to meatloaf, or rice or beans to shredded chicken.
Change How You Use Your Kitchen Tools
If you have a meal that doesn’t need a lot of work, use a slow cooker or an Instant Pot. You can set it up and forget about it with these appliances, which will save you time. Try putting the ingredients in before you leave for work, and then come home to a hot meal. An Instant Pot can even cook frozen meat in less than an hour.
Make your knives sharper. Dull knives will make you work slower and more likely to get hurt. You can keep your blades in great shape with a simple sharpening tour or honing steel. Plus, you’ll be able to prepare your food faster and more safely.
Use your pizza cutter for more. It’s great for quickly cutting herbs, pancakes, quesadillas, sandwiches, or even dough. You can use it for all kinds of soft or flat foods, it’s faster than using a knife.
Store Smarter to Waste Less
Keep fruits and vegetables fresher for longer. You can use paper towels to line your crisper drawer to soak up extra moisture, which slows down rot. Keep your fruits that make ethylene, like apples and bananas, away from other fruits and vegetables to keep them all fresher.
Put a date and label on everything. Put the name and date on the container when you freeze leftovers. And make sure to use the oldest items first by rotating what you have. This will help you keep people from forgetting about meals in the freezer and wasting food.
Use clear containers. When you have storage that you can see through, it makes it easier to keep track of what you’ve already made and avoid using the same ingredients twice. And, it will keep you and your fridge more organized and less messy.
Clean as You Go
A clean kitchen is a quick kitchen. Don’t let your dirty dishes pile up; wash them as you cook. Are you waiting for the water to boil? Wipe down the counters or put the dishes in the dishwasher. Little things like these add up a lot to save your time.
Get a bench scraper. This tool is great for moving chopped vegetables from the cutting board to the pan or for picking up crumbs and throwing them away. It cuts down on time and makes a mess.
Have a bin that you can grab and go. Try having a plastic bin in the fridge that can hold snacks, prepped veggies, or lunch items all in one place. It speeds up the process of packing meals and cuts down on the time you spend looking for things.
Make what You Can at Home
Try creating your spice mixes. Premade spice mixes tend to cost more and might have fillers in them. You can save yourself money and control the flavors by making your own taco, Italian, or barbecue seasoning with things you already have in your kitchen.
Don’t buy dressings in bottles. Try making your own salad dressings, it’s simple. Doing this can allow you to change the taste to fit how you like it, and it’s cheaper. Begin with a simple three-to-one ratio of oil to vinegar and herbs, mustard, or garlic to taste.
Regrow vegetables from your scraps. You can regrow scallions, lettuce, and celery in a glass of water on your windowsill. It’s a fun project that saves you a little money over time.
Use Leftovers Wisely
Change instead of reheat. You can try using leftovers to make a new meal instead of eating the same thing twice. You can make soup, stir-fry, or tacos out of roast chicken. You can also make fried rice or rice pudding out of leftover rice.
Keep leftovers and single servings. This will make it easier to grab them for lunch or a quick dinner by yourself. It also helps you eat less and makes it easier to control your portions.
Conclusion
You don’t have to be a chef to save money and keep your kitchen running smoothly. You can make cooking less stressful and get more out of your grocery budget with a few tricks, habits, and a little bit of creativity. Every penny you save, every meal you cook in bulk, and every chopped vegetable adds up over time, in money and peace of mind.
Start small, stick with it, and celebrate the success you have. Even if it’s just that you didn’t let the cilantro go bad this week, your future self and your bank account will be grateful.
