Tips From Healthy Kitchens, Healthy Lives

Healthcare, culinary arts, and nutrition professionals will gather at the Greystone campus of the Culinary Institute of America in California from March 18 to 21 for the Healthy Kitchens, Healthy Lives symposium to help bridge the gaps among their disciplines.

Dietitian, cookbook author, and Today’s Diet & Nutrition advisor Brenda Ponichtera, RD, attended last year’s meeting, which included faculty members from Harvard Medical School and the Harvard School of Public Health, as well as distinguished cookbook authors and world-class chef educators from the Culinary Institute of America. She offers these tips from Chef Adam Busby, CMC, director of education for the institute’s Greystone campus, that can help you become a more efficient meal planner and make your kitchen more organized.

• Turn off the television, get off the couch, and get cooking. It’ll save you money and may improve your health.

• You don’t need a large quantity of cooking tools. You only need the right tools: two knives, a French knife or cleaver, and a paring knife; only those pots and pans you’ll actually use, not an entire set; a large cutting board; and measuring cups and spoons.

• Organize your meal preparation area and you’ll save time. Use a large cutting board as a work surface. Have the tools you’ll need, such as knives and measuring spoons, within easy reach (for example, on your right side if you are right handed). Gather ingredients you need and line them up above the cutting board. Have a scrap bowl for waste to help make cleanup a snap.

• Change your mindset about cooking. Instead of complaining about cutting fresh produce, think of the hundreds of dollars you’ll save each year by doing so.

• Put on your favorite music. Enjoy cooking, relax, and have fun.

• Invite others to help. It’s a great opportunity to get your children involved and teach them to cook.

• Write a menu for the week using a template that includes the meals themselves along with a column for the preparation that can be done in advance. Give thought to making leftovers that can become lunches and other meals. Pre-preparation ideas include cooking double batches and using one serving for a meal and another for sandwiches later in the week, for example, or freezing a serving for future meals (such as chili, stews, casseroles, or soups); cleaning and chopping fresh fruit and vegetables for the week all at once; and preparing salad dressings and other items for the days ahead while you’re already working in the kitchen.

• Develop a cheat sheet of your family’s favorite dishes to save time when planning meals.

• Have staples in your cupboard and freezer so that you can make a quick last-minute meal when you just don’t have time to cook from scratch.

• Store “overs” that can be used in other meals in clear containers and freezer bags so you can easily see what you have.

For more information about Healthy Kitchens, Healthy Lives, visit www.healthykitchens.org.