22 Dec, 2025

There's a lot written about how to be more time-efficient in the kitchen, but most of that concerns just a few aspects of food preparation. (Can I make this meal ahead? Is there a less time-intensive version of this meal? How often should I go grocery shopping? How often should I order in?)

Many other categories of optimization are available, and for most of us they present opportunities for large time savings. They're hard to talk about, for a few reasons:

1. The specifics are less generally transferrable than the specifics of, e.g., a particular time-optimized recipe. When things depend on (e.g.) the layout of your kitchen and the specific appliances you're using, it's harder to guarantee that an unknown reader will benefit from a specific tip.
2. The time savings happen frequently, in small increments. Although the aggregate payoffs are large, many people are underwhelmed by the prospect of saving 20 seconds here and 90 seconds there.
3. Many people feel silly trying to optimize these things. (Or, at least, I find that if you discuss these things, people will often find it strange.)
4. Many people are so attached to their kitchen habits that they are offended at the thought of changing them, especially in light of a stranger's suggestions.

If you are time-constrained and do a lot of kitchen work, though, it's worth paying attention to these optimizations. Most of us could gain a lot of time "for free," in the sense that we would be able to do all the same things we're already doing. By contrast, trying to make up the same amount of time by cooking differently involves a tradeoff (it's not the food you would otherwise be cooking).

Here are a few first places to look.

Some situations factor into irreducible and avoidable work components. I, for example, sometimes have to get all the dishes done, where that involves:

1. Getting stray items from the table;
2. Emptying a dishwasher;
3. Emptying a drying rack;
4. Getting all the dirty dishes washed;
5. Getting all the dirty dishes into the drying rack;
6. Whatever other miscellaneous tasks (e.g., refilling the soap).

It is tempting to do each of these steps as a batch, but--at least with my kitchen setup!--this risks spending extra effort arranging dishes on a cluttered counter. All of the unloading, washing, and unloading will need to be done no matter what, but shuffling dishes around is usually a completely avoidable task. It is usually best to work roughly backwards, clearing out the dishwasher and washing the dishes that are already on the counter first, waiting until later (or until opportune times) to bring the remaining dirty dishes to the counter.

Even if this situation doesn't apply exactly to you, you probably do face household situations that factor into unavoidable and avoidable work. So, for example, if I'm decluttering an office, there is the (approximately) irreducible work of moving things to shelves or to garbage cans, and the reducible work of walking empty-handed. As tempting as it is to focus on one thing and get that done first, it can be more efficient to move things from location A to location B, then from B to C, and so on, so that you don't spend too much time walking empty-handed.

Optimizing common tasks

It took me a long time to figure out how to get a pot of water boiling as quickly as possible:

1. Put a modest amount of water in the pot and turn the stove element on.
2. Put a modest amount of water in the electric kettle and turn it on.
3. If one boils before the other, either combine them (if the other is nearly boiling) or add a little more water to the already-boiling one.

Especially because getting the water boiling is so often a limiting factor, it's worth considering this sort of optimization. I probably spent extra hours per year cooking before I changed how I boil water. There are many common tasks like this in the kitchen; it's worth thinking carefully about them.

Allocating energy

This one is harder to quantify, but at least in my experience, a bit of extra effort has excellent ROI. I've done a lot of household chores when I've felt that my energy was very much a scarce resource, and working at perhaps 1.25x - 1.5x of "casual effort" was often an optimum.

I feel a bit ridiculous writing (in effect) "hey, if you're feeling tired and have a bunch of chores to do, try to hustle a bit as you unload the dishwasher." But I'm convinced I've saved myself a bunch of time and effort this way. Cars have speeds where they're most energy-efficient; so do we. The times when I'm most tempted to stay in low gear are the ones when I often benefit from not doing so.

Again, take or leave any of this. The most important point is the general one: if you want to save time or energy, you can avoid trading off what you might care about most (meal quality, meal choice) if you look in less obvious places. It reminds me a bit of how recovering is an underrated part of training.

And: I hope this goes without saying, but please prioritize safety considerations, such as minimizing the chances of spilling boiling water and getting leftovers into the fridge promptly. That stuff matters a lot more than small time savings.

#potofhoney #productivity