Quick meal tips that save you timePut 3 or 4 onions in a food processor at a time. Chop them all up, then store them in a covered container in the fridge. They can last a very long time. When you need chopped onion, it is all ready. 1 small onion = 1/4 cup (60 mL); 1 medium onion = 1/2 cup (125 mL) - Michele Milgrim
Here's one of my favorite quick meal tips: buy multiple sets of measuring spoons and measuring cups. When I am racing through a recipe, I don't want to stop to rinse or wash a measuring cup. Having several sets lets me grab what I need and keep cooking. (It doesn't take any longer to wash two cups than to wash one!) -Ellen
If you often find yourself cooking with a toddler on one hip, invest in a set of flat-bottomed measuring spoons. You'll be able to measure and add your ingredient using only one hand! -Ellen
Collect a supply of recipes for last minute meals that you can have on the table in 20 minutes or less. Keep the ingredients for those meals in a special cupboard. When you need a quick dinner, you'll have everything you need! Discard the little lid with holes in it on your spice jars - at least for those spices that you usually need to measure. I find that the only spice I regularly want to sprinkle is paprika - for all the other spice jars in my drawer, the holey thing just got in the way and slowed me down. The spoons pictured above fit into spice jars. -Ellen
Another of my favorite quick meal tips: to cut homemade pizza, use kitchen shears! (You can also use regular scissors.) This is much quicker and easier than cutting pizza with a knife. It results in a neater piece of pizza, and doesn't leave scratches on your pizza pan! -Ellen
Put a few sheets of newspaper under your cutting board. Push the ends and peels onto the newspaper. When you're done, simply wrap up the newspaper and throw it away or dump the scraps into the compost pile. You're left with a nice clean countertop and sink! - Yu Ming, Singapore
When making mashed potatoes, don't peel them! Choose thin-skinned potatoes, scrub them well, and just leave the skins on when you boil and mash as usual. You won't lose the fiber and the nutrients that are in the skin and you'll save lots of time. The mashed potatoes will taste just as wonderful as ever, and you'll get used to the brown flecks! -Ellen
If you insist on peeling your potatoes, get out a large colander. Put it on your work surface and peel the potatoes over it. You'll be able to carry the colander of peelings to the compost pail or the garbage can without having to first scoop them out of the drainhole on the sink! -Ellen
I'm embarrassed to tell you this, but I used to use garlic powder in place of real garlic. (As all of you real cooks know, garlic powder is not even a pale imitation of the real thing. Even the bottled pre-minced garlic isn't as good as a freshly squeezed clove.) I had the idea that using real garlic was hard and time consuming. I was wrong! The secret is having a good garlic press - I like the Zyliss brand - and rinsing it immediately after using it. (If I'm rushing through a recipe and don't want to stop to rinse my garlic press, I put it in a glass of water until I have a moment to clean it out.) -Ellen
Time consuming side dishes, like mashed potatoes, can be made in large batches and frozen, then reheated for busy nights. Make double or triple batches of your favorite freezer friendly meal for dinner and freeze the extra batches for quick meals later. -Michelle Zack (For more freezer meals, recipe and quick meal tips visit
Michelle's site.)
When you are cooking pasta, cook some extra (al dente) and keep it in a covered container in the fridge. It's handy to have on hand to toss into soups, or to eat for a quick meal. -Allura N.
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