I love to cook; I really do! But planning and preparing dinner every day can become challenging. After you’ve been busy all day, you might just have a small window of time to provide nourishment and hopefully spend a few precious minutes connecting with your loved ones before everyone is off again to practice, do homework, go to meetings, or whatever is on our busy schedules. That’s why coming up with anything that makes getting a meal on the table easier and faster, is always a big plus. In today’s blog I’m sharing 5 of my favorite time-saving cooking hacks to help you save time too!

Roast garlic in the microwave instead of the oven. Just combine garlic, olive oil, and water in a bowl and microwave for 5-7 minutes. You'll end up with all the deliciousness of roasted garlic without the 45-minute cooking time.

Soften butter quickly by placing it under a warm glass. Warm up a glass by filling it with hot water, dump the water out, then place it over a chunk of cold butter. After a minute or two, the butter will be soft enough to spread.

Microwave potatoes before frying, roasting, or baking them to cut down the cooking time and make sure they're completely cooked throughout. Microwave them for four minutes before cooking to cut cooking time and make sure they come out nice and tender.

Make time-saving cubes in advance. Those silicon ice cube trays aren’t just for ice. By freezing a few easy ingredients, you can save yourself tons of time later. Put some of your favorite herbs and olive oil in tray compartments to cook potatoes, vegetables, or chicken on another day. Pour extra wine into the tray so you can use it for flavoring sauces. Pour in the last few drops from the coffeepot to make cubes that won’t water down your cold brew! It might not seem like much, but when these run out, you’ll wish you’d made more.

Use a pressure cooker. With the popularity of electric pressure cookers, there’s a million delicious recipes out there, but when you use one, you can save hours of cooking time. It’s even faster when you prep your ingredients beforehand, so cut soup vegetables or defrost meats, and you’ll be able to start the meal in a flash! Try our recipe for Saigon Pork Shoulder. https://bit.ly/2L6epf0

There are certainly some dishes that are worth putting a lot of time into when you have the time to do it. Unfortunately, today’s busy world doesn’t always allow us that luxury, so I try to find ways to be more efficient while still producing nutritious and delicious meals for my family. If you’ve discovered any great cooking or kitchen time savers, we’d love to hear about them in the comments.