The Busy Professional 
   
       With the ever increasing working hours of busy professionals these days in the world we all live in. One of the most common questions asked of me during my employment at the  GrandBuffet  located  within  the Fallsviewcasino in Niagara Falls Canada was "How can I save time through the week preparing and cooking meals for my family" The people I talked to came from all over the world. As more and more hours of work are required of employees, they've been forced to resort more to opening a can of this or boxed that, which in turn is pushing them further from their goals of eating healthier.
   
   This is a very good question as I truly believe that we will see much more of this as time goes on. In order to manage your time more efficient and effectively I believe it should start prior to the preparing and cooking process to truly save as much time as possible.
  
       
   

      To start you should go into the business where you're doing your shopping for groceries and ask to speak with the manager. First thank him/her for their time and ask if they have any implemented programs of pre-ordered grocery lists. If not kindly ask if it would be a possibility to have a pre-ordered list of items submitted by you and put together by them and picked up on a weekly or whatever basis is best for you. You must remember that his or her objective is to gain your business, to do so they should be open minded enough to the opportunity you've present them with in order to earn revenue for the business.
      
      Your task will be to do up a set menu for the week to establish your ordering needs. It is perhaps best to initiate this first time exercise with a pencil as many changes will more then likely occur. Once this is done you can if you choose to, move it onto a spreadsheet. Keep in mind the the method of ordering from your grocer.
      
      Next you want to organize a time for pick up. This I think is best done by yourself initially several times. At some point you may want to look into a delivery service to do the pickup. Most cities and small towns have these small businesses. 
      
      Also do not hesitate to go over your order before receiving/accepting it, to ensure all items on your list are accounted for. So now we move on over to the preparing & cooking to reclaim time in our lives!
  
 
  

                
     


      Saving Time Preparing 
       & Cooking Meals            
  
      Most people seem to have the perception when they go out to dinner in a restaurant, their meal is prepared from scratch just for them. I quess this is ok to preserve the nature of eating out, yet could not be further from the truth. All possible menu items that can be prepped and pre-done prior to meal time hours, whether that be lunch or dinner are cooked off ahead of time. Only being reheat once they have been ordered. This is the same premise and direction I’d like to point you in. The objective here is to save every little bit of time throughout the week as this is predominantly our focus here. Through spending a bit of our cherished weekends prepping can we gain it back two fold during the week when so many other things in our lives are utilizing up nearly every minute we have.
      
      Now we have already saved some time by cutting out the need to go and spend time standing in line at the grocery stores, not to mention any and ALL bonus benefits of just not having to go there, such as over spending the budget on items not required by our menu, etc. Effective efficiency is a cooks first and fore-most tool. For example, if you catch yourself continually opening the fridge to retrieve items, you arelosing time.Do it all at once as hours are made up of minutes and minutes are made up of seconds, it is this that is the key principle of operating a restaurant kitchen smoothly. Further more a household is or should be about team work. Now this is the time to enlist the help of the rest of the team.
(If you require some coaching tips I can help there too, having coached high school girls basketball for over 15yrs.).
     
      Mom’s & dads this is the time to let that budding little superstar of a chef that is your child help you. I started peeling vegetables and grating cheese when I was 3 or 4 years old. Are there going to be cuts and whatnots? You bet! But that will happen at any age. Getting everyone within the household to help is a reasonable request! 
      
               Meals in a Snap
      What you actually want to prep are things that will keep for nearly the duration of your menu. Rice can be cooked off, allowed to cool then portioned into practical sealed bags and refrigerated. 
 
   TIP:  Pales of frozen cookie dough make great storing containers once empty and cleaned.
     
      Potatoes and carrots can be peeled and placed into containers of cold water in the fridge. Cheese can be grated and portioned out if it is to be used on your menu. Pastas can be cooked to a near done state as you must allow
for the reheating process. These can be kept with a fine coating of oil in A sealed container.   
      
      Cut vegetables always seem to go down hill fast, so I wouldn't recommend doing so. Head type vegetables such as broccoli, cauliflower etc. can be cleaned, cut up into little flowerettes and stored in containers in your fridge. Just  rehydrate them if needed in some cold water prior to use.
      
      So, what to do about the meats? Can I, or can't I? YES, but only to a certain degree. You will need to use your menu as a guide here though. For example: if your having a chicken stir fry in two days, then yes you can. Cut length wise or cubed, whatever tickles your fancy and portion into bags to be refrigerated. 
 
  TIP:Never ever store raw meat above or near cooked meats! Just always remember, near term: refrigerate.
  End of week freeze. 
  
   TIP: Lastly, pay close attention to the rotation of current stock on hand so that it is used up first, before new stock.
 
  TIP:Once everything is out to prepare your meal, keep your spices and all ingredients along the back of your counter so that everything is in front of you. This way you will not be looking from side to side for what is right in front of you.