I start each week with grand plans of beautiful dinners and creative leftovers for lunch. But over here at the corner of rush hour and reality is a very busy family of four, and to make our dream meals come true, we have to be dedicated. We’ve gotta do the planning, the shopping, the chopping–and clean it all up afterward. And I don’t mind doing it; but we also need to be at a meeting, drop off at karate, pick up at ballet and make it to our dentist appointments. Cue “The Lone Ranger” theme song.

Celebrity chefs, magazines and cookbooks inspire me to strive toward better end products in the kitchen. But if I hear one more time about homemade chicken stock that I can “just throw together when I keep a bird carcass and vegetable trimmings in my freezer,” I might throw in the towel and call for pizza. Sometimes I like to pretend I’m Rachael Ray making a 30-minute meal, and I’ll really time myself. It’s doable if I’m organized–and many of her ideas are inventive and delicious. The caveat is that sometimes I use every pot, bowl and spoon in my house and subsequently spend an hour cleaning up. After all the time I have spent channeling Rachael, do you think she might let me borrow her staff to take care of the aftermath?

I am constantly looking for shortcuts that cut down on shopping, cooking and cleanup time that will not result in a lower-quality end product.

Three ingredients I rely on that allow me to pull together my favorite dishes on the fly are bottled minced garlic, bottled minced ginger and boxed broths. Sure, garlic keeps for a while, but eventually it does get that green sprout; the stink is impossible to get off my hands after I’ve minced it; and every garlic press I’ve ever owned has kicked the bucket within a few months. A piece of fresh ginger does keep in the freezer for months–just as Rachael says it does. Wonderful! If you can remember that you’ve got it and then find it behind the popsicles.

Homemade stock? I do this after a holiday when I have roasted a turkey. But 360 days of the year at my house are all about boneless skinless cuts of meat that cook quickly at the dinner hour. Homemade stock is just not a regular occurrence. Boxed broth adds flavor to so many things I cook without adding any extra fat.

Purists may balk at the use of these shortcuts. I’ll readily admit that as much of a food snob as I have become, I don’t notice the difference when I’m whipping up a quick sauté at 6:30 on a Tuesday night. Keep an open mind and experiment with these three shortcuts. I have a favorite brand of broth (Whole Foods 365) and bottled minced ginger (The Ginger People), but the garlic seems to be the same no matter which brand I try. I throw it in salad dressings, mash it into softened butter, make garlic bread… my family is none the wiser that I didn’t peel and chop the stuff.