10 tips for cooking meals within your budget and time limits

The major limitations most cooks deal with these days are time and money. Which is why recipes that can be prepared in minutes rather than hours — and be kind to your budget — are so appealing.

Here are my top 10 tips for making fast-but-fresh meals in your kitchen. The more tips you can follow, the easier it is to pull off.

1. Limit time-consuming procedures

Put the accent on fresh ingredients and handy seasonings rather than elaborate techniques. Fancy multiple-step dishes don’t fit into a busy cook’s schedule. Go for meals with no-cook or barely-cook ingredients just tossed together and dressed with a memorable hint of ethnic flavor. No time to assemble a salad? Serve broccoli and cauliflower florets, along with baby carrots and a low-cal dip.

2. Simplify meals

One-dish meals are time-savers. Concentrate on one recipe that combines your protein, vegetable and starch. Go for stir frys, pasta and rice dishes, entree salads, stews and boiled dinners — they are all creative and fast.

3. Assembly required

At the table, that is. Tacos, fajitas and quesadillas are perfect examples of build-your-own cuisine. You do a bit of chopping, then bring everything to the table in individual bowls.

4. Organize your kitchen

Store utensils near where you’ll use them. Have pots and pans near the stovetop. Have small appliances stored below a clear counter with an electrical outlet nearby. Store dishes in cabinets near the dishwasher. Organize the refrigerator so you can see what’s there and put like items together.

5. Reduce kitchen clutter

Start over by first removing everything, then place items back only if you use them at least a few times a week. Even your canisters can be stored inside a kitchen cabinet if you aren’t a daily baker. If you have kitchen tools and appliances you don’t use regularly, either put them in deep storage or donate them.

6. Chop once, cook twice

If you’re already chopping up vegetables for the night’s soup or stir-fry, chop double amounts and refrigerate the extra for the next night’s meal. One less step tomorrow.

7. Marinate meat on your schedule

Make up a large batch of your favorite marinade. Then place several meals’ worth of chicken or chops in freezer bags, pour on the marinade, seal and freeze. The night before you want to cook one of those marinated meals, remove it from the freezer and place in the refrigerator to thaw. When you arrive home, simply toss the contents on the grill, under the broiler or in a baking dish and cook. (Tip: Make sure the bag is sitting in a deep dish or casserole, just in case it has developed a leak!)

8. Keep your pantry stocked

These building blocks for meals are great for speedy cooking on the cheap: pastas, instant cous cous, rice, canned tomatoes, canned or concentrated broths and dried herbs.

9. Invest in a slow cooker or pressure cooker

For the slow cooker approach, just throw everything in the pot in the morning, set on low or high and walk away. Or, better yet, prep the night before and store the ingredients in the fridge. The same principle applies for pressure cookers: Prep ahead and refrigerate, so when you breeze through the door at 5:30 p.m., you can throw everything into the pot, close and heat. Bam! Dinner is served 20 or 30 minutes later.

10. Freeze bags of rice

If you store zip-lock bags of rice in your freezer, then they can be pulled out for the night after you’ve served your pork loin roast. For the follow-up meal, simply combine the cooked rice with chunks of the leftover pork (or chicken, or beef), along with seasonings of choice, such as a soy-based or diced-tomato-based sauce, then heat in a wok or in a casserole, along with some Parmesan and sauteed onions.

In keeping with the theme of fast and fresh, I’m sharing a unique spin on quesadillas and a way to crank out homemade salad dressings.

Jan’s golden quesadillas

These quesadillas have a great boost of flavor thanks to the grilled-on cheese that browns in the skillet underneath the tortilla. When you flip the tortilla — voila! — a golden-cheesy surface on which to build your quesadilla. Load it your favorite quesadilla fillings, which can include chicken, ground beef or steak, plus tomato, avocado, onion, lettuce, salsa and sour cream.

For the tortillas

1⅓ cup of shredded sharp cheddar (or Monterey Jack)

4 8- or 10-inch flour tortillas

For the quesadilla filling

The following are only suggestions of traditional quesadilla fillings. Try these or prep your favorites.

½ pound ground beef (or chicken strips, chopped flank steak or sliced skirt steak)

1 tomato, diced

¼ head of lettuce, chopped

1 avocado, diced

½ sweet onion, chopped

Salsa

Sour cream

For the tortilla: Heat a large non-stick skillet over medium-high heat until it becomes very warm to the touch. Sprinkle the shredded cheese directly onto the surface of the pan, spreading it out to cover the diameter of the tortilla. Lay the tortilla on top of the cheese and press it gently into the melting cheese.

Let the tortilla sit, undisturbed, in the pan for about 30 seconds, to give the cheese a chance to brown, then gently test it around the edges by sliding your spatula under the tortilla and lifting slightly to see if the cheese has turned golden and is adhering to the tortilla.

Then flip the tortilla over with your spatula to brown the plain side. After it’s browned, slide the tortilla onto a plate.

For the filling: Arrange the desired fillings down one side (if you only want to fold the tortilla in half) or down the middle (if you’re planning on a burrito-style wrap). Makes 4 quesadillas.

Note: Here’s where tip No. 3 comes into play. Simply set out bowls of each ingredient and let your family build their own creations.

Jan’s amazing vinaigrette base

You know the biggest problem with homemade vinaigrettes? We store them in the refrigerator to keep all the herbs and garlic fresh, but when you pull the vinaigrette from the fridge, the olive oil is thick and gunky until it warms up to room temperature.

So I’ve developed a zesty vinaigrette base made with red wine vinegar, garlic, black pepper, salt and sugar. Store the mixture in the refrigerator and keep the olive oil in the pantry at room temperature. Then when you’re ready to toss a salad, just whisk together some of the vinaigrette base with some of your room-temp olive oil.

3 cups red wine vinegar

3 tablespoons fresh garlic, minced (6 large cloves)

1¾ teaspoons salt

1 teaspoon sugar

½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Whisk together all of the ingredients in a bowl (preferably one with a pouring spout). Select a 3- to 4-cup bottle or jar with a screw-top lid, such as an empty liquor or water bottle. Pour the prepared vinegar mixture through a funnel into the bottle. Store in the refrigerator.

To prepare vinaigrette as needed, whisk together 1 part vinegar base with 1 part olive oil. You can either do this right in the salad bowl and then toss in the salad ingredients, or you can whisk a small amount in a separate cup and then drizzle it over your salad before tossing.

Makes 3 cups of vinaigrette base; enough to create at least 6 cups of vinaigrette. That’s a ratio of 1 part vinaigrette base to 1 part olive oil; some people prefer an oilier vinaigrette, in which case, your vinaigrette base will make considerably more vinaigrette.

Dijon/soy vinaigrette alternative: To a ½ cup of my vinaigrette base, whisk in 1 teaspoon of Dijon mustard and 2 teaspoons of soy sauce or Tempura sauce before whisking in the olive oil.