Easy Ways to Speed Up Cooking Time

Anytime when I boil water, I start with hot water. It may seem contrary to what the cooking instructions say, but hot water really doesn't hurt anything. You save five to ten minutes this way.

Before I use a pan, I either oil it or butter it thoroughly before I start to cook anything. This may seem like normal practice, but I add one step by turning on the stove first.

The aforementioned tip only works well if you have all your ingredients ready to cook.
In cooking, timing is an important part to the flavor process.

It is also beneficial if you plan ahead what you want to cook. This way, you don't haphazardly throw things together at the last second, wasting time.

Instead of cooking dishes one at a time, try to cook two to three. It may seem like a big task, but in the end it will be worth it. The following tip is for advanced cooks ONLY. Beginners will most likely end up with burnt food, or even worse, undercooked food.

Let's use a simple three course meal as an example: Brown rice, frozen vegetables, and boneless chicken breast. In order to cook this efficiently, here's what to do. The night before, thaw out the chicken in the bottom of the fridge. Next day, when it's time to cook, Start boiling hot water for the rice. I add a little bit of oil so the rice doesn't stick together that much and salt for flavor. Cover the pot to speed up the boiling even more. I use this time to prepare the chicken. Like taking off extra fat, seasoning it, or cutting it up. Prepare the pan for the chicken by adding oil to it or butter. Set these things to the side, and get a little pot for the vegetables ready. Rinse the frozen vegetables off, and put them in the pot with hot water. Put the heat to medium, then check the pot for the rice. By this time, it should be boiling, so add the desired amount of brown rice. BROWN RICE!? (I know, the package says it takes forever, but not with my tips.) Stir it up to evenly distribute the oil and salt and cover it for about two to three minutes. Fire up the pan for the chicken. Small meats usually cook fast, so put the heat to low medium to make sure you don't burn it. Now is a good time to turn the heat under the rice on low and stir it again. Cover it, and check on the vegetables. Now is a good time to get the dinner table ready. You have about two minutes. Get the napkins, utensils, and glasses ready. By this time, the chicken should be done, or at least turned over on the other side. Vegetables are finished by now, so turn the heat on low to keep it warm. When all the water is gone in the pot of rice and you can stir it around with a little bit of resistance, turn the heat off. Keep it covered. The residual heat will cook the rest. The chicken is definitely cooked by now, so turn that off. Drain the vegetables and get plates ready to serve up your three course meal!!

All in all, this should take you about thirty to forty-minutes total. That's pretty good, but it can only be pulled off if you have SOME type of cooking experience. You have to have a basic sense of how long things take to cook, and with a little bit of planning, makes it easy.

When you cook small frozen items like vegetables, it helps to rinse them in cold water. This cuts down your cooking time.

To make hot dogs cook faster, I put three little cuts on them. Why? When they get really hot from boiling, the hot dog swells up and gets a slight curve in them, or unsightly boiling spots will appear on the surface. To avoid all of that, the cuts acts as vents when the internal temperature rises in the dog. It escapes through the cuts and the hot dog retains its shape.