Healthy choices: Operation Dinner

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You are the queen of your kitchen and a dinner diva. You’re not up against the clock; you’re ahead of it. Planned. Prepped. No problem.

Getting a jump on your schedule can save a lot of headaches later. Learn to meal-plan and meal-prep and see what a difference it makes. If you don’t work on the weekends, Saturday or Sunday may be a good time to set aside one hour to prep for meals. Chop veggies and cook a whole grain like quinoa or brown rice. Store them in glass containers so you can see what you have on hand. Use these items to put together a delicious and nutritious dinner salad in minutes. Make it a family affair and let your kids help out with measuring or chopping.

A quick and easy dinner salad takes any meal from good to great. Try Pinterest or a meal planning service like the Fresh 20 to build a weekly menu that saves you time, money and calories. Knowing what to make and having the right ingredients on hand gets you 75 percent of the way to a healthy, homemade dinner every night.

“If dinner isn’t done by noon it’s not going to get done,” says Kristin Schell, food blogger and mom of four. “Running from school to baseball to dance is the worst possible time to try to decide what’s for dinner. When I have the food prepped or the crockpot going by breakfast I know we’ll have a healthy, homemade dinner that we all feel good about.”

More healthy cooking

Alison Sweeney talks about healthy eating habits for kids
Ask a healthy chef: Easiest ways to cut calories
Healthy cooking tips from chef athlete Meg Galvin