How I Multitask Cooking: 45mins to prepare many meals

For quite a lot of my friends who are used to coming over to my house for dinner, they are used to seeing me multitask in the kitchen, cooking plenty of dishes for a lot of people in a short period of time. Again, in my arduous task of obtaining perfectionism, I developed this habit of being able to act like a chef of a restaurant in my very own kitchen.

Monday nights I prepare the following:

• Monday night's dinner for myself, my 3yr old and 9mth old
• Tuesday afternoon's lunch for myself to pack to work
• Tuesday's lunch for my 9mth old daughter
• Semi-prep for Tuesday night's dinner for myself, my 3yr old and 9mth old

So how do I do all of the above in 45mins? Here's how...

All 3 of us are in the kitchen at the same time every evening

I will put my youngest daughter, Adrianna in her walker with some toys or vege sticks to munch on for her teething to distract her.

Alessi has been trained from 18mths old to always assist me in everything I do, so now she is my pro-assistant chef. Alessi will help me cut, clear, stir, mix, wash and clean :)

1st 10mins is always cooking rice in rice cooker (if it is rice for the night) & everything on the table to prepare all of the above meals and doing all the cutting, chopping, mincing, watever. I cut the meat 1st and marinade it while I cut all other items. 1st cut items are always for Adrianna's food steamer & blender. Once the rest are ready, I place all the cut items on as little plates as possible. Meaning as many dishes' cut items onto the same plates if possible (to reduce washing later).

Then I will cook Item No 1: Alessi's Chinese herbal soup 1st because it is the easiest and fastest to do. Boil water in kettle, pour onto half chicken carcass in a big bowl and pour boiling water into pot with herbs. Boil herbs, remove chicken carcass from big bowl and place in boiling pot of herbs. Bring to boil for 5mins and then lower the fire to simmer for another 30-40mins. 

In another small pot, Item No 2: pour boiling water to steam the corncob.

Whilst I am doing the Chinese soup & corn, I will also heat up 1 wok/pan on low heat and I will also place Item No 3: Tuesday night's dinner ingredients into the oven to grill. I am roasting vegetables for Tuesday night's dinner so I simply place them all on the tray and let them oven grill them for the next 15mins.

Once it is all in the oven, I go over to my heated wok to stir fry Item No 4, for tonight I am doing Chinese stir fry of tomato and celery with butter, garlic and salt. Very light stir fry to maintain freshness and crispiness of the vege. Remove from wok, 1/4 onto plate, 1/2 onto lunch box, 1/4 onto Alessi's plate.

I also multitask and do Item No 5: put a knob of butter into a small pot to lightly melt the butter, low heat for 30secs then pour in the finely chopped garlic, leave for another 30secs. Switch of the fire and leave to cool down. This prepares Homemade Garlic Butter which costs peanuts compared to the ones sold in supermarket! Breakfast tomorrow: Toast with Garlic Butter and Slice of Cheese

Using the same big wok stir fry vege, I cook Item No 6: pour in the marinated meat, stir fry for 2-3mins, then pour in the broccoli stir fry for 1min and lastly the bok choy for another 30secs. I always like my vege still crunchy so it is a short period of time to stir fry. Remove from wok, 1/4 onto plate, 1/2 onto lunch box, 1/4 onto Alessi's plate.

Cooking Multiple Dishes To Save Time

In the meantime, Alessi would have washed all the cutlery and plates used to prepare.

Remove corn cob from pot and put into lunch box.

Add salt to Chinese soup and remove from heat. 

Pour soup into 2 bowls, balance into lunch box.

Scoop rice onto my plate, Alessi's plate and lunch box.

My maid will scoop Adrianna's food from steamer/blender into her bowl.

So in 45mins, I have prepared:

Chinese Soup to last 2 dinner nights

2 Dishes + Rice for Dinner and Pack Lunch

1 Corn Cob to snack on at work

Adrianna's meal for dinner tonight and lunch tomorrow

Semi-prepare tomorrow night's dinner - Roasted Vegetables

Dinner Tonight + Lunch Tomorrow + Dinner Prep Tomorrow

I know it sounds like a really crazy 45mins. 

But in this short time, I am enjoying my favorite past time, spending quality time with my kids teaching them cooking and cleaning up (a life skill) whilst making it a fun activity filled with great conversations and I feed healthy meals to my family!

So if I can do it, so can you :)