Save time in the kitchen

Most Indian women give a lot of importance to the kitchen. But many a times spending time in the kitchen can turn into drudgery. For example, Kavya feels confused most of the time about the menu for her family. Her father-in-law is diabetic and her mother-in-law has severe gastric problems. Her children need energy rich food and also like more junk food over healthy balanced meals. Her husband enjoys eating spicy food most of the times. Kavya is a working woman and is always trying to juggle a smart menu to save her some time Is this sounding familiar to you? If it is, then here are some smart tips to strike a balance between likes and dislikes of different members of the family on and save some precious time in the kitchen.

Plan your week: Take some time in the weekend to talk with others in the family and prepare an approximate menu for the whole week like Monday - dal-chawal(lentil soup and rice), Friday - pizza etc. Shop the basic ingredients for the whole weeks cooking and buy the greens twice a week while returning from work or delegate this to someone else.

Keep good stocks: Do try to keep a good stock of different kinds of rice, flour, lentils, noodles, pickles, poppadums (Spicy wafer) and sauces. This will allow you to be flexible if you have to prepare something on the last minute or if some unexpected guests arrives during dinner time.

Delegate kitchen work: Instead of trying to do everything on your own delegate different tasks to other members of the family like swap the role of a cook with your husband or mother-in-law. Take help in cutting vegetables and vice-versa. Ask and help your children to prepare simple items like salad, raita (salad with yogurt), pan cake, tea or omelettes. This kind of involvement will also increase their interest in eating specially those who are picky eaters. They can also help in serving.

Make two out of one: Try to cook at least two portions of meals at a time. Use one and freeze the other for later use. While preparing mixed vegetables, keep some sliced vegetables in refrigerator to make vegetable soup or vegetable noodles or vegetable fried rice on the next day. Boiled potatoes and eggs can be used to make egg curry on one day and egg sandwich for breakfast next day.

Store and stack properly: Coriander leaves can be cut and frozen into ice cube boxes in freezer and can be used for long time afterwards. Khichdi (lentil and rice mix) or soups prepared especially for babies can also be used twice or more if frozen properly in air tight containers. All the spices for seasoning can be kept in one rack to save time in searching. Separate racks or labeled containers for different lentils, oils, spices, batter and biscuits can save a huge time in searching.

Combination and compromises: Instead of cooking special dishes for each of the family member encourage them to agree upon a single menu which every body likes. Dedicate one day to each member of the family when his or her favorite dish will be cooked. Grand parents and parents can tell different stories about some traditional family foods (how they are grown and processed etc.) to the children to encourage them to know about their own roots and find interest in eating traditional Indian dishes.

Calendar, scissors and cookbook: Keep a calendar preferably in the kitchen or in the dining space to write the shopping days, menus or other important things. Keep a scissors in a specific drawer of the kitchen to cut the packed food items and also the herbs like coriander, mint or basil to add flavor to your cooking. Always keep a notebook or a file to collect the recipes liked by all the members of the families and also to note all those successful experimental recipes which you have created on your own.

Modern kitchen gadgets: Mixer-grinders-juicers, roti-makers, electric kettles, electric rice cookers, hand mixers, microwave oven and sandwich makers are some of the popular kitchen gadgets which are easy to use and maintain. They can prove very useful especially if you don't have any maid's help around. A little planning and firmness can save you lots of time and energy in the kitchen. It will also encourage all the members of the family to be more involved in the process of cooking and enjoy family meals.

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Time Management

I was always a very spontaneous person with not much intention for pre-planning or time management. Although I could overcome school and university pressure with my non planned nature due to lots of family support but living far away from parents and relatives in a distant foreign land for years with a child to look after, a demanding job to work upon and lots of house chores and social events to be attended I have unknowingly started depending on some effective time management skills. While juggling through the busy days these tips provide me some silent and secure moments of my own.

1. Dairy: Keeping a small diary containing all important phone numbers from, work colleagues, close friends, Doctors, School, Baby sitter, nearby takeaways and restaurants, and taxi depot and so on. This helps to contact with the baby sitter on getting late at work or to make an appointment with the doctor during emergency, saves a lot time on searching and reduces stress.

2. Strategic Scheduling: Having a wall calendar with day to day spacing where the important activities like conferences, appointment with doctors, examinations, invitations, and birthdays are filled out for the whole family in the beginning of the month. Detailed time scheduling for each day are then done on weekly basis. This allows everybody to know about each other schedules and helps all the members of the family to effectively coordinate with each other. Additionally personal dairy/Online calendar (e.g. Google Calendar) can also be used by each family member to enter all the activities.

3. ‘To do’ list: Hanging a shopping list on the wall of the kitchen and filling it up over the week saves a lot of time thinking about what grocery and other essential items we need to buy during weekend shopping. Similarly a ‘To do’ list on the office table for the whole day or before the beginning of a new project prevents lots of stress and confusion at work. Same approach can be taken for children’s daily activities chart containing small symbols (for small children) of their activities so that they can understand.

4. Selectively Procrastinate or Prioritize: Follow the rule of 80:20 (or Pareto’s principle) i.e. if thought carefully over our daily work schedule we will find that 20% of our daily work schedule is most important and can give us 80% of value , satisfaction or earnings. Over the weekdays it is not necessary to go for shopping or vacuum cleaning every day or clean the closet or to chat with the neighbor or friends on phone for long hours.

5. Separate office and home: During working hours trying to concentrate on office duties and keeping a fixed time of 30 minutes for personal mails, social networking, telephoning home or to husband provides a sense of responsibility fulfillment and same approach at home helps to wipe of the guilty of not being there for long hours.

6. Delegate: It is most difficult task but very effective for time management. At work try to delegate some works to your subordinates or colleagues instead of looking after about all the details of a given project. Ignore being perfectionist and avoid being critical for small mistakes. At home also cooking, cleaning, and dusting, when done together allows a lot of family time for sharing thoughts, jokes and laughter.

7. Cooking two meals at a time: Always try to cook little extra to use it twice or two prepare some thing else form the leftover. For example while cutting various vegetables to cook mixed vegetable curry keeping some sliced vegetable in deep freeze can be useful to make vegetable Chow mein for next days evening snacks. While preparing boneless chili chicken, a portion of marinated chicken can be kept and can be baked later as chicken nuggets by sprinkling some flour, crushed cornflakes and peanuts on them. Left over mutton kebabs can be sliced into small pieces and mixed with cucumber, tomato, onions and olives as a filling for pita bread or mutton roll.

8. Using waiting time: Keeping a magazine or interesting book of short stories in hand bag can provide real good time while sitting in the waiting room of the dentist or other doctor or while traveling in train.

9. Using weekends: Few hours of a weekend can be used for arranging the clothes needed for the whole week by all the family members. This saves a lot of time in the morning rush hours. Children above 4 will have fun in choosing their own clothes, socks and other accessories. Some extra meals can be prepared and freezed for weekly dinners. Dry snacks like nuts, biscuits or crackers can be arranged in small boxes to be used as snacks for children/parents at school/office.

10. Proper organization: Using properly named and labeled file management system for office cupboards and computer saves lots of searching time. It is necessary to take back ups of computer data in regular intervals to avoid harassment from any accident or data loss. At home also organizing and keeping specific place for all items saves lots of time in hurry. Like shoes always in shoe rack, mobile phones, keys, cards in special place. Library books/ CDs or DVDs once read, heard or seen should be kept in a special bag or place. Medicines should always be in the medicine cabinet and out of reach from children. Craft and art material needed by children can be kept in particular container and should be used only at writing/craft table. Tea and breakfast arrangements in a separate place can save a lot of time searching things in the morning.

11. Non perfectionism: Sometimes (especially after finishing a deadline or a big task or during holidays) it is essential to let go all the pressure, stress and time management strategies just to attain relaxation. It is essential to regain energy for the next schedule by spending sometime in utter laziness. It is alright if amidst of our 24/7 work schedule we don’t feel like cooking sometimes or once in a while if we don’t run after our children if they don’t brush their teeth after dinner.

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