The Italians are great at making food taste good with little effort. Katy Beskow looks at ways to simplify your meals, without compromising on their flavour or nutrition
Cook once, eat twice
If the idea of cooking every night fills you with dread, batch cook a recipe that will keep for 2-3 days. Be mindful with the quantities that you’re using and double a recipe if needed. Not only does this save you time over a few days, but it helps reduce your energy usage. Recipes that work well for batch cooking include bean chilli, lentil bolognese, root vegetable soups, or a large lasagne.
One-pot cooking
Recipes that are cooked in one pot are effortless, fuss-free, and save on time spent washing up! The ‘pot’ can mean a pan, wok, roasting tray or slow-cooker, so the meal variations are endless. Getting used to cooking with one pot also helps you to declutter unnecessary items from your kitchen, such as equipment you don’t use regularly, or anything that clutters your worktop space. Less physical clutter can help to reduce stress, allow you to spend less time organising and cleaning, and give you more space without increasing the size of your kitchen.
Low ingredient recipes
Recipes of 10 ingredients or less are a great way to adopt a minimalist approach to cooking. Fewer ingredients means less preparation, a simpler method to follow, and helps you to have a mindful connection with the ingredients you are using. When dishes contain less than 10 ingredients, you want them to be the stars of the show, so choose good quality ingredients where you can. Shorter ingredients lists are also far less daunting than long lists, especially if you’re a less confident cook.
Eat seasonally
By eating seasonally, you’ll have new ingredients to try as the seasons change, meaning you’ll never get bored or stuck-in-a-rut with your meals. Choosing seasonal ingredients also gives a sense of something special to look forward to, such as strawberries in summer and butternut squash in autumn. Ingredients that are in season tend to have the best flavour, may have travelled fewer miles to get to you, and are cheaper than buying out of season. This sustainable way to eat is great for a mindful, minimalist approach to cooking, with lots of natural variety.
Love your freezer
Freezing leftovers, surplus ingredients, or batch-cooked meals is a great way to buy time on a later day – you’ll thank your past self for it. Your freezer is a terrific preservation tool, and it’s suggested that freez
