Family time, where has it gone to? With everyone on the go these days, it seems as if the family dinner has taken a back seat to after-school activities, and overtime. Even rarer is having the entire family sit at the dining room table for dinner on any given night. While there are ten-minute meals, and the popular 30-minute meals on TV; would you be interested to know there are actually 5 minute meals your family will love? Yes, indeed! With Mothers Day almost here Dad and kids could give mom an easy treat and make dinner for her. Here are a few recipes you can whip up in no time.
Angel Hair Pasta: This is, by far, the easiest pasta to prepare. Plus it makes a great [tag-tec]family meal[/tag-tec]. It takes less than five minutes to cook because of its thinness. Available in your local supermarket, just boil a pot of water; add salt; throw in the entire box of angel hair, and cover. Literally, within minutes, you have a most delicious meal. Note: Prepare a large pot of the sauce on the weekend; use several containers to store and freeze; and take the container out of the freezer and place in the fridge until you are ready to cook. You can always use a freezer bag to store excess pasta. When you wish to have the pasta again, just use the microwave to thaw it out.
Chicken: Cook a whole chicken or chicken breasts on the weekend; and freeze. Remember, the thinner the breasts, the faster they will cook – so pound them out until they are quite thin. This is another 2-3 minute meal you can prepare any night of the week. You can also cut up the [tag-ice]chicken breast[/tag-ice] to make a delicious salad.
Pork Chops: These can be cooked for two minutes per side. Boil a bag of rice; add a quick and easy salad, and another fast meal has been prepared.
The secret to preparing 5 minute meals is preparation. When you buy salads and other vegetables on your next shopping trip; wash them and put them into a plastic zip lock bag. This will cut down the time needed to slice and dice. Cook your sauces on the weekends, as well as other meat and poultry dinners you may wish to have during the week. Freezer bags are wonderful for preserving any kind of food you prepare.
There are also side dishes available at your local supermarket, such as Mac and Cheese. Four minutes in the microwave and you have a delicious side dish for the entire family.
Get ready; get set; cook!
So, what are your favorite family meals? Let us know, enter your comments here.
Is it really possible to cook a family dinner in five minutes?
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Yes — if you do the prep work ahead of time. The article’s key insight is that cooking sauce on the weekend and freezing it in containers, pre-cooking chicken breasts, and pre-washing salad vegetables on shopping day means weeknight cooking is really just assembly and reheating. Angel hair pasta, for example, takes under five minutes to boil because of its thinness.
What is the main secret to making five-minute family dinners work?
Preparation done mostly on the weekend. Cook sauces, chicken, or pork chops in bigger batches, store them in freezer bags or containers, and the weeknight meal comes together in minutes. Pre-washing and bagging salad vegetables on shopping day saves even more time.
What are some easy five-minute meal ideas from the article?
Angel hair pasta (under five minutes to boil) with pre-made sauce thawed from the freezer; pre-cooked thin chicken breasts that reheat in two to three minutes; pork chops cooked two minutes per side with a boil-in-bag rice; or boxed Mac and Cheese from the supermarket, ready in four minutes in the microwave.
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