Here’s a thing that’s bound to happen when you’re house shopping: You see a place where the previous owner has replaced the kitchen (or bathroom), ostensibly as a selling point, but the new space already looks incredibly dated. It’s especially frustrating if you really like the place otherwise, because then you find yourself in the position of either living with a kitchen that you really don’t like, or ripping out one that’s brand-new.

Faced with this particular conundrum, Nikkia and Daniel found a compromise: They bought the apartment and then went about making small — but significant — changes to transform a kitchen they didn’t love into one that they did.

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Successful meal planning is about more than simply selecting a week’s worth of dinners and adding meal prep to your weekend routine — it also largely depends on grocery shopping. We talked to five meal planning pros to see how they tackle this task. Here are their best grocery shopping secrets.

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Here’s the thing about shrimp: They are so easy to make. The effort-to-reward ratio is high with this particular seafood. Even pulled straight from the freezer, I can have a platter of quick-sautéed shrimp on the table in 15 minutes flat. Add a bowl of garlicky pasta or a leafy green salad, and dinner is a done deal.

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The floor might not be the first thing you think of when planning your new kitchen, but that doesn’t mean a floor can’t make or break a kitchen. Here are kitchens with floors so beautiful, so eye-catching, you may have a hard time looking at anything else.

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Did you know that saltimbocca literally means “jumps in the mouth”? That description could not be more fitting for this weeknight version of the Italian restaurant favorite. This dish starts off with crisp, tender potato rounds and soft bundles of garlicky spinach, which creates the base for the herbed chicken that’s covered with salty prosciutto and melted cheese. It’s basically the dish chicken breast has been waiting for.

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Many of us are swimming in the same proverbial soup — that mad dash between activities after work and/or school, and the shrinking window of time in which to prepare dinner. This became immediately apparent when my children reached school age and began activities such as soccer and karate in the evenings. But through all of this, I cook. Maybe it’s stubborn, maybe it’s smart. It’s simply what feels right; it’s my default move.

Even still, we need other moves when we feel crunched. The first one is to disabuse ourselves of the notion that every single dinner has to be completely homemade, all the way down to the perfectly sourced and prepped veggies. Go ahead and break that rule – you’ll be happy you did.

Here are five more moves that can help you make time to cook.

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Aldi is a great place to go for inexpensive groceries and produce, and this year they’ve made a lot of customers very happy by introducing a brand-new vegan and vegetarian line called Earth Grown, which has products like veggie burgers, vegan cheese, meatless hot dogs, sausage, and meatballs, and more.

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We’re all about the easy makeovers that completely transform a room for not a lot of money. And although this kitchen does get a new floor (the price of which is not reflected in the $500 budget mentioned here), pay attention to the rest of the room where the $500 was spent.

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This sheet pan supper will show you just how quick and simple it can be to get a salmon dinner on the table any night of the week. It all starts by firing up your broiler. Do that and you will be tucking into perfectly cooked fillets with just the right amount of char around the edges. We’re making it a meal by partnering this weeknight-friendly fish with crispy red potato rounds and tender asparagus spears. Oh, and it will all happen in under 20 minutes. Yes, really!

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Not working with a ton of pantry storage in your kitchen? No problem. Turns out there are tons of clever ways to create a super-organized pantry out of a cupboard; even if you’re lacking in cabinet space. All you need is $60 and internet access — or a single trip to your local superstore. Whether you try just one of these foolproof suggestions or all five, you’ll wind up with a significantly better pantry than you started with (which was nothing) and enough money left in your monthly budget to go grocery shopping afterwards.

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