The Pioneer Woman's 5 Best Cooking Tips & Shortcuts

Pioneer Woman Ree DrummondPhoto byWALMART

If you are a fan of Ree Drummond, The Pioneer Woman, then you know she has some really good ways to make life a lot easier in the kitchen. Here are five great tips, tricks and shortcuts I think everyone should know about. I really love this first one! Preparimg quick and easy freezer meals is a great idea for so many reasons. Prepare Freezer-friendly Meals ''I do a mix of one-dish meals—things like casseroles, soups, stews, and chilis—but I also like to prepare ingredients up to a certain stage and freeze them so I can grab them and start cooking some of my favorite meals.''

A great idea to save a lot of time in your busy day and especially in the kitchen, is to Prep Common Ingredients In Advance. “One thing that I really got into doing when the kids were young was just having ingredients that I use all the time — minced garlic, chopped onions — ready to go and prepped at the beginning of the week,” Drummond says. You can place your ingredients in plastic storage bags or in glass food containers to refrigerate and have on hand for preparing your meals.

Another good great tip for prepping ahead of time is to Cook Big Batches of Meat to Repurpose Throughout the Week ''Similarly, Drummond likes to cook big batches of ground beef and grilled chicken all at once, then put them to use in different recipes throughout the week. “You can brown five, 10 pounds of ground beef at a time, portion it into smaller bags and freeze them. Then you can make taco meat and add it to a pan with sauce to bring it back to life or add it to spaghetti sauce,” she tells TODAY.com

You can also, Stock Up on Store-bought Ingredients for your pantry. ''Shop smart and stock up on high-quality store-bought ingredients to make weeknight cooking so much easier but just as delicious. “We just talked about, on the show, store-bought pesto. Store-bought pesto is just basil, garlic — it’s the same ingredients. It’s just made ahead of time.” It's more than ok to take shortcuts and make your life easier, especially preparing meals for yourself and your loved ones.

The last one is also extremely helpful, especially if you are feeding a large family, a great tip is to Buy In Bulk A Couple Times A Year. For Ree Drummond, having a well-stocked pantry, freezer, and fridge is a necessity—and that’s a fact any homebody at heart will understand. “Since I never like to get in my car and go anywhere, ever (don’t be like me; I have issues, man), I try my best to structure things so that I have a stockpile of basic essentials that I buy in bulk once, twice, three times a year, she says.''