Remember way back in the Oct. 31 Cook’n Newsletter when I said this:

Let’s Trade: Cook’n Magazine for Time-Savings Tips!

How would you like one of the very best cooking magazines ever published, for FREE? All you need to do is send me your best time-saving tip and I’ll send you a copy of this beautiful, no-longer-available magazine. It’s filled with 51 scrumptious recipes and the most gorgeous photography you’ve ever seen.

I was in the process of researching kitchen time-saving tips for an article I planned to write for this issue of the Cook’n Club Newsletter. I thought you might like some help in doing things quicker and easier during one of the busiest seasons of the year. And I approached YOU for tips and tricks because YOU are some of the best cooks and kitchen managers around.

Well, true to my expectations, you responded. It was a challenge choosing the best suggestions, but we did it. So here for your time-saving pleasure I present our readers’ savvy tips.

Leslie Kaufman validated my suggestion last week of developing the mise-en-place approach to cooking:

• “This seems obvious, but being organized is key. Not only do I use mise-en-place, but I get out all bowls, cookware and measuring spoons/cups that I need after reading the recipe one last time before actually doing the cooking. If I am cooking multiple dishes and I need 2 minced cloves of garlic for the main, and 3 for a side, for example, I prepare all the garlic and put them in separate bowls next to other items in the recipe. I don’t measure olive oil or the like ahead of time (i.e. one tsp or whatever), but I do keep a measuring spoon next to the bottle so there is no time wasted in fetching something.”

Ann Carras had two suggestions:

• Pack the next day’s lunch after dinner. Don’t just putting leftovers in the fridge, pack them right into containers for the next day’s take-to-the-office lunch. There they are in the morning, ready to grab as you are zooming out of the house.
• Buy berries in bulk (to save money). Put 1/2 cups-worth into snack bags THEN pack all the snack bags into the freezer. Why? They’re great anti-cancer foods (we should eat about 1/2 cup per day). Ann says, “After dinner, we grab the snack bags, dump them in bowls, microwave them for a minute or so and top them with some vanilla yogurt. By pre-measuring, it’s easy to know you’re getting your daily dose! (When they were in a big bag, we tended not to eat them, or we didn't eat enough, so snack bags make it super easy.)”

Lorraine Rodriguez suggested:

• Season or marinate meats and poultry in plastic freezer bags, then freeze them in their marinade. This way the time it takes to unfreeze is counted as marinade time.

Terrellgram (her online name) also had some good idea; the first is especially good for empty-nesters:

• “Cooking for two is not easy. But I’ve learned that if I have the extra ingredients, I cook for the original number in our family, four. Then I make homemade “TV” dinners from the leftovers and freeze them. I use paper (not styrofoam) plates (unless it is a really juicy item) and put them into a vacumn sealed bag. They can be heated from a frozen state in the bag if it’s punctured or thawed. These, along with small quantities of things, are stored on the top shelf of the freezer for easy locating. (That is my quick fix shelf.)”
• Keep a large sheet of paper and a magnetic pen on the freezer door so you can keep an inventory of its contents and so you can mark off those items you remove. You can see at a glance what items need replenishing.
• Another inventory list idea: Keep a list of spices on the inside of your cabinet door; when one runs out, place a check by it. Type the list and save it so you can simply edit and print as needed.
• Make a menu on the weekend or whatever days you are off and cook from it. Place items needed for the next day’s meal on the counter before bedtime. Next day, you’re ready to cook.

Butterflywillows (another online name) had a simple, yet brilliant tip for saving us some clean-up time:

• If you have a pot boiling over on the stove, just lay a wooden spoon over the top of the pan and it will stop it from boiling over!

Deloris Wilson had a time/energy saving tip for dealing with bulk hamburger:

• When buying hamburger in 3- to 5-pound packages, freeze a few 1 pound packages for meatloaf, then brown all the rest. Drain off the fat, and then package it in recipe amounts for the freezer. Deloris says, “Having the meat cooked before freezing saves us about 15 minutes cooking time in the evening, and there’s no frying pan to wash, either.”

Carol Schwartz had a smart tip for dealing with onions:

• Remove the skins, cut off the tops and bottoms, then cut in halves or quarters, depending on the size. Mince them in your food processor. Place them in small snack-size freezer bags and put these into a gallon-size freezer bag. Minced onions ready when needed!

Finally, Sue McCown shared her time-saving tips:

• Keep a container in the freezer for leftover vegetables. After meals, any leftover vegetables go into this container. It doesn’t take long to accumulate enough for soup or stew and nothing goes to waste!
• Buy extra bags of flour on sale, but store them in the freezer to kill any weevil that may be included in the product.
• Buy lots of bananas when on sale, then peel and freeze them in pieces for future baking.