Planning Ahead Makes Dinner Easy

Part of the reason that cooking dinner can be such a hassle is because it often requires some advance preparation.  You forget to stop at the grocery store and get that one missing ingredient or you forget to take something out of the freezer.  Now, your plan for dinner is wrecked and you take the easy way out by grabbing a burger somewhere, right?  It happens to me more often that I care to admit.  Fortunately, there are some excellent options for creating dinner on the fly without having to sacrifice too much time, effort, money or even flavor in the process.

Being prepared for creating dinner on the fly is the first step.  This means learning how to shop for the right ingredients in advance.  Some of the things to keep on hand for fast dinners that are both tasty and healthy include:

• Thin sliced, lean meats. Pork, chicken and even sirloin tips are excellent to have on hand when time is a factor. Even if they are frozen, you can defrost them in no time in the microwave. The lean, thin cuts are easy to work with and they tend to offer just the right portion sizes to keep health and diet on track. Cook these fast in a frying pan filled with broth or lined lightly with olive oil.  Add spices to taste and serve them over or with a grain side dish.

• Instant rice, fast-cook macaroni, and ready-to-mix stuffing. These fast side dishes only take a few minutes to make.  In most cases, these dishes can be prepared in the time it takes to cook the meat and heat up some vegetables to go along with it.  I always have a few packages of Knorr’s Pasta Sides in the pantry for these kind of situations.

• Frozen or canned vegetables. These can heat up perfectly on the stove while the grain-based side dish cooks in the microwave and the meat cooks on another burner.

• Ready-to-bake rolls. If having rolls and butter at dinner is a must, this option takes the time out of the effort and keeps the mold, so often associated with fresh-baked, out of the equation. Just preheat the oven while defrosting the main entrée and pop the rolls in while the meat and side dishes cook.  I keep a package of Pillsbury Grands in the freezer and can quickly cook a few in the toaster oven if I’m using the big oven for something else.

When the right ingredients are kept on hand, even a fully unprepared cook can whip up a healthy, balanced dinner in no time (If I can do it, I know you can too!).  In fact, it’s possible to put together a smart meal in less time than it takes to drive to the local fast food joint, wait in line and order. The effort involved in fast home cooking is minimal and the resulting flavors beats fast food hands down.

Another great way to be prepared is to let someone else do the grunt work for you!  With Meal Planning Central’s  12 week Ultimate menu pack, you’ll get 12 weeks worth of quick dinner recipes, plus weekly grocery shopping lists to make sure you get everything you need in one trip to the store.  It doesn’t get much easier than that!

Tagged as: hints, Meal Planning Central