When I was staying alone, and had a very busy day that I hardly had any time to cook each and everyday, and just needed something already prepared to just heat it up or take few minutes (15 min max.) to have a proper lunch, I learnt the following tricks. (Thanks are due to my mother who taught me some of her own as well!)
*Things You can prepare and stock in your deep-freezer (or Freezer) to help you save time:
1- Broth: When you boil chicken or meat, and having plenty of broth that you won't use, stock the broth in fridge containers or even zip bags to use it in the future in whatever you're cooking; they remain fresh!
2-Chopped Onions: stack them in zip bags and you can directly use them in making vegetables or so.
3-Minced Garlic: Buy a quantity and mince them for once and for all, and start dividing them into zip bags and leave them in the freezer and use them instantly whenever cooking!
4-Tomato Juice: Fresh tomatoes into the blender, and you have your fresh tomato juice for direct use in making pasta sauce, vegetables, and so on. It's always better than canned tomato paste after all.
5- Chicken Panee: Season your fillet chicken as you always do, coat them with eggs and breadcrumbs and divide them into foam plates and leave them in your freezer ready to be fried instantly. They'll be fresh and crisp.
6- The previous step applies to Chicken and meat kofta with breadcrumbs' coat ready for frying!
7-Samsbosa: Stuff them, stack them in foam plates and cover them in a plastic bag or so, and they're ready do be fried or popped into the oven.
8- The same applies on Egg rolls, Spring rolls and رقاق الملفوف. Just do the stuffing you wish for, and stack them in your freezer in proper wrapping or container to be ready for frying or into the oven.
9-Pizza: Purchase the pan-like aluminium foil ones, make your different medium or small-sized pizza with all toppings and mozzarella, and cover them with plastic sheets, and they're ready to be cooked. Fresh, believe me.
10-Hawawshi: The Cairene hawashi (half-loaf of Baladi bread, stuffed with minced meat), wrap it in aluminium foil, and it is ready to go into your oven whenever hungry.
11-Vegetables: Always have ready to go: Black-eyed beans, sweet peas, green beans, already-boiled spinach, and okra, all cleaned up, cut and half-boiled (or fully depends) and in your freezer, ready to be dropped in your pot for a quick vegetable dish with tomato sauce.
12- Cooked Minced Meat: Yes, I used to cook a quantity that I may use in different dishes throughout the week (or 10 days). I fully cook it, and divide it into zip bags to be ready to be dropped into my pasta, for stuffing, and for more than one instance. And that was one burden that was carried away while cooking.
If You were much more pressed in time, and cooking small quantities, and blessed with a microwave:
*Grilled Chicken: Boneless chicken , seasoned, grilled, or cooked in the oven, have them fully cooked, make them into portions, and in a zip bag, and ready for the microwave and in a minute or so you'll be having perfect lunch.
*Same works with meat kofta, already cooked in the oven.
*Cook your vegetables in tomato sauce and all, and divide them in fridge containers to be ready for you the next couple of days to be heated.
*Go further and cook a bigger pan of your (Makrona bel Bashmel) and divide it, and have it ready to be microwaved for a later day in the week.
*Also no harm in stacking fully cooked sambosa and spring rolls that have been cooked in the oven, and having them ready to be heated up.
(Tried all of these, and were miraculous actually. A Time- saviour when I had no time but few minutes to eat something fresh and healthy!)
Side Notes:
*Why we use zip bags? Because they ensure no air is inside! Thus all is kept fresh and perfect. If not available, use regular nylon plastic bags, but make sure you make a good knot and get all the air out of the bag first.
*Divide things into portions, depending on just how much you wanna cook of the item.
*Make use of a day off, and cook or half-cook couple of things and prepare those items for a week or two to come, to help you save time and effort, rather than spending the whole afternoon in the kitchen.
*Make sure you stack couple of items to have them ready, just to cover up your busy week, and you'll just serve with pasta, rice, or simply bread..
..et Bon Appetit!
Simply amazing! You know how much I'll need those tips next month ;)
ReplyDelete