Learning how to make a home cooked dinner in less than 20 minutes will save you time, money, and even calories, and it is not as hard as you think. Making dinner in 20 minutes or less is comparable to the speed of fast food and is way better for your health. But how is this possible when you work all day? The answer boils down to three simple steps: planning, advance prep and family participation.

Planning: Recipes and Groceries

Planning can save you tons of time that would be spent figuring out what to make, trying to adapt or just giving up and eating out. Take a few minutes each week to plan out 5 dinners, seek out the recipes, and then get all of the groceries needed to make these recipes. Picking up a large package of meat will help to save time and money as you can base a few meals off of this staple. Make sure to keep frozen vegetables and a variety of spices or condiments that can be used to fill in when you are missing an ingredient or two. Keeping a couple of backup meals will help to take the pressure off when you can't get the grocery store. A simple dish such as a Fish and Vegetable casserole  can be a great backup meal as both of these ingredients can share the back of the freezer.  

Advance Prep: Not just for Restaurants

If you have ever worked in a kitchen or even watched any of the reality TV where they are cooking for a restaurant, you are aware of how they prep whatever they can to speed up the cooking times. Borrowing this principle will allow you to keep your own cooking times as low as possible. Once a week preferably right after you do the grocery shopping you should cut and store all of the vegetables that you will need for the next few days. Fully utilizing this technique will allow you to create a simple open and empty assembly of the recipes when you are making dinner such as barbeque chicken breasts. Taking the time to separate out the meat, poultry and fish into meal sized portions before storing will allow you to quickly defrost and use only the amount that you need for the recipe. Taking the extra 10 minutes to divide the meats and vegetable into ready to go packaging will allow you to maximize your time when it comes to preparing the actual meal. [box type="info"]

Prep Time: 10m Cook Time: 15m

Ingredients

• 4 boneless chicken breasts
• Sauce:
• 1/4 cup ketchup
• 3 tablespoons cider vinegar
• 1 tablespoon prepared horseradish
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar (firmly packed)
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 1/8 teaspoon thyme
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper (I use freshly ground)

Step 1

Sauce, in a small saucepan combine ketchup, cider vinegar, horseradish, brown sugar, minced garlic, thyme and black pepper; whisk together to mix ingredients.

Step 2

Bring to a boil over medium/low heat. Cook about five minutes until thickened. Remove from heat.

Step 3

Brush chicken breasts with sauce (both sides) and place in foil lined pan

Step 4

Broil or grill basting with remaining sauce until no longer pink in centre. Allow to stand five minutes before serving [/box]

Participation: Family Affair

One of the best things about selecting simple meals and doing the prep is that anyone can easily do the assembly when dinner time comes around. Depending on the age of the children they can even get it started or start to prepare the workstation so that you can come home and get it cooking within a few minutes. When everyone participates in the process there is a better understanding of the work and the rewards. Cooking is a great skill that can be taught to children and using the extra time that this method affords you to communicate and encourage their curiosity will do wonders. Learning to make meals in less than 20 minutes is achievable and can be a family bonding experience. Have a couple of recipes that you can make in a pinch and planning out your weeks will ensure that you are able to cook fast and nutritious meals with your family. Teaching your children to enjoy the cooking process and discussing the tenets of planning and time management can be great activities that you can impart on them through this process. You will also become efficient at making great tasting meals fast and with less stress than ever before.