7 ways to fit healthy choices into your hectic life
2. Plan (and repeat) meals.
Cooking at home saves money and vastly improves nutrition intake, but thinking up a meal at 5 p.m. every day is a recipe for defeat. Take ten minutes—yes, just ten—each weekend to map out a weekly menu. To simplify, collect your family’s favorite, quick recipes and rotate them throughout the month. Use repeated themes, such as Mexican food night (tacos or quesadillas with veggies), breakfast for dinner (omelets, whole-grain pancakes, fruit), Meatless Monday (penne with cooked, fresh vegetables and cheese), or soup or slow cooker (just about anything you have on hand).
Always cook extra meats, beans, vegetables, and grains; use leftovers as lunches or as building blocks for quick dinners (for example, shred leftover chicken for enchiladas, or use cooked rice or potatoes for breakfast skillet dinners).
Make double batches of soups or casseroles; freeze half for a fast meal later on.
Keep these on hand for quick meals: chicken breasts, frozen vegetables, dried or canned beans, lentils, diced tomatoes and sauce (no added sugar), eggs, fresh or frozen fruit, yogurt, quinoa or couscous, nuts and nut butters, canned fish.
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