12 Cooking Hacks That Will Save You Time & Money

Cooking can be time consuming and given that many of us have full time jobs, it is the last thing we want to do after a long day at work! So, today I would like to share with you some of the tips and tricks that I use in my kitchen to save time. Some of these tricks will also save you money so that you are not wasting money on good food 🥘

So here they are in no particular order:

1. Freeze ripe bananas rather than throwing them out. Frozen ripe bananas make a creamy smoothie, healthy ice cream and a hearty oatmeal porridge 🥣 I simple cut the ripe bananas to my preferred size and store them in zip lock bags in the freezer. They last for months if not years in the freezer. By using frozen bananas in your smoothie, you can reduce the amount of ice and they also give a creamy texture to the smoothie 😊
2. Microwave potatoes/pumpkins before roasting/baking them. I tend to microwave potatoes/pumpkins for 5-6 minutes before baking them and they reduce the baking time to 15-20 minutes from 40 minutes 😀
3. Freeze half the loaf of bread as soon as you buy them if you know you and your family would not be able to finish the loaf of bread within a few days. This way your bread will stay fresh for months and you would not need to throw out any bread that has gone bad 🍞
4. Make a big batch of pesto or jam and freeze them in the freezer and take them out 30 minutes before you need them from the freezer and use them;
5. Cook a big batch of your favourite grain such as rice, quinoa or buckwheat on the weekend and use it as your source of complex carbohydrates for different meals throughout the week. You can use your choice of grain with your favourite curry, stir fry or in salads 🥗
6. Make simple and easy salad dressings rather than buying a store bought jar. This will not only save you money 💰 but will also be a lot healthier;
7. Canned pulses and lentils are your best friends when you want to make a quick but nutritious salad during the work week. Yes, this may be a little more expensive than boiling your own pulses/lentils but it will save you a whole lot of time. Just make you choose the no salt or reduced salt canned pulses/lentils. Also in the spirit of zero waste, you can use the liquid from canned chickpeas (I.e. aquafaba) in vegan cooking. Because of it thicker consistency and ability to thicken when whisked, aquafaba tends to be egg white replacement in vegan cooking and are typically used to make vegan macaroons, cheesecakes and meringues;
8. Roast your own nuts rather than buying the roasted nuts. This will save you a few dollars and you are able to roast the nuts to your preferred roasting level;
9. Make your own nut butter rather than buying them. Other than peanut butter, I find it a lot more economical to make my own nut butter. For example, it costs me $4.40 to make this 250g jar of maple roasted walnut butter – it would have costed $10-12 to buy! They also fresher and you can roast your nuts to your preference level 🙂
10. Make a big batch of meatballs & burger patties 🍔 and freeze them for a quick mid-week dinner when you are in a hurry. I tend to half cook my meatballs/burgers prior to freezing them 😊
11. Makes your own snacks such as bliss balls, brownies, cookies or even cakes/muffins/breads that you can have during the week for morning/afternoon tea. This will not only save you money but also time during the week and are typically a lot healthier than the store bought snacks. I usually make a big batch of bliss balls or cakes/brownies and keep half of it for snacks during the week and freeze the other half for a week when I don’t have time to make a snack 😊
12. Roll a lemon/lime around until it is soft before halving them to juice them. This will maximise the amount of juice you get from the lemon/lime 🍋🥤

I hope you find these hacks and tips helpful and will enable you to make your dinner a little quicker during the week when you are pressed for time 😊 If you like what you see on this blog, you can follow me on my blog, Facebook or Instagram for some food porn. Also, if you do recreate any recipes on this blog, don’t forget to tag me on Instagram @subz_foodie 🙂

Happy saving,

Suba

Xx 💋