Written by: Cassie Vanderwall, MS RD CD CPT
What’s for dinner is a question that most household cooks hear on a daily basis. Putting together a healthful dinner in a time crunch can be a difficult task. Thus, many people opt for simple just-add-water foods that do not provide good nutrition. Even more people with busy families swing by a local fast-food joint to provide a time-friendly feast.
I hope to convey some tips for the time-crunched family and the struggling chef, so that anyone can serve up a healthy, inexpensive meal in 20 minutes or less.
Time-saving Tips:
- Choose budget-friendly staples.
- Make a grocery list based on meals for the week
- Get creative with leftovers.
- Cook ahead: eat now or freeze for later.
Healthy eating does not cost more money, but does cost more time or at least a few moments of planning. Inexpensive staples that pack a nutritional punch include:
- Dry peas, beans and lentils
- Eggs
- Dry whole grains (Brown rice, Barley, Bulgur, Quinoa)
- Fresh, frozen or canned (no salt added) vegetables
- Potatoes
- Ground chicken or turkey breasts
- Canned fish in water with limited added salt
The items above vary in cooking time. The dried peas and lentils are going to cook up a lot faster than the beans, but in a time crunch all would be best if made ahead of time and placed in the freezer. Additionally, the dried grains vary in prep time where brown rice and barley may take 45-60min to cook versus the bulgur and quinoa may only take 10-12 minutes. Check out the recipes below for ideas on how to compile these staples for family-friendly meals.
A proven method that can ensure a healthful dinner is meal planning, which can be as simple as making a grocery list. When crafting a grocery list be sure to use a few of the budget-friendly staples to create 2-3 weekday dinners. These dinners can feed you and your family throughout the week. The one catch with this approach is that you have to be a fan of leftovers. Leftovers do not have to be the same meal, but may include the same foundation. For example, grilling several chicken breasts on Sunday may provide Kebabs on Monday, Tacos on Tuesday, and pasta with chicken on Wednesday.
Since time is of the essence and lack of time is a common barrier for a variety of healthful lifestyle habits, cooking ahead and freezing for later can be very helpful. Most people have at least one day out of the week that is a bit slower than others. I recommend to set aside 1-2 hours on this day to cook up a few of the staples listed above or to even create home-made frozen dinners, such as frozen soups, stews, or casseroles. Another option is to cook up the meal, grains or beans in a slow-cooker or crock-pot during the day, so they are ready by the evening.
One Week of Nutritious, Delicious and Efficient Dinners:
- Monday: Grilled chicken breast (from Sunday dinner) sandwiches on toasted whole wheat bread topped with vegetables, sliced avocado and melted reduced-fat cheese. Served with fruit salad.
- Tuesday: Stir-fried frozen vegetables with chopped chicken breast served over made-ahead brown rice.
- Wednesday: Made-ahead 3-Bean Chili topped with plain Greek yogurt or reduced fat cheese and raw vegetable sticks (carrots, celery, bell pepper)
- Thursday: Baked potato topped with leftover chili, yogurt or cheese with a side salad as easy as bagged spinach topped with a few grape tomatoes.
- Friday: Home-made pizzas with leftover vegetables from the week, a jar of low-sodium tomato sauce, reduced-fat cheese served on a whole wheat pita, tortilla or English muffin.
For additional cost-effective, time-sensitive and healthy recipes check out:
