Getting healthy easy meals on the table every night can feel like an overwhelming task. The fact that this comes at the END of a long day doesn’t help.
As a mom in charge of feeding my own family of four, I know how tiresome this task can be. Sometimes you just need a simple strategy for making a quick meal.
In this post, you will learn how to simplify this task with 4 easy steps. If you spend a couple of minutes doing this at the beginning of each week, your dinner hour can much easier.
This post is all about making healthy easy meals simple.
Simple Guide for Healthy Easy Meals
1. Shop your own kitchen first
All those items you bought on sale, the chicken breast, steaks, pork roast…they need to actually be eaten, not just stored for a rainy day. There is something in me that thinks I always need to have a ton of food in the freezer, just in case. Well, I live in America….we have a steady supply of food, all the time. Even during the quarantine shortages….I had plenty to eat. So I make a concerted effort to go against my food hoarding impulses by shopping my kitchen first!
2. Supplement your protein with more vegetables
Add in a colorful vegetable and a carb. When I say carb, feel free to make this another low-carb vegetable like a salad, green beans, asparagus cauliflower rice, broccoli, etc. if you are watching your insulin levels. I like to choose something colorful and then something with complex carbs like legumes, potatoes, whole grains like spelt, kamut, etc. But if you have no reservations, add in pasta, rice, potatoes, bread….whatever your family likes.
3. Dress it up with some interesting flavors
Think about interesting flavor enhancers like bbq sauce, teriyaki sauce, Thai curry, marinara sauce, alfredo sauce, pesto. What kinds of flavors do you and your family like? Add it in now. Salt is the most basic enhancement and shouldn’t be overlooked. Also, a splash of acid like lemon, lime, or balsamic vinegar, can go a long way in perking up the palate.
Here are a few of my favorite sauces.
Red Curry sauce, coconut milk, a splash of fish sauce and you have something pretty tasty. Throw in your protein, vegetables, and serve over rice or cauli-rice for a healthy simple dinner. Caution: it can be a little spicy.
Teiyaki Sauce is also a standby, add it to a bowl of chicken or beef, frozen vegetables, and rice or cauli-rice and you have a quick tasty meal.
This is an obvious one, it can dress up a boring piece of chicken or even tofu or tempeh, to make a tastier version of dinner. Add a side of ranch with those vegetables and no one should complain.
Pesto is a good way to get some healthy fats from the olive oil and nuts as well as antioxidants from the herbs. It’s also pretty easy to make from scratch if you have a food processor but I also like this one from Costco. Throw it on some chicken or potatoes to dress up an otherwise plain meal.
4. Plan and write it down once
If you spend a couple of minutes at the beginning of the week, you won’t have to waste mental energy trying to remember what you are making when 5 pm rolls around. Word to the wise, write it, and place it in a very obvious place, like a post-it on the fridge.
