I have to get faster results while cooking in the kitchen . Because most of the times, I have no time ! And rest of the times, I am holding my daughter on one hand :) . So there you go ; if you can visualize what I am talking about . 

I have no choice but to cook just on the weekends. And I dont want to keep cooking the whole weekend. So during last one year I have come up with a few habits of my own which help me cook faster in kitchen. If I miss even one then it really effects my timeline. I know I sound too calculating but I want to go out as well on weekends (for shopping of course) .

So here are a few of my habits which may sound too simple but which honestly help me to cook faster !

Clutter-Free Counter - I think that a clean counter is the basic pre-requisite to do faster kitchen work. Clearing it all together takes a few minutes time every night before sleeping  . That helps me a lot to be very-very fast while doing the morning cooking and meal preparation.

Use Pressure Cooker - Saves a lot of TIME and GAS and NUTRIENTS! Nothing's like them !

Use a Food Processor once a week to cut/shred cooking ingredients such as onions,cabbage,carrots,potatoes etc. and save for cooking later. It saves a lot on the vegetable cutting time to use a processor instead of knives. So cut any and every vegetable / ingredients you can think of using processor. It truely brings down cooking time to half.

Buy in bulk when a produce is on sale and Create your own frozen section :

• Puree tomatoes and Freeze in a ziploc
• Cut/shred herbs and freeze in a ziploc
• Grind Garlic/Ginger/Chillies or all together and freese in ice-cube trays. Later save the cubes in ziplocs.

Transparent easy to reach containers help a lot while we are looking for something. I prefer to keep everything for immideate use in transparant containers and all other stored in large ziplocks stacked and sorted in baskets . It saves a lot of time.

Have immediate ingredients  (oil,salt,pepper) at a hands distance on the gas stove or on the counter attached to it instead of keeping them inside the cupboard.

A spatula holder with cooking spatulas on the counter.

A spatula dish in which u can keep the oily/wet spatula while cooking to prevent the gas oven /counter surface to get stains from oily/wet spatula.

Keep butter outside and not in the refrigerator (except when it is extremely hot weather). It will retain its texture and flavor better and You'll use less of it because it will be softer.

Have a proper collection of kitchen tools (knives , peelers , can opener, cutter, colander etc .) that work for you ! Keep them handy - always at the same location.

While you sauté onions as the first step of any recipe, add a pinch of salt to them . That will make them cook faster with  a better color .

Wear Apron ! Saves a lot of time for me :) I wash my hands several times while cooking and the apron comes in very handy to dry hands off anytime . You may find this tip very funny . But for me it is a great time saver. My kitchen cloth is the favorite toy of my daughter and I almost never find it at its place . So when I am doing my bulk cooking , I put my apron on which first of all gives me a very nice feeling :) and secondly gives me an instant access to a cloth to dry my hands and 2 pockets !!

Enjoy these tips to cook faster ! And please share if you have some of yours. It will make lives easier :))

Photo Credits @nuchylee , @Michelle Meiklejohn

I had to recommend this movie 'Food, Inc.' after watching it . You have to see it. Either watch on a  DVD or watch it online on Netflix ! Click here to visit the official Food, Inc. Website.

Here is what they say we can do about changing our food system:

• Stop drinking sodas and other sweetened beverages. [I don't drink soda , may be 1 can per year]
• Eat at home instead of eating out.[We are trying to do that more and more]
• Bring food labeling into the 21st Century.[Click here to go to the FDA link for food lebels ]
• Tell schools to stop selling sodas, junk food, and sports drinks.[Currently, I give all the meals for my daughter when she goes to school .I'll look for the ways to change what schools in my area provide kids as meals]
• Meatless Mondays—Go without meat one day a week.[Thankfully , I am a pure vegetarian, since forever]
• Buy organic or sustainable food with little or no pesticides.[I try to do that for every eatable I buy]
• Protect family farms; visit your local farmer's market.[I'll do that from now. We have a farmers market in our town every Wednesday evening]
• Make a point to know where your food comes from—READ LABELS. [OK, Sure!]
• Tell Congress that food safety is important to you.[ I signed the petition in October 2010.Click here to sign Child Nutrition Act Reauthorization Petition . I'll look for more ways I can get involved]
• Demand job protections for farm workers and food processors, ensuring fair wages and other protections.[Someone very politically active can do this .WIKI INFO is here]

This is an eye opening movie about the way our food is delivered to us . After watching this movie, you'll certainly look differently at the food you eat , just like the tagline of this movie.