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30 People Who Cook Smarter, Not Harder, Share Their Favorite Kitchen Cheats
Interview With Expert
You can enjoy cooking as much as eating, but let's be honest, it takes longer to prepare a glorious dinner than it does to shovel it into your mouth. So, when you come home on a Wednesday evening, exhausted from work, spending an hour around pots and pans can seem like a second shift.
To avoid this, Reddit user Adamantcondition asked members of r/Cooking to share the simple yet effective tricks they use to make time in the kitchen a whole lot easier—and people delivered! Continue scrolling to see what everyone does to save their energy.
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Bintu, who shares easy yet exciting recipes on her cooking blog Recipes From A Pantry, acknowledges that applying what you see online may seem daunting at first. "While I absolutely love how cooking is getting its social media due, the downside is that it can intimidate those who are just starting out," she told Bored Panda.
"Viewing a 3-second TikTok video that makes a fairly complex recipe look easy can lead to frustration when the version you make at home doesn’t turn out the same way."
However, as Chris, the man behind the food blog Don't Go Bacon My Heart, explained, if you want to be better, you need to "experiment, be fearless, and break the rules. You'll make many, many mistakes along the way, but we all do. And when that poached egg overcooks or that cheesecake doesn't set, pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and keep on cooking!"
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#2
Cooking ears of corn in their husks in the microwave. The whole husk comes right off, silks and everything.
Melissa Harris 2 months ago
I always grill my corn in their husks. Imparts a wonder sweet aroma
#3
Bacon in the Oven.
Sue Denham 2 months ago
I have never been able to get this to work. What temperature and how long?
"One of the most important factors in creating great food is balancing the flavors," said Chris, a finalist in Netflix's Crazy Delicious and the author of Comfy: Next-level comfort food you’ll actually want to cook.
It doesn't have to be very fancy, either. "A squeeze of lemon juice, a pinch of salt, or a drizzle of honey can be the difference between a good and a great dish."
#4
Buying rotisserie chickens hot off the display table right in front of the cash registers on my way home for almost the same price as a raw carcass. A stroke of genius, to cull the expired whole chickens, bake them all, and repackage them as a convenience food.
#5
A lot of my slow cooker meals consist of simply throwing ingredients into it, turning it on and forgetting it until it's done. Maybe I have to chop an onion or something but I feel like I skipped a lot of steps when that's the only work I have to do.
Of course, you shouldn't feel bad if at times you just don't feel like cooking and order delivery instead. Maybe it's not in your genes.
According to data compiled by Gallup, the global average of cooking and eating-at-home frequencies mask interesting regional differences.
Northern, Southern, and Western European regions have the most prolific chefs, with locals cooking an average of 7.8 meals per week. The Latin American and Caribbean regions, as well as the Southeast Asian and Pacific regions share second place, with both cooking 7.2 meals per week.
On the other hand, the Arabic States cook the least, with people there preparing an average of 4.6 weekly meals at home.
#7
Just want to remind folks: if it does what need, it’s not cheating. You simply cannot make everything yourself and using modern appliances are good actually. Just because it’s not traditional doesn’t mean you should feel guilty about cooking that way.
Pittsburgh rare 2 months ago (edited)
I've curated my kitchen appliances over the years and now I have a crock pot, food processor ala Thermomix (but waaaaaay cheaper) and air fryer, besides my beloved pressure cooker. l use them almost daily. I don't like cooking, so I'll take as much help as I can.
Cooking at home is a great way not just to save money, but also to create a memorable date night experience, as it allows you and your significant other to bond, be creative together, and enjoy a personal, intimate atmosphere. But if you're inviting someone over, you might have to pay more attention to the presentation, too.
"I'd say visuals are really important when serving a dish. How a dish looks will set the tone of your overall experience," said Chris of Don't Go Bacon My Heart. "If your taste buds aren't tingling before you've started eating you're already on the back foot. You do eat with your eyes after all!"
#8
Frozen puff pastry. I don't know why anyone even makes it by hand, except to pass a culinary school exam, or as practice for a baking show.
#9
No knead bread. I actually prefer the flavour of slow proofed breads and the texture is superb but it does feel like I'm skipping a step.
But whether you've prepared a lazy one-potter or a fancy dinner, once it gets into your belly, the effort feels worth it.
"Cooking your own meals is incredibly satisfying, and it’s also a great way to let your creativity shine!" Bintu of Recipes From A Pantry added.
"Don't be afraid of trying new things and failing. Some of my most popular recipes are the result of a good deal of trial and error... Emphasis on the error side!" the chef added, laughing.
#10
If you need to boil water for something small, like mac n cheese or top ramen. Use an electric kettle to boil the water then add it to your hot sauce pan. At least for me it cuts down on the time by about 1/2.
If you are missing a spice for a recipe, sometimes those seasoning blends have the spice you need in them. Even with all the other spices it usually ends up coming out pretty good.
Save your veggie scraps in the freezer for making stock later on!
Don't listen to me 2 months ago
Always use electric kettles to boil water. Waste of time & power to boil in a pan.
#11
OP, you wanna REALLY cheat with that can of Pam? Spray food directly with it. Potatoes for roasting, rolls prior to baking....it's just canola oil (or whatever other kind you get). Besides adding oil for browning, it helps adhere salt or herbs to the food, if they were otherwise on the dry side.
It feels SO weird and SO wrong to spray your food with Pam, but let me tell you, those rolls will be gorgeously, uniformly golden brown, and no one will ever know our little secret unless you want them to!
Scott Rackley 2 months ago
They actually make oil sprayers you can add whichever you want. Avocado oil works well with roasting veggies.
#12
Using Thai curry paste out of a can. It's actually really, really good.
David 2 months ago
I use the Mae Ploy red curry paste which comes in a plastic bag inside a little plastic tub. I just cut a corner off the bag, squeeze out what I want and put the bag back in the plastic container. It keeps in the fridge this side of forever. As in - have had some in my fridge for a couple of years and it was fine. Like most herbs, it probably pales compared to a curry paste just made from fresh herbs. But realistically I'm not going to do that and this is very handy and 'good enough' for what I use it for.
#14
Literally any shortcut. The goal is to make good food, not to break your back trying to use a needlessly difficult method.
#15
Rice cookers.
David 2 months ago
YES. There is always someone who comments how they know how to make it in a pan, finger knuckle water depth and so on. Yes, so do I. But I LOVE that my rice cooker is "X rice + X water + 1/2 cup more water." Push button, wait until it beeps. No babysitting needed and frees up a burner on my stove for other uses.
#16
Making curry pastes in the processor instead of in a giant granite mortar and pestle the way my mother did in her teens.
I_imagine_even_worse_w***s 2 months ago
That just makes sense though. Not doing that is akin to boiling water on a cooker when you own a kettle.
#17
Completely skipping the cow and just having to reach for a bottle of milk. Wondrous.
#18
Steaming veggies in the microwave.
#19
Pioneer brand packaged gravy mixes. I make excellent homemade gravy but they are as close to homemade as you can get and practically no prep time. *Don't thumb me down until you've tried them.
#20
Oh and I buy those pre-frozen minced herbs like garlic from the store and keep them in my freezer. I HATE cleaning my kitchen tools after mincing or grating garlic. I still buy fresh garlic and use it a lot. But I’m fine popping out a cube of garlic for most basic things like flavoring meet as it’s cooked.
Robert Millar 2 months ago
I use a Microplane to make garlic paste, it washes under running hot water. Otherwise I slice garlic paper thin with a cook's knife.
#21
(Not sure if it qualifies as a method but) using MSG to season savoury dishes. I do it all the time and still feel weird telling people when they compliment my food and ask me about the ingredients I used. Nobody cares about salt, but glutamate is expected to only be added by using foods where it's found naturally.
#22
Cooking beans in a pressure cooker in 20-30 minutes feels like hard-core cheating to me, in reality tons of people do it every day in India and south/central america.
Roxy222uk 2 months ago
Also 'speed soaking' i.e. cooking in the pressure cooking for about one minute (varies slightly depending on the pulse), allowing to come back down naturally, then draining, adding fresh water, and cooking. You can also put dried pulses in a normal pan in water, bring to the boil, lift off the heat, and leave for an hour, for a sped up soak.
#23
Food processor for chopping and shredding. I’m never chopping an onion again.
The Scout 2 months ago
Chopping an onion takes about 20 seconds. Deep-cleaning a food processor is a chore. So unless I am needing big amounts, I usually do not see the benefit in this... But I see your point, as I once made a vegetable stew for around sixty people, and without the food processor would have spent the whole days slicing and chopping.
#24
Throwing a whole stick of butter in something to make it taste better. Obviously there's stuff this won't work for but plenty of stuff where, to a home cook, an insane amount of butter improves things.
#25
Throwing everything in the oven salted and oiled and coming back to roast dinner.
#26
Butane torch to finish melting cheese when I put a sandwich in the broiler but it's taking too long.
Been my favorite xmas present so far, I'm just looking for excuses to use it.
#27
Flan in the pressure cooker. It takes just 4 minutes and there's no fiddling with the temperature in the oven. It comes out with a smooth texture, no holes and very creamy.
#30
Sous vide
Really the only ways you can screw it up are if you set your machine incorrectly or you leave the food in too long. Or if the bag leaks I suppose.
Poll Question
Do you believe using cooking cheats can enhance your enjoyment in the kitchen?
Yes, they make cooking less stressful
Sometimes, depending on the cheat
No, it takes away from cooking
Depends on the situation
I have never used cooking cheats
I'm not sure
What do you think ?
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