10 Secrets of People Who Always Have Dinner on the Table in 30 Minutes

1. Organize Your Fridge

Organizing doesn’t mean that you need to go out and spend a lot of money on aesthetically pleasing containers (although if you want to, go ahead!). It’s as simple as putting a basic system in place. “I find that if there’s too much in there, ingredients and leftovers get lost and sometimes wasted,” says Test Kitchen manager Catherine Ward. She has it down to a science: “Fruits, greens and veggies on the bottom shelf, meats and cheeses on one side of the middle shelf and leftovers on the other. Top shelf is yogurt, eggs, pickled items and Asian sauces and condiments. All other condiments and butter are on the door.”

You can take it one step further and make sure containers have their label facing forward. It makes it so much easier to see everything at a glance. This way you’re not digging around to make sure you grabbed the plain yogurt instead of the vanilla, for example. Plus, when everything has a designated spot, you can quickly see what you’re running low on, or what you need to use up.

2. Shop Smart

Going to the grocery store without a plan is like throwing a bunch of random clothing items in a suitcase and hoping you have some good outfits to wear on vacation. You’ll probably get by just fine, but chances are you’ll be wasting precious cargo space lugging around a bunch of clothes that you never wear. Imagine showing up for a beach vacation with a ton of sweatshirts!

It’s the same with buying food. Just 10 to 15 minutes of planning can save you energy and money while shopping. These are a few ways that our staff streamline the grocery-shopping process:

• “I meal plan on Saturdays. I look at my calendar for the upcoming week and note which days I have time to make dinner and which days need something quick. This method allows me to look forward to the days when I have time to cook, but also helps me stay realistic about busier days.” — Emily Parulski, newsletter editor
• “I utilize grocery pick-up through our local grocery store. Being able to do my grocery shopping online has been a game changer for me.” — Ellen Crowley, culinary producer
• “Unless I’m making specific dish, I mentally plan a week’s worth of dinners based on what we have. We don’t shop daily, so I have a packed pantry, lots of fresh veggies in the fridge and I’m a big fan of my freezer. I scan what we have, plan a few days of dinners at a time and defrost what we need.” — Lesley Balla, associate food editor

3. Pick a Planning Day

Meal planning is certainly not a new concept, but I think a lot of home cooks forget just how flexible you can be with it. Everyone’s schedules are so different, and sometimes Sunday is just too busy to handle all of those household chores. The most popular meal prep days for our staff are actually Monday and Saturday!

Figure out the schedule that works for you. I like to split my meal planning session and my grocery shopping into two different days, otherwise I get overwhelmed. On Friday mornings I like to save recipes and make a list for the coming week, then I grocery shop on Sunday. Since I’m usually an overambitious planner, I like the buffer day between planning and shopping so that I have a chance to be more realistic about my grocery needs.

My Google calendar isn’t just a scheduling tool; I love to use it as a grocery list, too. I block out two hours on Sunday for grocery shopping, and then I write my grocery list in the calendar event itself. If I’m out shopping and I can’t remember if I have any limes, for example, I can look at my calendar and see if I bought them the previous week.

4. Embrace Ingredient Prep

The game-changer in getting meals on the table quickly isn’t preparing seven dinners on Sunday night (although, if you have the energy and fridge space for that, I applaud you!). Instead of thinking of prep days as a chance to cook entire meals, use it as time to prep specific ingredients. This way, weeknight meals come together with a lot less chopping, peeling, marinating and mixing.

These are just some of the items that our staff regularly make ahead for quicker weeknight meals:

• Croutons
• Marinara sauce
• Ramen broth
• Salad dressing
• Pickled veggies
• Pulled pork
• Pizza dough

Aside from that, ingredient prep can be as simple as dicing or cubing vegetables for stir-frying and roasting. Or you can clean, dry and store berries and fresh herbs in the fridge so they’re ready to use. If I have a jar of pickled veggies and a creamy dressing in my fridge, I become invincible during the week!

5. Use Frozen Vegetables

Almost everyone on staff that I talked to had high praise for the utility of frozen vegetables. If you don’t currently have a bag of broccoli florets in your freezer, you’re missing out!

Frozen vegetables are the single most versatile ingredient to always have on hand. They can go from freezer to oven to table with remarkably little effort and time.