It's on nights like these that we're tempted to make a quick pass through the drive-thru. And that's okay occasionally. But it's not healthy for you or your family to rely on, nevermind the expense. More often than not, it's better to have a plan in place about how you will solve your last-minute dinner dilemmas. Here are some suggestions:
1. Have at least 5 meals that you can make in 30 minutes or less, and keep the ingredients on-hand. For example: stock the pantry with whole wheat spaghetti noodles and jars of marinara sauce; keep extra-lean ground turkey breast in the freezer. Now you've got a spaghetti dinner ready for the making! Another idea: always have whole wheat/whole-grain tortillas available in the fridge - you can stuff them with anything (whole or non-fat refried beans, instant brown rice, reduced-fat cheese or cream cheese, lean meat, vegetables, and so on - just make sure you've got something on-hand) and turn it into a meal! These are your "go-to"meals, especially during busy weeks or when you're tired of cooking.
2. Create a weekly theme night. For example, Monday night is Italian/pasta night, Tuesday is taco (or other Mexican fare) night, Fridays are pizza night, Saturdays are burgers, steaks, or kebabs on the grill, and so on. For nights when you don't feel like cooking or are on-the-go, plan a couple of easy, quick dinners: Sunday evenings could be grilled cheese sandwiches with soup, Wednesdays might be tortillas wrapped around reduced-fat cream cheese, lean meat, and fresh vegetables alongside baked potato chips or baked tortilla chips and salsa. Include one or 2 monthly theme nights as well, such as serving (a healthy) breakfast for dinner on the 1st of every month. Keep in mind, these nights are not set in stone and are interchangeable. For example, if your son has an unexpected soccer game on your regularly scheduled taco night, swap tacos with a quicker and easier meal, such as grilled cheese sandwiches and soup.
3. Plan ahead, plan ahead, plan ahead. Need I say it again? Plan ahead. In general, grocery shop only one time per week. Make a master grocery list of items you usually buy and print it out (to save time, print multiple copies - 1 for each upcoming week; be sure to save the list so you can make changes as needed). This way you can easily and quickly mark the items you need to purchase each week, as well as add things to it that you may not ordinarily or regularly buy. Before planning your meals for the next week and making your weekly shopping trip, take a look at your calendar over the next week. How many (and which) nights are super busy? What do you want to do for those nights? On your not-so-busy nights, is there anything "special" you'd like to prepare? What are some of your and your family's favorite recipes? What do you need to buy in order to make those meals? Your meal plan for the next week does not have to be written out and you're not bound to it, but having a general idea or plan for what you're going to do is always the best option.
4. Put your crockpot to use! Most women have a crockpot, but rarely use it. What's more, there are numerous cookbooks available that are dedicated solely to cooking in a crockpot. This combination can make cooking an entire meal really easy, healthy, and fast! In addition, put your BBQ grill to use regularly - especially during the Spring and Summer months. Enlist the help of your husband with this, and he won't even mind assisting with dinner!
5. Prepare a double recipe one to two times per week - or on the weekend - when you have some extra time. Freeze the extra meal so that you can pull it out at a moment's notice - whenever you have no time to cook or just don't feel like cooking. Or prepare and freeze extra portions of a meal, such as cooked ground meat when making spaghetti; on taco night next week, just pull the cooked meat out of the freezer and put it in the fridge to thaw.
When all else fails . . .
Thankfully eating out healthfully is becoming more and more of a reality. And you may want to plan one night a week for this - such as picking up healthy sub sandwiches on game night, or grabbing some light Asian cuisine after running around doing errands all day. In general, plan to do this only when cooking a healthy meal is virtually impossible, and avoid doing so more than once per week.
Copyright © 2010 Keeley Drotz, RD – TGBG Nutrition. All rights reserved.
