Time-Saving Tips for a Fresh, Plant-Powered Kitchen

Use these 16 strategies so eating healthfully doesn’t cut into your time.

Credit: John Beske

I’m going to get the difficult part out of the way with a little honesty: if you want to eat nutritious meals, you are going to have to eat some quality produce, whole grains and so on. There is no bypassing this. If you want to spend the money and you have it to spend, having this kind of food prepared by others for you is an option, but if you’d like to save costs, you will likely have to do the bulk of your meal-making yourself. That being said, this doesn’t mean that you have to spend hours upon hours washing, chopping, massaging and reading to your precious greens. With some kitchen savvy, practice and advance planning, you can cut your time in the kitchen way back without sacrificing fresh ingredients. Before too long, these shortcuts will become habituated and you won’t need to plan as much. There are my best time-saving tips for a healthy, plant-powered kitchen. (By the way, many of the same efforts that cut costs can also cut time. Please check these pointers out, too.)

Make a Weekly Meal Plan and Grocery Lists

This strategy is especially helpful for households with children and multiple members. Making a weekly meal plan means that you won’t be scrambling and trying to figure out what to make for dinner at the last minute because, ugh, who wants to do that? A meal plan and/or grocery list also sets the stage for eating more nutritious meals that might otherwise be eaten out or without as much consideration. Also, if you go into a grocery store with a list, not only can you save money by not buying as many impulse items but you can save lots of time that you would otherwise waste meandering around, wondering what to buy. Making a grocery list takes a little time but saves you much more during the week and it also is a great way to ensure that you’re eating a diverse variety of foods and helps to keep things from getting boring. (Pasta is lovely, but maybe eating it five nights a week may not be ideal.) For those who want to dial up your efficiency even more, you can organize your lists by where items can be found in the grocery store — for example, vegetables together, bulk goods together, frozen foods, etc. — and this also decreases the amount of time you will waste at the…