When you're late, tired and truly at a loss for what to fix for dinner, walk straight to the kitchen and put a large pot of water on to boil. If you do this immediately, in the time it takes to change your clothes and check the mail, this simple effort will put you well on the way to getting dinner on the table in a flash.

With a bubbling cauldron on the stove, the possibilities suddenly seem endless. In five to eight minutes, you can serve noodles. Toss the hot, drained pasta with a teaspoon of olive oil and a fistful of shredded cheese. Voila -- an easy-cheesy side dish. Add a few more ingredients, and you've got the main event.

Taking a different approach with your boiling water, drop in quartered potatoes, peels and all. Five minutes later, throw in whatever fresh vegetable you find in the fridge. That’s same pot, same water, right alongside the potatoes. When it’s all tender, top the vegetables with a pat of butter, some dried herbs or a squirt of lemon juice, and you've got two side dishes for the effort of one.

What if you don’t need the water after all? Plug up a sink and dump it in with a little more water and a squirt of soap. Use the bubbly bath as a head-start soak for pots and pans. Take comfort in knowing that those dirty dishes will come clean a lot faster in the morning.