Ten tips to change your life in the kitchen

• If boiling or steaming veg, spread them out in a shallow layer in a larger pan instead of piling them up in a smaller one.
• Make burgers or chicken breasts similar sizes and thickness by patting them with your hands or flattening with a rolling pin so they grill or fry quicker and at the same rate.

10. Keep it simple
This applies especially with entertaining. Think quality not quantity.

• A two-course meal is perfectly acceptable, especially if it means you spend more time outside the kitchen than in.
• Buy a few really good quality ingredients (fresh fish, free-range chicken, finer cuts of meat, fresh-as-possible veg) and prepare them simply.
• Serve a couple of good cheeses with fresh fruit instead of a complicated dessert.
• Don't set yourself up for disappointment by serving fussy, un-tried dishes to guests. Save the experimentation for family.
• Above all, don't stress. At the end of the day, it's not brain surgery, only dinner.

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