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Saving Time

Measuring Tips

Devote a measuring cup to frequently measured ingredients.

I used to just dump pasta out of the box and into the pot. But we often had left overs or ate more than we should have. So I started measuring the pasta and found that three quarters of a cup was just the right amount per person. For awhile, this meant I was cooking just what we needed but there was an extra measuring cup to was every night.

But wait ... I had a few extra measuring cups around. Now I keep a measuring cup in the pasta jar, one in the flour bin, and one in the sugar bin ... picking the cup sizes that matched the most common measurements for those ingredients. This saves the time and resources needed to wash these same cups over and over. Yard sales are a great source of extra measuring cups.

Use two sets of measuring tools, one wet and one dry.

I also have two sets of measuring spoons so that on a big cooking day I can use one for wet ingredients and one for dry, greatly reducing the need to wash a spoon mid-recipe. I keep them on two saucers, which gives them a clean place to rest and catches any drips. The Cook for Good recipes also use ingredients in an order that helps you get the most use out of your measuring tools between washes. For example, you can just rinse off soy sauce, then measure peanut butter ... but not the other way around!