Being a parent is busy work. Regardless of the age of your kids, chances are you spend your days running around after the needs of others, and possibly juggling your own job plus your own commitments on top. Cooking each and every day can become a chore even if it’s something you previously enjoyed, and making sure everyone is fed and happy comes with a lot of pressure. Here are three ways you can make life easier for yourself in the kitchen particularly when times get busy. 

The slow cooker is a family favourite, it’s a brilliant gadget- simply throw in your ingredients in the morning and by evening you have a delicious homecooked dinner. The low temperatures means its safe to leave on all day even when you’re not at home, and the slow cooking means that even cheap, tough cuts of meat are perfectly tender at the end of the cooking time. A few minutes prep in the morning is all you need, and you can get home to a dinner that’s cooked to perfection with no more intervention needed meaning it’s great for those busy nights when you just want to get home and eat.        

Invest in an air fryer

This is of course the kitchen gadget of the moment- air fryers are nothing new but they have experienced a huge surge in popularity in the past couple of years. They enable you to cook food quickly and healthily, they use a lot less energy than conventional ovens which is particularly handy right now while we’re going through huge energy price surges and a cost of living crisis. You can cook everything from meat to various types of potatoes, vegetables- pretty much anything in the air fryer and chances are you can adapt all of your family favourites to make cooking quicker and easier. If you’ve not yet invested in one, check out what they can do and look through some recipes online and see if this is a tool that could help you get dinner on the table more efficiently in your household. 

Buy good quality convenience food

In general, convenience food will tend to be less healthy and more expensive than anything you can make at home. However, there’s definitely a place for it when you’re a busy parent- sometimes needs must. The great thing about convenience food is that it’s of course, convenient and if you buy well it will taste nice as well. If you know you have a particularly busy day in your week where you always struggle putting together a decent meal then plan for something easy on that day. You could look to find the best frozen chinese food and serve it with some extra stir fried veggies on the side. You could stock up on a few single portions of things like curries, pies or casseroles so thety’re ready to throw into the oven or microwave on those days where you just dont have the energy.