7 ways to make dinner time easier

Get familiar with ingredients that keep well in the fridge for a few days, and plan your more immediate meals to coincide with produce and ingredients that need to be used/cooked sooner rather than later. It’s also important to consider your family’s eating habits to narrow down the recipes you want to prepare each week. An easy trick to planning a meal is to have a healthy ratio of  proteins, vegetables and carbs. The flavors and cooking techniques often vary by meal, but this will give you some options to get started.

Prep work looks a little different for everyone, but generally it means preparing ingredients ahead of time to eat or cook later. There are several ways to meal prep, like batch cooking, cooking complete meals ahead of time to store them in the fridge or freezer, or cutting up produce and herbs based on the recipes you’ll cook for the week.

Some examples of foods you can prep ahead of time include:

• Complete portioned meals to store in the fridge like these steamed sweet potatoes with farro or these quinoa power muffins.

• Rinsed, peeled and chopped vegetables that you can store in the freezer or refrigerator.

• Cooked proteins like baked chicken or ground beef that can be incorporated in simple meals like stir fry or burrito bowls.

NOTE: When prepping and storing ingredients for use ahead of time, you should follow the usual FDA guidelines for refrigerated food storage to help get the most out of your prepared ingredients.

There’s nothing more frustrating than getting set up to prepare a meal and realizing you ran out of the recipe’s key ingredient. Before you go to the grocery store each week, take inventory of your pantry, refrigerator and freezer and compare what you already have with what recipes you plan to make, and then fill in the gaps when you shop.

There are several items you can keep stocked in your kitchen to help make mealtime easier, like:

• Cooking oils, like olive oil, avocado oil or even sesame oil.

• Dried seasonings to add flavor. Consider staples like garlic powder, onion powder, paprika, kosher salt and pepper.

• Simple starches such as white or brown rice, pasta and potatoes.

• Canned goods like beans, salsa, tuna, tomato paste and canned vegetables.

• Condiments and sauces, including dijon mustard, marinara sauce, Worcestershire sauce, soy sauce or mayonnaise.

• Freezer-friendly items like ground beef, bacon, pizza dough, bread or chicken breasts.

Recipes that only require one pot or pan can help you avoid long post-meal cleanup. From recipes like slow cooker pulled pork to hearty stovetop stews and soups, you can save time cooking and cleaning when you cut down on the amount of cookware you use per recipe.

Avoid last minute meal stress with some of the following one-pot or sheet pan recipe ideas:

• Try a “meat-free monday” with this simple yet satisfying sheet pan barley salad.

• Please picky eaters by baking a tasty sheet pan pizza.

• Make meat and potatoes feel special with this sheet pan bone-in pork roast and potatoes recipe. 

• Turn seasonal vegetables into a fun side dish like these zucchini pancakes.

Mix it up and have breakfast for dinner with this baked eggs in tomato sauce recipe.

Mise en place is a French phrase that relates to keeping all of your tools, ingredients and utensils organized in your cooking space when starting a recipe. This helps to remove stress from the prepping and cooking process. 

It’s also helpful to clean as you go when preparing dinner. Keep a “scrap bowl” next to your prep space for onion skins, carrot tops and trash to keep the area clear, and give your cooking utensils and cutting board a rinse as soon as you’re done using them to cut down on cleanup time later.

You can take some mealtime tasks off your plate while teaching younger family members the kitchen skills they’ll need in the future by involving the whole family in mealtime preparation. 

• Toddlers: Give them uncomplicated tasks like adding pre-measured ingredients,  helping you stir as you cook or even turning the pages of a recipe in a cookbook.

• Elementary-aged kids: Introduce them to cooking prep with kid-friendly tools and tasks, like mashing potatoes, rolling out pizza dough or peeling hard-boiled eggs.

• Teenagers: Teens can be more hands-on in the kitchen. Let them help you with more complicated tasks and once you’ve shown them how—and they’re comfortable—they can do things like chopping, stirring, and helping to cook recipes like pasta in homemade marinara sauce.

If your kitchen is equipped with a smart range or wall oven, there are several features that add convenience and ease to your mealtime routine, like remote start and monitoring, cooking presets and more. Whirlpool brand offers a variety of Smart Ranges and Wall Ovens that let you set, start, pause and track progress on your laundry and kitchen appliances, even while you’re away.¹