kids

4 ways to save more time in the kitchen as a busy parent

We’re pretty sure you’ve heard – and experienced – the news. Life as a parent is tough. All of that disposable time that you once had has since evaporated, and you are left scratching your head at just how to manage your day-to-day life as efficiently as possible.

It would be fair to say that the kitchen feels like one of the biggest areas of the home with the most pressure associated with it. After all, this has quickly become a common room for families to come together, as well as being the place where much of the cooking and cleaning chores take place.

This is why we have dedicated today's article all about the kitchen, and just how a busy parent can save time within it. Let's jump into some fast tips to help you along.

Make sure your appliances are working as efficiently as possible

When we talk about appliances, we're mainly referring to dishwashers, washing machines and dryers.

If you don't have any of these in your home, we'd strongly urge you to obtain one now. Fortunately, the time it takes to install a washing machine and other such appliances is really insignificant in comparison to the use you will get out of it. Additionally, if you happen to be a new parent, having these time-saving appliances on hand is absolutely crucial. It sure beats heading to the launderette, or washing the dishes by hand.

Your freezer is crucial to your success

If you are serious about making the most of your kitchen from a time perspective, at least tap into the full benefits of your freezer. This is something that allows you to meal prep, and just cook in bulk which can help your plight significantly from a time point of view.

Additionally, if you can stock it up with packed vegetables or side dishes, it becomes one of those go-to areas for food when times really are getting tough and the day seems to be running away from you.

Double up on your recipes

Following on from the previous point, an easy tip is to double up on your recipes and then take advantage of the freezer.

Far too many of us only cook for the here and now. Instead, cook for the next few days. You don't have to eat it all at once (you have a freezer, after all), but it will shave significant portions of time from your food preparation activities.

Your kitchen counters need to be cleared at all times

Finally, let’s conclude with a point about clutter. Your worksurfaces are something that can sometimes feel the brunt of clutter and before you know it you have them stocked with toasters, condiments and anything else that makes their way onto them.

Have a strict rule to avoid the above. As soon as clutter breaches these surfaces, it won’t stop. It will start to take over and you’ll soon be struggling to carry out basic tasks. Not only that, but clutter can affect your mental health, as strange as that might seem to some of you.

partnered post • cc-licensed image by Michael Newton

A New Age for Wooden Toys, pt 1

I grew up in Berkeley, California in the 1970s. You know what that means: whole wheat birthday cakes made with organic flour, unfiltered fruit juice, brown rice, hand-knit sweaters … and wooden toys.

While definitely not a hippie myself, I do have a soft spot for pretty wooden toys, and try to buy my child things that are made by actual human hands with natural materials. Here are a few especially nice items I've seen, all of which are ostensibly made for kids, but which would be appreciated by any adult with taste and an interest in the hand-made.

I loved these as a kid. They're incredibly cheap – $6 for a pack of 50 – but you can build the most incredible, intricate sculptures out of them, from model skyscrapers to full-on Buckyballs:

This pretty mushroom puzzle would be best accompanied by a lesson to teach kids how to spore-print, so that they'll never accidentally eat anything that might hurt them:

These "pet monster" blocks are unfortunately sold out (on Etsy, a treasure-trove of handmade toys):

Etsy seller Deepoca has these four vintage pieces of wooden fruit – a banana, pear, apple and starfruit – for only $12 for the set:

Ulf Hanses designed this 5.25-inch-long Playsam Streamliner wooden car; FitzSu Los Angeles carries them for $46.

Simus the wooden rhinocerous, designed by David Weeks in the style of the great Danish designer Kay Bojesen, is just one of several articulated wooden animals carried by the same company:

Fine Wooden Toys carries this very cool stacking/nesting "furniture house," which can also be a balancing toy, a tunnel-builder, or any one of a dozen other open-ended play items:

The same company sells this cool and colorful German-made magnetic wooden Indian Square puzzle:

They also have this wonderful fully-furnished ready-to-paint (or wallpaper) dollhouse for $90. I bought one for my daughter before she was born and she gets an enormous amount of use out of it:

Eric Carle was one of my favorite authors as a child and should be well-known to your kids, too; I was happy to discover that the Eric Carle Museum has a number of well-made toys based on his stories, including this very pretty (and very hungry) 12" long caterpillar pull-toy:

Etsy maker/seller Imaginationkids has a number of pretty, sturdy, and brightly-colored stacking, rolling and other sorts of toys (all of which function just as well as desk sculpture for grownups) at extremely fair prices:

Ikea's very cool Lillabo vehicles are $10 for a pack of three, and are only available in some of their stores. And while I always prefer to buy from makers themselves, Ikea does carry a number of really sturdy wooden toys.

Chicago's Agent Gallery has the 28" tall Mr. Wood, below, currently on sale for an undisclosed sum (if you have to ask, etc.):

Blackwagon is a "modern boutique for babies and kids," and carries lots of neat wooden toys, like this cool spinning top:

These pretty Scots-made wooden rattles are £30 from Papa Stour:

Wolfgang Sirch's Max Pushcar is one of several designs made by the Sirch family, who have been designing and making wooden objects for more than 300 years in their native Germany:

You may think the timing of this piece is a bit off – after all, the traditional holiday gift-giving season just ended with 2010. However, kids appreciate beautiful, educational, well-made gifts any time of year, and maybe you'll get some good ideas from the items I've shown above.