What's for dinner?

Eating healthy, wholesome, home cooked food does not have to be complicated. Even for busy Moms like myself. There are easy ways to make sure you and your family is  a well balanced meal. All that’s required is a little planning. You can even let the children help you plan the menu. Planning ahead is important because if you wait until you’re hungry to figure out what to cook you will most likely make unhealthy food choices because when you’re hungry it is easier to just grab something convenient to eat. Planning your meals ahead can help relieve the stress related to meal preparation as well. It allows you to plan to include more fruits, veggies and whole grains in your meals! It also saves time, energy and money. I realized that when I wait until the last minute I feel anxious, rushed, stressed and just want to feed my family! But when I take the time to plan my meals I actually enjoy cooking! The other day I ended up working late and had to resort to throwing something together. Dinner that day was chicken nuggets instead of fresh chicken breast. This disappointed me because it is important to me to feed my children healthy meals. I’m sure there are many Moms who feel that way as well. I realized that this situation can be avoided by planning and preparing meals ahead of time. You never know what can come up during the day, especially when you’re a working Mom! Before you know it its dinner time and you don’t know what to feed the kids! To avoid a repeat the next day I still prepared the chicken breast and baked potatoes; I cleaned, seasoned and sautéed/steamed the chicken breast put it in a Pyrex baking dish and boiled and slightly baked the potatoes.  And I’m happy I did because the following day I ended up getting stuck at the salon for way longer than expected and unfortunately I was not able to make it home in time for dinner. The good thing was that I didn’t have to worry about what my husband and kids were going to eat because I had already prepared the meal the day before. I was able to call and give my Hubby simple directions to get the food on the table. All he had to do was pop the chicken and baked potatoes in the oven for a half hour and put the stem-able veggies in the microwave and dinner was served! It felt good knowing that my family got to enjoy a healthy wholesome meal (that I prepared) even though I couldn't be there. And eventually I got to enjoy my dinner when I got home. There were even leftovers for the next dayJ.

FYI: It is an even better idea to take the time maybe on a Sunday or whenever you have free time to prepare your meals for the entire week and freeze them. This will save you a lot of time and energy!

Do you prepare meals in advance?
Tell me in the comments...


Angela Cherubin
Cherubin.angela@gmail.com
Healthtips@kitchenstalk.com