Mary Berry's five top tips for the ultimate stress free dinners

Mary Berry's new programme 'Foolproof Dinners' gives advice to comics and presenters about making the best of their time in the kitchen

TV cook Mary Berry has given her five tips for the ultimate stress-free dinners.

The kitchen veteran gives simple tips which are designed to make dinner time easy. Her tips for making effortless meals start with an easy method which helps people who are new to cooking.

1. Go for all-in-one dinners

In her new BBC 2 series, she visits comic Alan Carr to aid his dilemmas in the kitchen. She discovered the presenter did not cook and relied on takeaways after looking in his fridge an cupboards. Alan's mum was a good cook and most of the food he ate she cooked so Mary wanted to lesve him with something simple and 'go-to recipes' he could easily manage. Mary said: “He loved the idea of having everything all in one tray. And that's exactly what we did, a quick beef chow mein, which he could make after a busy day at work.”

2. Time-saving shortcuts

In the second episode of Mary's new programme 'Foolproof Dinners' she spent time with Claudia Winkleman who she knows well. She discovered Claudia did not want to spend time in the kitchen and Mary wanted to show her how fast quiche could easily be made. Creating pastry from the start can be time consuming and Mary suggested using tortilla wrap base which could be pushed into quiche tin with a scrumptious filling of chestnut mushrooms, onions and mature English cheddar. Mary said: “Claudia absolutely loved it, and we had great fun doing it." She adds: “Don’t be afraid of taking shortcuts. You know, if time is short, buy a packet of pre-cooked lentils or buy a packet of puff pastry. Don't feel guilty when you do these things.”

3. Make dishes in advance

Mary has been pushing this time-saving hack for those who are short on time. She says there is no need to make everything on the day and some dishes can be done in advanced and frozen. Mary joined Countryfile’s Hamza Yassin who wants to impress a girlfriend. The chocolate cake he wanted to bake was created beforehand and frozen before being followed up with a decoration on the day which would make the occasion of meeting with someone more relaxing. She adds: “Don’t be afraid of taking shortcuts. You know, if time is short, buy a packet of pre-cooked lentils or buy a packet of puff pastry. Don't feel guilty when you do these things.” This is something Mary’s been passionate about for years. If you’re making something special, you really don’t need to make everything on the day if it’s going to leave you stressed and short of time.

4. Don’t overcomplicate things

Delivering the perfect meal she says does not mean dishes need to be complicated, says Mary. She gave this advice to her "dear friend," Sue Perkins, who is a comic anD presenter. Sue admitted she had a tendency to over complicate things when she has a crowd round for food. Mary also told how Sue "never follows a recipe" which can often result in disasters. But she added: “We created an impressive rhubarb plate pie with homemade pastry that Sue just loved.”

5. Try something new

Sara Davies of Dragons' Den wanted to be able to host a dinner party for pals and family to celebrate her 40th birthday. She was shown how to make crab cakes with some lemon grass which were a great party pleaser. Sara made the crab cakes quickly and so eager to learn, Mary described her as 'delightful.' The TV cook also forces herself to try new dishes. She said: “New things come up each year – we discover new techniques."