Hey! We’re Yum in Minutes (And We’re So Glad You’re Here)

Our Purpose

It was a rainy Tuesday evening in Brooklyn when Emily realized she’d ordered takeout for the fourth night in a row. Not because she couldn’t cook, she actually loved cooking, but because after a full day of work, the thought of spending an hour in the kitchen felt impossible. Her sister Rihanna called that night and said something that stuck: “Why does healthy eating have to take so long? I just want good food that doesn’t steal my evening.”

That conversation became Yum in Minutes. We’re two sisters who got tired of choosing between eating well and having a life. Too many recipes promised “quick and easy” but required seventeen ingredients and an hour of prep. We wanted real food that actually fits into real schedules, the kind of meals you can make on a Tuesday night when you’re tired, your kitchen’s a mess, and you just need dinner to happen.

Our Mission

Every single day, we’re in our kitchens (Emily’s in Manhattan, Rihanna’s in Queens) testing recipes until they pass what we call “the weeknight test” tired cook, limited time, ingredients you actually have. We create recipes that take 30 minutes or less because we live this too. We’re working professionals who love food but also love having time for everything else life throws at us.

Since we started Yum in Minutes in October 2023, over 50,000 home cooks have trusted us with their dinner plans. That’s honestly incredible and slightly terrifying, because we know that when you’re searching for a quick dinner recipe at 6 PM, you need it to actually work. No surprises, no missing steps, no “quick” recipes that somehow take two hours.

Our Vision

Picture this: You come home tired on a Wednesday night. You open our site, pick a recipe, and thirty minutes later you’re eating something delicious and nutritious. No stress, no impossible ingredient lists, no feeling like you failed at adulting because you couldn’t pull off a complicated meal.

We’re working toward a world where healthy weeknight cooking isn’t aspirational, it’s just doable. Where “quick recipes” actually means quick. Where you can feed yourself and your family well without sacrificing your evenings or your sanity.

Our Core Values

Real Speed, Real Results: If we say 20 minutes, we mean 20 minutes including prep. We test this. Repeatedly. Emily’s personal record for “testing a recipe until the timing is actually honest” is eleven attempts for one chicken dish. (It’s finally perfect now.)

Ingredients You Actually Have: We don’t call for obscure spices you’ll use once. Our pantry essentials list is realistic. If we suggest something unusual, we explain why it’s worth buying and give you three other recipes that use it.

Honest About Failures: Our cauliflower pizza crust experiment? Disaster. The “15-minute” soup that took 40? We scrapped it and started over. We’ll tell you what doesn’t work because learning from our kitchen disasters saves you from yours.

Nutrition Without Preaching: We focus on whole foods and balanced meals, but we’re not here to make you feel guilty. Some nights call for shortcuts. That’s real life, and we’re living it too.

Community Over Competition: Every time someone emails us saying “This saved dinner tonight,” it reminds us why we do this. You’re not just readers, you’re the reason we keep going.

Meet Our Expert Team (The Humans Behind the Screen)

Emily Smith – Founder & Recipe Developer

Contact: yuminminutesemily@gmail.com

Emily started Yum in Minutes because she was honestly drowning in the gap between wanting to eat well and having time to make it happen. At 37, she’s spent the last fifteen years working in content strategy, which taught her something crucial: if information isn’t accessible, it’s useless. The same applies to recipes.

Her journey to quick cooking started the hard way. She went through a phase where she tried to be the perfect home cook, elaborate meal prep, complicated recipes, farmers market every weekend. It was exhausting and unsustainable. She burned out completely and ended up eating worse than before. That failure taught her more than any success could have.

Now she focuses on what actually works: recipes that respect your time and energy. She tests every recipe multiple times, usually on weeknights when she’s tired, to make sure the timing and steps are realistic. Her tiny Manhattan kitchen means she can’t hide behind fancy equipment, if it works there, it’ll work in your kitchen.

Emily holds a certification in Nutrition Fundamentals (Cornell University, 2022) and has been featured in Home Cooking Monthly for her approach to efficient meal planning. But honestly? Her best credential is that she makes these recipes for herself every week. If they work for a tired 37-year-old after a long work day, they’ll work for you.

Emily’s Expertise Areas:

• Quick weeknight dinners (under 30 minutes)
• One-pan and sheet pan meals
• Meal planning for busy professionals
• Pantry-based cooking (minimal shopping trips)

Rihanna Smith – Senior Recipe Developer & Content Creator

Contact: Yuminminutesrihanna@gmail.com

Rihanna has learned that the secret to good home cooking isn’t fancy techniques, it’s knowing which shortcuts actually work and which ones ruin your food. At 38, she’s the practical one who’ll tell you when you can skip a step and when you really can’t.

She came to quick cooking through necessity. Working full-time in marketing while trying to maintain a healthy lifestyle meant she had to get strategic. She started documenting her weeknight cooking shortcuts, and her sister Emily said, “This needs to be a blog.” She was right.

Rihanna’s background is in content marketing, which means she’s obsessed with clarity. She hates when recipes assume you know techniques they don’t explain, or when the instructions skip crucial details. Every recipe she writes includes the “why” behind steps because understanding makes you a better cook, not just a recipe-follower.

She completed the Plant-Based Nutrition Certificate (eCornell, 2023) because so many readers asked for more vegetarian options. She’s not vegetarian herself, but she loves the challenge of making plant-based meals that don’t feel like they’re missing something.

Rihanna’s Expertise Areas:

• Make-ahead and meal prep strategies
• Plant-based and vegetarian adaptations
• Ingredient substitutions (she’s the “what if I don’t have X” expert)
• Budget-friendly cooking without sacrificing quality

How We Actually Do This Work

Here’s the unglamorous truth: Recipe development is messy. For every recipe on Yum in Minutes, we typically make it 3-5 times. First attempt is usually disaster control figuring out what doesn’t work. Second and third tries are about timing and proportions. Final versions get tested by the other sister to make sure our instructions actually make sense to someone who didn’t develop it.

We shop at regular grocery stores (Trader Joe’s, Whole Foods, local markets) because that’s where you shop. We test recipes on weeknights when we’re tired, not on leisurely Sunday afternoons, because that’s when you’re actually cooking them. We time everything with actual stopwatches because “quick” means different things to different people.

Our photography is real, that’s the actual food we made in our actual kitchens. Sometimes the lighting isn’t Instagram-perfect because we’re shooting at 7 PM after work. That’s authentic. You deserve to know what the food actually looks like, not some styled version that took four hours to produce.

Why Trust Us? (Fair Question!)

We’re not celebrity chefs. We’re not trained culinary professionals. We’re home cooks who got really, really good at making weeknight cooking work. Our expertise comes from:

Real Experience: Over 425 recipes tested and published, each one made multiple times in real weeknight conditions. That’s over 1,500 hours in the kitchen developing recipes that actually work.

Proven Results: More than 50,000 monthly readers trust our recipes for their weeknight dinners. Our most popular recipe (Creamy Garlic Chicken) has been made successfully by thousands of home cooks.

Continuous Learning: We both hold nutrition certifications from Cornell University because we wanted to ensure our “quick and healthy” recipes are actually nutritious, not just fast. We stay current with food safety guidelines and nutrition research.

Reader Feedback: We read every comment and email. When readers tell us a recipe didn’t work, we remake it and figure out why. Our recipe for sheet pan salmon has been revised twice based on reader feedback and it’s better for it.

Transparent Process: We cite sources when we make health claims, link to USDA guidelines for food safety, and admit when we’re sharing personal experience versus established nutrition science.

Our Community (That’s You!)

You’ve taught us so much. When readers started asking for vegetarian options, Rihanna got certified in plant-based nutrition. When dozens of you requested make-ahead meals, we created an entire series. When someone emailed about adapting our recipes for food allergies, we added substitution notes to every new recipe.

The best part of our week? Reading your success stories. “Made this after a 12-hour workday and it was perfect.” “My picky teenager asked for seconds.” “This is now our Tuesday night staple.” These messages remind us why we spend hours testing timing and rewriting instructions.

You’re not just traffic numbers to us. You’re the working parent who needs dinner on the table. The young professional learning to cook. The busy student eating better than ramen. We’re creating recipes for real people, and your feedback shapes everything we make.

Our Promise to You

Honest Timing: When we say 20 minutes, that’s actual time prep and cooking. We test this obsessively.

Realistic Ingredients: We won’t call for fifteen specialty items you’ll never use again. Our recipes use accessible, findable ingredients.

Tested Recipes: Every recipe is made multiple times before publishing. If we can’t consistently get it right, we don’t publish it.

Clear Instructions: We assume you’re a capable human, not a culinary school graduate. We explain techniques without being condescending.

Responsive Communication: We read every email and comment. If you have a question or a recipe didn’t work, we want to know. We typically respond within 24-48 hours.

Transparency About Updates: When we update a recipe based on feedback, we note it with the date. When nutrition information changes, we update it and explain why.

Evidence-Based Health Information: We cite credible sources (USDA, peer-reviewed studies, registered dietitians) for nutrition and health claims. We clearly distinguish between established science and personal experience.

Ad Transparency: We use Ezoic for ad management to keep our content free. This means ads on our site, but we’re selective about ad quality and placement to maintain your experience.

Let’s Stay Connected (We Actually Read Our Emails)

Got a question about a recipe? Need substitution advice? Want to share your success (or disaster) story? We genuinely want to hear from you.

General Inquiries & Recipe Questions: yinminutes@gmail.com (Both of us read this, expect responses within 24-48 hours)

Emily’s Direct Line: yuminminutesemily@gmail.com (Best for meal planning questions, quick dinner strategies)

Rihanna’s Direct Line: Yuminminutesrihanna@gmail.com (Best for substitution questions, make-ahead strategies, vegetarian adaptations)

We’re not big enough yet to have a social media team, so when you connect with us, you’re talking directly to Emily or Rihanna. Usually at weird hours because we’re squeezing it in between recipe testing and our day jobs.

For Technical Support

Having trouble with the website or your account? Something loading weird? Contact us at yinminutes@gmail.com with “TECH ISSUE” in the subject line. Emily handles most tech stuff (Rihanna still calls her when the internet stops working), and she’ll typically respond within 48 hours. Fair warning: our “tech support” is really just Emily Googling solutions, but she’s gotten pretty good at it.

Careers

Want to join our tiny but passionate team? We’re honestly not hiring right now, it’s still just the two of us juggling Yum in Minutes with our full-time jobs. But if you’re a recipe developer, food photographer, or writer who shares our obsession with actually-quick weeknight cooking, we’d love to stay in touch for the future. Send your info and portfolio to yinminutes@gmail.com with “FUTURE TEAM MEMBER” in the subject line.

Our dream is to eventually make Yum in Minutes our full-time focus. When that happens, we’ll need people who get it, who understand that “quick cooking” isn’t about cutting corners, it’s about respecting people’s time.

For Writers

Right now we’re not accepting guest posts because we’re still establishing our voice and testing process. Every recipe on our site goes through our multi-test protocol, and we’re not ready to scale that yet.

But here’s what we’d love from you: If you have suggestions for recipes you need, techniques you’re struggling with, or gaps you see in quick weeknight cooking content, tell us! Email yinminutes@gmail.com with “RECIPE IDEA” in the subject. We read every single one, and your ideas directly influence what we develop next.

Once we’re ready for contributors (probably late 2026), we’ll be looking for writers who can blend personal cooking experience with reliable testing and clear instructions. We’ll announce it here and on our email list first.

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Connect With Us:

• Website: www.yuminminutes.com
• Email: yinminutes@gmail.com
• Instagram: @yuminminutes
• Facebook: Yumin Minutes
• Pinterest: @yuminminutes
• X (Twitter): @yuminminutes

(That’s really us responding on social media, not some social media manager)

Location: Based in New York City (Emily in Manhattan, Rihanna in Queens) testing recipes in tiny urban kitchens because if it works here, it’ll work anywhere.

Thanks for being here. Seriously. Every time you choose one of our recipes for dinner, you’re trusting us with your limited time and energy. We don’t take that lightly.

Now let’s make something delicious quickly.

Emily & Rihanna
The Sisters Behind Yum in Minutes