5 Cooking hacks I learned in quarantine
The lock-down was a game-changer
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The lock-down ended my former eating habits.
No lunch with my colleagues. No week-day dinners at my parent’s house. No restaurants. No cafes. Nothing.
Of course, there were various food delivery options available. But the cost of that would surely add up and in the midst of a global pandemic, how could I know the precautions taken when the food was being prepared?
Add to that, the fact that delivered food seems to lose 70% of its flavor on its way to you, and my wife and I were certain we would need to cook all our meals going forward.
It’s not like we’d never cooked before. We’d cooked the odd meal here and there, tried a few things, even sometimes managed to make 3 or 4 meals in a week. But this ended up being quite different.
In addition to our usual 9–5 jobs, there seemed to be a pile-up of housework. Making 3 meals a day was a different animal to our usual one-meal-at-home per day. Grocery shopping became a multi-hour expedition with long lines and full trolleys. There seemed to be so much going on.
This became quite tiring. We’d end up eating late dinners, get tired of eating the same things over and over, and usually ended the day burnt out from everything.
Since then, however, we have learned a few things. Things we did not know before. Things that might help you if you feel you are in a similar position.
The following are the 5 cooking hacks I wish I knew when I had started.
Find easy go-to meals
You won’t always have the time to make the lasagnas and ratatouilles. Maybe on certain occasions, you have extra time and don’t mind the cathartic hours of multi-step cooking, but for the most part, you want to be able to make meals as quickly as possible. And tasty.
Finding a few meals that you wouldn’t mind having multiple times a week, are quick to make and don’t cost a tonne, are great to have in the bank.
Some days you will be up to your neck in work and responsibilities. Other days you will be downright shattered from earlier activity. It’s always useful to have a meal you can…
