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Here are seven of our favorite ways to make dinnertime quicker and easier. You'll look forward to making dinner every night with these tips!

Stock your pantry: You can whip up something on impulse if you have a stocked pantry of basics, plus your favorite ingredients, such as: beans, broth, pasta, rice, dried fruits, nuts, oils, vinegars, tuna, canned tomatoes, dried spices and herbs, pastes, and always keep garlic, onions, and potatoes around too. They last a long time in dark, cool, dry places like pantries.

The art of Cubism: Freeze sauces, pesto, chopped herbs, broth, and stock in ice cube trays. Pop out a cube or two and heat it up for a quick hit of flavor.

All-in-one meals: Make recipes that have you cook the meat and sides all in one pot or roasting tray. Fewer dishes means less time spent on cleanup. Try our One-Pot Beef Stroganoff with Egg Noodles recipe or our One Pot Chicken and Vegetables recipe.

Mini meat (and vegetables): Buy or cut your meat and vegetables into thin slices or bite-size chunks instead of cooking and serving them whole. It will cook faster that way. You can even broil the food in your oven, which will cook it faster than baking or roasting, providing a nice crust on top. If it's thin, the heat will cook the meat or vegetable all the way through in less time.

Spoil the ending: Read the recipe the whole way through before cooking. So many times, some of us (ahem, note to self) gather and prep the ingredients and start on the instructions before realizing midway through the recipe that something we created needs to chill or marinate for an hour. Ugh. If you had read through the recipe, you would know to do the first couple steps in the morning, possibly, and leave it in the fridge to finish when you get home.

Size matters: Instead of using small saucepans and roasting pans, try pans with a larger surface area, so the food is spread out and not on top of each other. Your food will be able to receive more direct heat and will cook faster.

Sharpen your skills: Honing your knife skills can take time, but it's worth it. Chopping, dicing, mincing, and slicing can be the part that takes the longest, and unlike cooking time, it's something you can speed up by getting better at it. First, make sure your knives are sharp. Either get a sharpener or take them to a place that sharpens knives for you. That will make cutting so much easier and safer. Then, take a knife skills class at your local cooking school or kitchen store, or just look it up on YouTube. We also have quick video lessons on how to hold a knife the right way, dicing (the most common cut), mincing, chopping, bias cut, chiffonade, and troubleshooting.

Have you ever tried any of these suggestions? What are your favorite tips for making dinner faster? Share your thoughts in the comment section below!

Article Source: Chowhound