Tools for Building Stress Free Cooking Experiences
To help get the stress out of your kitchen, you’ll need the proper tools. Just like a doctor who extracts a metal shard from a wounded leg, you must have the right tools and understand how to use them to take away pain and suffering caused by the stress of cooking. The tools required to de-stress your kitchen may be foreign to you, but they’re the ones that’ll help you organize, prepare and execute great meals.
Post it notes
Those little yellow sticky notes are one kitchen accessory you shouldn’t live without. These note pads make it easy to jot down lists of required groceries, cooking times, recipes, or even reminders about how to prevent your pumpkin pie from smelling like a rubber tire on hot pavement.
Timer
Timers are essential, because they take the guesswork out of knowing when something’s done, or how long twenty minutes has been, as odd as it sounds. It’s a good habit to have a clock and a couple of timers on hand to keep things in perspective in the kitchen. It could save you from a kitchen disaster some day.
Sharp knife
Sharp knives are another essential part of stress free kitchens. A dull knife makes chopping three times more difficult, and three times more dangerous. There’s also bound to be some intricate work you’ll need to do sometime that requires a sharp knife for precision.
Master Chefs don’t carve swans into the rinds of cantaloupes with dull knives, or they’d probably look more like pigeons. A few crushed tomatoes and odd-looking slices of bread under your belt and you’ll understand what we mean.
Plan / menu
Have a plan, we say, or at least a menu handy that shows what you plan to prepare. It makes things considerably easier to know when things need to go on the stove or come out of the oven. If you decide to wing it, the odds of you forgetting an essential part of the meal goes up, which means the rest of your meal gets cold while you’re trying to correct your mistake. Make a plan and save yourself a considerable amount of stress.
Radio
Yes, a radio is actually one of the most important tools you could have in a stress-free kitchen. It could even be a CD player, iPod, Walkman, or whatever you have that produces soothing or energizing music you can cook to. Music reduces stress, especially when combined with another task, like test taking or cooking. It helps you relax and focus on what you’re doing in the kitchen.
So, a sensible plan, a sharp blade, something to tell you when dinner’s done, and a few well-placed sticky notes, and you’re ready for a stress free cooking experience. They may not be typical tools, but you’ll be surprised how well they work for you, if properly applied. Adapt or alter them to suit your needs and abilities in the kitchen, and you’ll be much happier when dinner is done
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