You can also prepare the vegetables and salad greens that you want to include with the meals. Wash the vegetables and greens and place them in plastic bags in the crisper section of the refrigerator. This will keep them fresh for the week, even if you don't plan to use them until Friday. If you are planning to have hamburgers during the week and you like making your own, you can shape the ground beef into patties and freeze them until you are ready for them. Place a sheet or waxed paper in between the patties so you won't have difficulty getting them apart.

If there are certain dishes that your family loves and you usually make those ahead of time and freeze them, save some extra time by making a double or triple batch. This gives you the meal you want for two or three weeks in advance. If you want to have extra desserts, bake two cakes at the same time and freeze on of them.

Once you have all the ingredients for your menus ready to use, you can have an elegant dinner on the table in less than 30 minutes. Once you start using this technique, you will be surprised how much you look forward to coming home and getting dinner ready. You will certainly surprise your family with the delectable choices you make with every meal you serve.

When you are using a new recipe, read through the list of ingredients to make sure you have all of them on hand. This lets you assemble all the ingredients and cooking tools that you will need. There are a few quick tips to help you speed up the preparation time, such as:

* Use scissors to snip parsley or dried fruit

* Use hot water when cooking noodles

* Use cookware that you can use in the oven and on the table

* Freeze chopped onion or used instant onion flakes

* Assign jobs to every member of the family, such as setting the table, clean up, etc.