This simple kitchen hack saves me a lot of time when I’m cooking
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AmazonCooking on a regular basis saves you money, can help you stay healthier, and even saves you time if you prep meals ahead of time.
Unfortunately, cooking also requires you to keep many ingredients on hand at all times.
Each one of those ingredients is made by a completely different company that packages their product in their own way.
This leads to a pretty big problem if you cook often: messy kitchen cabinets. Having a kitchen full of disorganized cabinets can disincentivize you from cooking, which happened to me a few months ago.
After getting frustrated, I took matters into my own hands and started keeping the ingredients I use most often in jars.
My flour, sugar, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, dried leaves of oregano, sea salt, and breadcrumbs are now clearly labeled, and easily accessible. It might not sound like a big deal, but now I don't have to shuffle through three or four differently-shaped containers to look for an ingredient I know I have. Better yet, my ingredients are stored in containers of the same or similar size, which makes storing them simple and efficient.
Since I started keeping my ingredients in jars, opening my kitchen cupboard is no longer a discouraging experience. I've only used jars to help me with dry, single ingredients so far, but I've been actively thinking about how to use them to save me time on more complicated dishes.
For example, I'd like to keep all of the dry ingredients for pancakes pre-mixed in one jar, and breadcrumbs mixed with my favorite spices in another. Having either of those would save me time when cooking, and cut down on the mess that can accumulate when I need to use multiple ingredients at once.
I've focused exclusively on the benefit of using jars for dry ingredients, but you can also use jars to store and freeze homemade sauces if you make a big batch. Having homemade sauce on hand can be a lifesaver if you want to cook a fresh pasta dish, but feel a little sluggish or sick.
Jars come in a number of shapes and sizes, but I'm recommending the two types I've been using. The first is a set of six mason jars with handles. My kitchen cupboard is above my oven, and the handles give me something to grab when reaching for one of them. The second is a set of two larger jars, which I recommend for dry ingredients that come in bigger packages, like flour.
You might not think about how much time could be saved by organizing your kitchen, but I can tell you from experience: it's a lot. I wouldn't have thought this a few months ago, but mason jars have become a cooking tool I can't live without.