As mentioned before, not all time is of equal value. One minute during “prime” time (e,g. busy times right before a weekday meal) is much more valuable than one minute during “off-peak” time. We all know that slow-cooked food that has taken a lot of “time” to prepare usually tastes better. What can we do to spend less time but enjoy the benefits? Minimizing tasks that require more effort during “prime” time could help you to achieve more while you focus on other things, while maximizing tasks that require little effort.
Here, we will take a look at Effort Intensity, or how much you need to focus on a particular task. If a certain task requires you to focus 100%, there is no room to work on other tasks. On the other hand, tasks that require 0% of your focus allow you to concentrate on other things such as work, other chores, or even simply relaxing.
An example might be making a stew in a thermal cooker that you can leave & forget, enabling you to achieve the slow-cooked effect without the need to watch over the stove for hours.
Degrees of Effort Intensity
When looking at the various tasks it takes to prepare a meal, they can be categorized by effort as follows:
- Concentrate
- Monitor Only
- Leave & Forget
Concentrate
These task requires full attention, and cannot be done in parallel with other effort-intensive tasks. Examples could be cutting vegetables, mixing by hand, frying foods, serving dishes.
Monitor Only
These tasks need you to keep your eye on, but allow you to focus on other tasks in parallel. Some examples could be steaming vegetables or grilling foods. The lower the level of attention needed can allow you to make more efficient use of time. The use of timers can help you to decrease the attention required, so that you can forget about these tasks for a short period of time.
Leave & Forget
These are the tasks that help to achieve the effect of spending a lot of time while allowing you to focus on other things. The two major techniques would be:
- Heat (simmer, bake, etc.)
- Soak (marinate, pickle, etc.)
Heat
Heating foods over a long time over low heat help to meld flavours together while making meats and vegetables soft. The following are examples of tools that can be used to heat with little or no monitoring.
- Oven (with automatic shut-off timer)
- Sous vide machine
- Anhydrous Pot (use residual heat)
- Thermal Cooker
- Air Fryer
- Rice Cooker (for both rice & non-rice foods)
- Slow Cooker
- Stove (with automatic shut-off timer)
** This section will be covered in more detail in a separate post **
Soak
Soaking foods for some time can also help to meld flavours together. Two common techniques are marinating & pickling. Normally, pickling is used for preservation, but it can also be used to increase variety to your menu.
- Marinating
- Pickling
Summary
The concept of how tasks require different levels of effort can be critical to scheduling. Planning meals ahead of time can help with efficiency, by leaving a minimal amount of effort-intensive tasks to the hectic period immediately before meals.
This can be extended to other chores as well.
