Who's got time to cook nowadays? You, that's who! With these 5 "ingredients" to cooking quick, you can whip out a delicious home-cooked meal in no time. All it takes is some planning, organization and the right information to help you cook more quickly and spend less time in the kitchen.

1. A Meal Plan

As with other things, having a plan will help ensure your cooking success. Meal planning helps you prepare healthy meals in less time and save money as well. You'll cook faster because you will always have the ingredients and kitchen tools you need to make the meals in your plan. You'll save money, because you'll know exactly what to pick up in the grocery and can plan around sales and special offers.

2. A Well-Stocked Pantry

Finding out mid-recipe that you're out of a certain ingredient is a sure-fire time waster. Do you run to the convenience store? Substitute an ingredient? Abandon everything and try another dish? If you have a pantry stocked with staple ingredients, you won't experience this time waster. Look at your favorite recipes and stock up on ingredients that you use often and can store for long periods of time. In my case, these would include canned tomatoes (in various forms), canned beans, and dried pasta.

3. An Organized Kitchen

There are some common-sense kitchen organization principles that you s
hould follow, such as always keeping things near the areas where they are used. This means your pots and pans should be right beside the stove, knives and cutting board should be near the counter where you prepare food, and dishwasher soap should be beside the dishwasher. Sounds simple but we often forget this simple guideline.

4. The Right Cooking Tools

There are few tools that are absolutely essential to cooking, but some gadgets will help you prepare and cook food a lot faster. An example would be an electric chopper or mini-food processor that chops onions in a few seconds (and keeps you from tearing up as well). There are also pre-prepared foods that make cooking a lot faster without sacrificing nutrition, such as frozen, pre-sliced vegetables, frozen dough and canned food.

5. Quick Cooking Recipes

If you want to cook quickly, choose recipes that are simple, require only a few ingredients and use quick cooking methods, such as pan frying and stir frying. Baking, although it takes times, is nevertheless a convenient cooking method because you can turn around and do something else while waiting for the food to get done. Same thing goes for dishes that require boiling or simmering without constant stirring.

Follow these five simple tips and you will soon be whipping up nutritious and delicious meals without slaving away in the kitchen. You and your family deserve home-cooked meals, so make sure you learn these strategies for cooking quick.