I'm not sure I understand the thing about boiling water:<p>1. Put a modest amount of water in the pot and turn the stove element on.<p>2. Put a modest amount of water in the electric kettle and turn it on.<p>3. If one boils before the other, either combine them (if the other is nearly boiling) or add a little more water to the already-boiling one.<p>What happens if they boil at the same time? Don't combine them?
What happens if pot boils before kettle? Add water to the pot and forget about the kettle?<p>And overall boiling water seems to be the worst example to pick to show how to optimize cooking.
You can't over-boil water, so depending on your appliance, if you don't start using your boiling water as soon as it boils, it will either stop heating and start loosing temperature, or it will keep boiling, water will be lost through evaporation and energy consumed needlessly.
But if your focus is time, then boiling is not an issue. You can do whatever you want during heating.
Furthermore, with electric kettle and induction stove, you'll hardly have time to chop a few onions or clean a few carrots before water is ready.<p>I've seen people needing half to a full hour to make pasta with a store-bought sauce, and thought that was crazy, but that's because they weren't doing things in parallel and/or not in the right order.<p>Like, if you plan to make pasta, first you put water to boil, then you get your pasta and everything else while its heating.
And don't wait for your pasta to be ready to get your strainer.
Same for the sauce. Get it and open it while the pasta are cooking.
One thing we do is to load a new dishwasher tablet immediately upon emptying the dishes.<p>Result:<p>If there’s a tablet: it’s dirty.<p>If there’s no tablet: it’s clean.
The stable state of our dishwasher is dirty: clean only lasts the fleeting instant a person spots it and immediately empties it.
That's a nice trick. What we do is use a reversible magnet that says "dirty" on one side and "clean" on the other
That's a good one. One I tend to do is, once I know i will run the dishwasher overnight, I will set it to run with a delay. That way, even if I forget to put in the last few items, it's going to run and I will not run out of clean stuff. (My dishwasher is fairly slow, as it's a built-in one and can't pop open to dry).
Wtf? I never once in my life have any issues telling if dishes are dirty or clean??? What a weird problem to have.<p>I'll give you a pro tip: Clean dishes look and smell clean.
The issue comes when there are multiple people using the kitchen. Sometimes my wife runs the dishwasher when I'm not around, or vice versa. We usually rinse our dishes, so there is not always a lot of visible evidence.<p>The problem is when you have a dirty dish and assume that the dishwasher contents are dirty too (because usually we unload the dishwasher soon after it finishes). Then you put a dirty dish in, possibly making other dishes dirty. So you have to either hand-wash several dishes or re-wash the entire load.
I understand your confusion. If you clean off and rinse your dishes before you put them in the dishwasher, it can sometimes get confusing
I don't get the logic of cleaning dishes BEFORE putting them in the dishwasher.
Not actually cleaning, just rinsing.<p>The logic is to prevent:<p><pre><code> - Chunks of fibrous vegetables (e.g.) from clogging the dishwasher filter
- Wet sauces (or egg) from drying and hardening over the hours/days before the next dishwasher cycle, and becoming more difficult to remove
</code></pre>
A lot of people don't know that dishwashers have filters that need to be cleaned regularly!<p>And many of us grew up with older dishwashers that didn't work as well as newer ones.<p>All of that said, modern dishwashers actually monitor the water (clarity, turbidity?) to determine whether the dishes are sufficiently clean. If you rinse your dishes too well, the dishwasher will prematurely think it has accomplished its goal, and reduce time/temperature to end the cycle early. This is why manufacturers recommend against rinsing or pre-cleaning.<p>In my household, we have a pair of zealous canine precleaners, who do an excellent first-pass job. The dishwasher's only responsibility is to rinse and sterilize. :)
You will after you have to pull the dishwasher out, turn it upside down and partially disassemble it to clean the filter which is blocking the flow of water intended to rinse your dishes.
I think people don't want to clog their dishwasher with pieces of food. If I have a couple pieces of spaghetti, a part of a leaf and half a chickpea stuck on the plate, I would remove them with a paper towel. Not sure why anyone would rinse it afterwards, though.<p>That reminds me of people who clean before the maid comes. I've never had a maid, but I've read that people do the easiest things themselves so the maid, who is paid by the hour, has to do the harder things only.
I do it and recognize that the logic is flawed, but it's a habit and just looks and feels correct at this point.
I might quickly rinse my dishes to remove large food particles.<p>If you are cleaning your dishes so much before loading that you literally can't tell the difference between dishes that have been through the dishwasher and dishes that haven't, then just skip the dishwasher step. You're already done.
The water boiling one doesn't make any sense. One of those devices (stove or kettle) transfers more heat per unit of time into the water. Just use that device for the full amount of water.<p>An induction range would remove the need for transferring boiling water around. At least in the US, that's the fastest device, since countertop kettles are limited to 1.8kW or so. Induction 'burners' usually are 2.5-4kW, and assuming the right cookware, much better at transferring that energy into the water (and not the air like a gas burner)
> One of those devices (stove or kettle) transfers more heat per unit of time into the water. Just use that device for the full amount of water.<p>But.. Applying heat from two sources is better than applying heat from only one?
Come to Europe, we have the 3+ kw kettles!
Even 10 second kettle: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dDLw1Rx_cAI" rel="nofollow">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dDLw1Rx_cAI</a><p>(In 2014 they were still in the EU)
No fair because you also have the 240V outlets :(
US kitchens have them too, they're just hidden behind the oven. :)<p>If you rarely use the oven and kettle at the same time, it would work to plug them into the same receptacle.<p>Someone will react violently to this idea, so I'll spell out the caveats here:<p><pre><code> - This would require some electrical know-how, because US and UK plugs are different. An electrician will probably not help you, because:
- This would be a code violation, because the range is required to have a dedicated circuit.
- Done properly, it is not a *safety* concern, because the range circuit is overspec'ed for the maximum use case, and _dramatically_ overspec'ed for the 99.9% use case.
- In the maximum use case (full draw -- all burners and the oven on full and "engaged" at the same time -- very rare except maybe for brief moments during big holiday cooking), adding the draw of a high-wattage kettle might pop the breaker. I will not argue that exceeding the limits of a 50A circuit is trivial, but I will say that all of the systems are absolutely designed to handle it.
</code></pre>
Don't do this. It would work, and it would be safe. But don't do this.
A foot pedal faucet is the biggest optimization I need to make. It's like giving yourself a third arm in many situations.
I've found that cooking extra food with the intent of freezing it in individual portions is a game changer for when I'm alone at home - my fiancée can also pack them for lunch. Rice, curries, ragoûts are really nice to get out of the freezer, put on a plate in the microwave and eat a few minutes later.<p>Look at Souper Cubes (or any silicon knockoff) for the molds.
Batch cooking is the only way to have two working adults.
I love to cook though, so at home, one cooks the batch part and the other does a different meal for the weekend.<p>We think our cooking is much better than almost all restaurants we go (and we heard from others that our guests usually thinks the same).
I had similar thoughts to the author, but I opted to just optimize those actions out of my life. If you only eat Huel(or any other powdered food thing) at home then pretty much everything described in the article is no longer an issue.<p>No more dealing with dishes, dishwashers, stray items on the table, boiling water etc. The only thing you need to worry about is cleaning your one huel cup which you can do right before you prepare your next shake.<p>I did it for a few years, eating breakfast + lunch at the office and then Huel for dinner or eating out at restaurant.
I find kitchenwork provides good case studies for computational thinking. Thinking about stacking dishes by their sizes leads to a tour of sorting algorithms and datastructures. Thinking about predicting the prices of different preparations that use the same ingredients leads to principal component analysis.<p>There's also the application of computational methods to cooking.
Right now I have a large and stylish open kitchen but there are times where I miss having a galley kitchen, where I could stand in one place and reach everything I needed - pots and pans hanging from the ceiling, knives and accessories on magnetic racks on the walls, fridge contents reachable while standing at the stove... somehow it even had enough prep space.
I have a large open plan kitchen with one counter surrounded by hanging pots and pans, knives on a magnetic wall mount, all chopping boards stored vertically in racks and most of the condiments on a wall rack or in the drawers
If you cook with a partner, a kitchen with a wide enough aisle so that one can open a dishwasher and also open a cabinet on the opposite side makes life so much easier, since it means it is also wide enough for 2 people to move past each other easily.<p>Big tub sink on one side, range on the opposite side of aisle, and at least 3ft/1m of countertop space on both sides of each those is my ideal. One side of the sink will have a dish rack, leaving 3 sides. That means 3 available spaces for prep, eventually turning into 2 as dirty kitchenware piles up next to the sink.
I think B. F. Skinner liked that sort of things. (In "Walden Two" he gives a rather detailed description of a contraption to conveniently carry around a glass full of a hot beverage without risk of spilling; I'm positive it was one of his inventions.)
I have a few things that I can add. If you just want an adequate meal with the least amount of work, invest in:<p>* multicooker, one with a pressure cooking setting. You just have to press a few buttons and forget about it. If you know how much time it takes to cook something (for example - chickpeas, 26 minutes), you just set it for 26 minutes and go do something else. The multicooker will keep it warm for a few hours after it's done. No need to turn off the stove or anything like that. There's hardly any vapor released. You can make lots of dishes under pressure - pasta, lentils, chickpeas, beans... You can steam (almost?) any vegetable, as well. For beans and chickpeas the total prep time is hours, but the actual human time is minutes. Just put them under water for a few hours (takes ~30 seconds), then drain and put into the multicooker (takes ~1 minute). It takes a few minutes of actual work, but it also lets you forget about it, as it won't over-boil or anything like that. I can put something and go out, come back after a few hours and have a hot meal ready. I only use my regular stove top to make popcorn once in a while. The only downside is not being able to add different ingredients after the cooking has begun, as it's under pressure. And the "26" minutes above don't include the time it takes to reach the required pressure and the time it takes to release it. You can speed both steps by boiling water in a kettle before putting in the multicooker and by using the release valve after the cooking is done.<p>* bread maker - literally put water, oil, salt, sugar, flour and yeast one after the other, press a few buttons, wait a few hours and you get a perfect bread. Beats any recipe, including the "no-knead" ones, in terms of convenience. I can make better bread with lots of kneading and resting and whatnot, but the bread that comes out is good enough for me, so I don't see myself ever making bread by hand again.<p>If I lose all my possessions and have to rebuild from scratch, I would buy a cheap multicooker first, then a bread maker. Then, I'd think about a regular stove, a microwave and so on.<p>Another "optimization" is keeping everything in jars. Flour, coffee, sugar, cocoa, condiments, beans, oats - everything. It's much easier to see what and how much you have of everything, it's transparent, you can put labels on the jars (cheap price tags/stickers), you can pour from the jars easily, you can scoop with them with a spoon. No messy paper or plastic wraps. I don't get why people keep things in their original packaging - a bulky, wrinkled plastic or paper wrap that obscures the view behind it, obscures the view inside and makes it harder to scoop with a spoon.<p>For jars you use frequently, keep a spoon inside. I have a spoon in my coffee jar. I still have to get another spoon to swirl my coffee when it's done, so the sugar dissolves, but it's nice to not care about that when you're transferring the coffee from the jar to the moka pot or coffee maker.<p>And finally, keep similar ingredients near each other. The condiments, the teas, the legumes, the flours, the sauces. Just designate a place for each type of food. You can always adjust it later. In my cupboard the sugary condiments (sugar, molasses, xylitol, honey, etc.) are on the left, the salty ones are on the right (various types of salt, as well as salty mixes) and the other ones are in the middle (herbs and whatnot). Above that the most protein-y things are on the left, the cereal-y things are in the middle (oats, various seeds) and misc. things are on the right. The idea is that whenever I buy something, when I come home I immediately pour it into a jar and put it where it belongs. That way everything is pretty and organized. Queries like "how much lentils do I have left" are answered in seconds. The overhead of keeping the jars clean is minimal, as you don't have to clean the jars all the time - if you had a jar of lentils that's now empty, just leave it "dirty". It's not unhygienic, especially if you'll put lentils or other food that you'll boil in it later, anyway. I clean them once they get visible dirty - if I've touched them with greasy fingers, for example.
Agreed on jars. We use Weck and Ball for different purposes, and truly love them. It's odd to be so attached to trivial chunks of silicon, and we're not attached to them <i>as individuals</i> but I appreciate them every time we use them.<p>I struggle with the discarding of the original packaging. Sometimes I want to know what the nutritional content of product X is. I have a guilt drawer of collapsed packaging. This has the added benefit of confirming formulation changes, shrinkflation evidence, and remembering brands of certain commodities that were better or worse than others. It also satisfies my "preserve all available data" instincts -- which I imagine many other geeks share -- although it is only tolerated with amusement by other members of my household.
I take a photo of almost any package. I have a folder with labels from years ago. I admit that if the manufacturers of X change the ingredients without changing the design/layout, I wouldn't notice. So I might have to set up a system where I remind myself to check everything once every few months to compare it to the photos I have. But at least the photos don't take up any space. I used to have a drawer with packaging and receipts, too, but it was unmanagable.
I agree with all. We use Tupperware clones instead of jars, and a microwave+gril+convection oven for 75% cooking. Reposting an old comment:<p>We are very happy with our Samsung Hotblast <a href="https://www.samsung.com/in/microwave-ovens/convection/28-litre-convection-microwave-oven-mc28a6035qs-tl/" rel="nofollow">https://www.samsung.com/in/microwave-ovens/convection/28-lit...</a> (or a similar version). You setup the temperature to 200°C (392°F), the time to 20 or 30 minutes and you can go to another room while it cooks. It takes some time to find the perfect time, and sometime you must use the microwave or grill instead, but it's perfect for cooking in a short time.
there are indications that cooking and doing other house related chores are actually beneficial for the mind. Cooking is specially important.<p>I don't know the reasons as I only read parts of papers and posts about it, but it seems something related to human brain evolution, but I am no expert. If someone knows more I would be happy to know
This is great keep going.<p>I find mis-en-place is a great optimization, especially if you have kids.<p>For hot water, I have a 2L thermos which I keep filled with boiling water to make hot drinks, with a quick reboil if necessary, and also to use as cooking water. I think there are plumbed in versions of this which would be even better.<p>Bread-making - I just use a bread machine to make day-to-day bread (specials hand baked etc on weekends sometimes.) For the daily, I pre-measure ingredients (both wet and dry) for 10+ loaves, individually packaged (kids are a great production line again). The to make the bread, just throw in the packets and press the buttons...<p>No doubt most people already do this, but for some reason my wife can't get it .. keep everything in the same place all the time. It really wastes time and 'stressergy' to have to hunt for the measuring spoons or the molasses or whatever because they were put back in a different place.<p>I'm sure commercial chefs could add a huge list of tricks that are still applicable at home to this.
Optimize why? So that we can spend the extra seconds on our social media apps? People need to learn to slow down and not try to save twenty seconds when boiling water.
Anecdotally, with two young children (5, 1), the savings add up and mean twenty more seconds with them or not being overwhelmed after they're asleep with the state of the house.
No, boiling water in the kettle literally saves you 10 minutes of hanging around every single time you cook, it's a no brainier.