Operation Stop Cooking: Part 5 - Kitchen wishlist

I've bumped this post up the list because Christmas is approaching, so it might be handy to eye up what you fancy while people are asking for gift ideas. This isn't a comprehensive list of everything a kitchen needs, just the things I find especially useful for bulk-cooking, from stocking-filler stuff to Big Gifts. And I wouldn't suggest anyone rush out and buy the whole kaboodle, just add bits and pieces as time and money and gifts allow. (As you'll see, masses of mine were gifts.) I'm putting them in approximate order of what I'd consider most essential, with a bit at the end of how the hell I fit all this stuff in my dainty kitchen.

Operation Stop Cooking: Part 3 - Very Lazy Sides

The One Big Dish has you covered for veg as well, cooking More of the Main Bit leaves you free to make elaborate sides like pomme dauphinoises or hasslebacks should you so desire, but you can also crowd a plate with side dishes with minimal extra work. My definition of Very Lazy Sides is that it takes less than 3 minutes of prep AND that you can get it ready beforehand or throw it together just before you eat - no faffing about with multiple steps. So even Will's Amazing Seared Broccoli doesn't make the cut for a Very Lazy Side, because the broccoli needs chopping and it's about ten minutes with occasional shaking. When I say lazy, I mean lazy. And also delicious.

Operation Stop Cooking: Part 2 - More of the Main Bit

The One Big Dish gives you two complete nights off cooking, but it's also the most freezer-space-hungry option and it restricts your choices to one-pot dishes with cooked veg only. So the next trick up your sleeve is to make more of the main bit of the meal, which is usually the schleppy bit. This takes up half the space in your freezer, and then you only have to make the sides that go with it. (The next post or two will be about Lazy Sides and Lasting Salads, so that even there you're streamlining your cooking.)

Operation Stop Cooking: Part 1 - One Big Dish

 

 The secret to loving cooking more: not cooking

Freezing (even without a freezer) and some food safety tips

I said that I freeze and freeze and freeze - I've worked out some useful ways to do that (and useful quantities) and learnt a lot about food hygiene from Will's restaurant experience. We now have two freezers: one is part of a fridge-freezer; the other (same size, about waist height) we got for twenty quid off The Daily Info (Oxford's lovely classifieds site) in April, when my endo was coming back and I wanted to be able to more in-advance cooking. We also spent three years living with just an icebox, though, so I'll add what I learnt from that, and also totally ice-zone-free fridge-only suggestions. Whatever you're using, though, HEALTH WARNING: FOOD SAFETY.