We’re all busy these days. Whether we’re working outside the home or a stay at home parent. We’ve had a hard day and the last thing we want to be bothered with is the evening meal, dinner. I’ve got 45 dinner recipes to get on the table in 45 minutes or less.

Over 45 Dinner Recipes to Get Dinner on the Table in 45 Minutes or Less www.domesblissity.com

Plus, I want to share with you how, with just a little prep and some wise grocery choices, you can make that job even easier. Dinner time should be a pleasant experience for the whole family and you should be eating the food you and your family like to eat.

Time savers

There are a lot of people out there who like to spend a few hours on the weekend prepping their meals for the week, fortnight or month but not me. Weekends are family time for me. I love cooking so whether a meal takes me 30 minutes or 45 minutes to make each night, I don’t mind. If you want to spend all of your weekend doing that, then that’s up to you but I know what I’d rather be doing. Spending valuable time with my family and making quick and easy meals during the week.

But I get tired too. I’m a busy work at home mother with 2 teenage children and it doesn’t matter what age they are, afternoons are tiring. There’s homework, afternoon tea, running them to after school activities etc and the last thing you feel like doing, as you wind down for the day is to be prepping for dinner and cooking dinner.

Here are a few time saving tips that will help you get dinner on the table in 45 minutes or less:

Cut up vegetables: If you’re not purchasing pre-cut vegetables, this is quite easy to do when you bring the groceries home. Broccolli, cauliflower, pumpkin (butternut squash) etc are all vegetables that won’t take but a couple of minutes to cut up and put in a bag or container and pop in the fridge. Come dinner time, you take out as much as you need.
Buy pre-cut or frozen vegetables: The pre-cut vegetables might be a little higher in price but they’ll save you a lot of time if you’re time poor. Same with the frozen vegetables. They’ve already been cut and are no less in quality to fresh vegetables. In fact, the freshness has been sealed in and they are frozen as soon as being picked.
Buy serving size meat: Instead of buying a whole chicken and cutting it up, buy chicken pieces, drumsticks or wings. Most supermarkets are making it easier for busy people by even making meatballs and crumbing meat to take away the hassle from you having to do it. Watch your prices though and check for any unwanted preservatives. Frozen fish fillets are also really great as they cook well from frozen and if defrosted, they cook even quicker.
Keep your pantry stocked with canned or jars of already cooked vegetables. I always buy a big jar of roast capsicums for about $4 that come in handy for so many recipes.
Tinned fish: Tinned tuna, salmon, sardines and your other favourites are such a handy thing to have in the cupboard, especially if you’ve forgotten to defrost your meat. A Salade Nicoise with a can of tuna, a couple boiled eggs and other ingredients can be ready on the table in the time it takes to open the can.
Use appliances that speed up the cooking process: Besides a slow cooker, which will cook your meal for you, appliances such as a sandwich press or pressure cooker can really speed up the time it takes to cook dinner. I don’t mean to go out and buy all new appliances. But if something like a pressure cooker will cook all the types of meals your family likes to eat, it might be worth the price in the long run.
Cook up double or triple sides: Things like cooked pasta, rice and mashed potato can all be frozen into family serving sizes and reheated in the microwave or with boiling water poured over (pasta or rice) while the main part of the meal is cooking.

Substitutes

Substitute where you can with the recipes below. If the recipe calls for chicken and you don’t have it, look at what you do have. If the ground meat in the recipe says beef but you only have pork or chicken, use that and adjust the flavours slightly to use what you have. Apple goes great with pork and chicken will suit any flavourings.

Use vegetables that are in season. No point cooking a dish that needs a winter vegetable when you’re cooking it in summer. It will only add to your costs. Always use what you have.

If the recipe calls for pasta and you don’t have any, use rice or noodles and visa versa. Same with lasagna sheets, for example. Sliced vegetables like zucchini, roasted capsicum, eggplant etc are great substitutes or even normal pasta like spirals or penne.

Some of these recipes might be for the slow cooker but they can be adapted to a pot on the stove or into an oven to be cooked in a shorter time.