It can happen to the best of us—a healthy eating regimen completely derails for whatever reason. Life is hard! Things happen. People get sick, work gets chaotic, life just gets out of control from time to time, and with that, one of the first things to go by the wayside is often proper meal prep. Without a plan for dinner, we turn to take-out or fast food which are just not good ways to feed your family.
When you end up skidding off course for a couple of days it’s easy to let that stretch into weeks. People tell themselves that it’s too late now, they’re so far off track there’s no getting back on. This is the wrong way to look at things. One or two bad days don’t equate to a week-long fail! You have to get back on track and forgive yourself. But how about putting a system in place so that this derailment of your healthy lifestyle doesn’t happen in the first place?
The following suggestions will help you to keep yourself (and your loved ones) on the straight and narrow when it comes to your dinner choices!
1. Prep ingredients. One of the major reasons for getting off track with our eating is because we don’t prep ahead of time. If you chop your veggies when you bring them home, that prep is done for you when you go to make supper. When you bring home a package of chicken breasts, slice them up before putting them in the fridge or freezer. Portion out your ground beef and freeze in individual portions. Do as much of this prep work as you can in advance so that meals can come together much more quickly.
2. Freezer meals. When we’re busy, we tend to let nutrition take a back seat. Freezer menus allow you to do all of your meal prep at once so that you have a great selection of meals to cook up fresh when your schedule is chaotic. Having some fabulous freezer meals on hand is a real gift when you need to get something on the table fast. It’s like reaching for a frozen entree, only without the chemicals, sodium and preservatives!
3. Use the slow cooker. I swear, that little appliance in your cupboard can add years to your life! I could not function nearly as efficiently in the kitchen without my slow cooker to help me on crazy days and I encourage you to use yours often. Again, throwing something in the slow cooker in the morning when you know supper is going to be crazy is just a wise thing to do and it will help prevent you from calling the local pizza place on those frantic days.
4. Plan ahead. Thousands of families around the world can attest to the fact that Dinner Answers helps them to keep their kitchens running smoothly. Every week our Dinner Answers subscribers receive a complete set of recipes for the week including serving suggestions, nutrition information, and the all-important shopping lists.
