- There are many ways to increase the efficiency of your kitchen. This is not only relates to kitchen space and the layout of your kitchen but also relates to your general work habits and available utensils.
- To start with it is a good idea to think about the efficiency of your storage. You should store certain items in the place where you will be using them first. This may sound obvious but can still require careful thought. For example many people hang items such as pots and pans above the cooking area. However, it is more often the case that you will need to first go to the sink and fill up the pots or pans with water. Therefore it makes more sense to situate them somewhere near the sink. It is a good idea to store items which are used together in the same place. For example, you may want to store a wooden spoon, whisk, measuring cups and jugs etc. all in the same place. Additionally, you may want to store items such as flour, baking powder, sugar and various other common ingredients together in one place.
- Another tip is to take the doors off the upper cabinets. Although this may give the kitchen a more clustered feel since the items in the cabinets will be visible, this will significantly increase efficiency of your workflow as you do not need to keep opening and closing the cabinets.
- It may be a good idea to make use of the available wall space. You can use this space to hang up cups, utensils and spice racks etc. Additionally you can install racks on to the back of you kitchen cabinets which is another useful way to preserve space.
- It may be a good idea to hang-up some kind of small white board with a permanent marker next to it. This will allow you to keep a check-list of food items which are running low, giving you the opportunity to replace them before they run out.
- It is always efficient practice to plan for left overs. Additionally, if the food that you are cooking can be frozen you want to consider cooking the double the amount. Many foods can frozen and by doing so can save time and money.
- Of course we cannot talk about efficiency in the kitchen without talking about food preparation. Anything from pre-mixing, pre-cutting, peeling, washing, draining etc. can significantly increase the efficiency of your work flow. Of course it is worth bearing in mind that pre-cutting and peeling vegetables may loose some of their nutritional value.
- It is also definitely worth purchasing some time saving equipment but carefully consider if you really need it or not otherwise you will find such items clustering up the kitchen and becoming counter productive. Useful time saving equipment may include a salad spinner, crock pots, blender, food processor, a rolling herb grater or herb snips, a garlic press, cheese grater, digital thermometer, citrus reamer, fine mesh strainers, good kitchen shears and lots of small prep bowls. Ref: http://www.marksdailyapple.com/11-tips-for-kitchen-efficiency/
- It also definitely worth buying a small set of high quality knives but if you do this you should take time to develop some knife skills. This will significantly increase the efficiency of your food preparation. Additionally, should you decide to invest in various time saving appliances, make sure you read the manual so that you have a full understanding of the features available.
- With regards to dinning efficiency, you may also want to invest in what is called a “Lazy Susan”. A Lazy Susan is a basically a tray, which sits on top of the table allowing you to easily move plates of food around by rotating the tray in a circular motion.
- As a final note, it is important, of course, to make space before you start your food preparation. It always helps to work in clean and organised environment and it is also a good idea to clean up as you go along. Perhaps you may find it efficient to have a sink full of hot soapy water ready so that you can leave the various pots, pan and utensils to soak once you have finished using them.
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