Just because you work long hours doesn't mean your family can't have a home-cooked meal. You can have a healthy dinner on the table 20 minutes after you walk through the door by following the very practical advice of University of Arkansas dietitian Marjorie Fitch-Hilgenberg.
The secret is threefold: Planning, advance preparation and family participation.
Planning
Plan seven days of meals at a time, including writing out the menus and grocery shopping for the ingredients. "Think about making your life easier up front," Fitch-Hilgenberg advises. "Having the right supplies and a sketched-out plan for the week gets you started." At the grocery store, look for large packages of meat or chicken that can be the basis for several different meals. Fitch-Hilgenberg also advises families to keep some simple convenience foods on hand, such as canned beans and frozen and canned fruits and vegetables, which retain much of their nutritional value thanks to quick processing.
Having a wide selection of spices and condiments can make it easy to have baked chicken on Saturday night and chicken fajitas during the week, two entirely different meals from the same bird. She calls such dishes "planned-overs" rather than leftovers.
"And don't forget a good quality pasta sauce. It has so many uses for quick meals," she says. "Just be sure to read the label and choose a sauce with lower levels of sugar and salt."
Preparation
The key to the 20-minute meal is preparation, which begins when the food arrives home from the grocery store. Wash and separate cauliflower, broccoli, lettuce and other greens. Carrots, celery and cucumbers can be cleaned, cut and stored in see-through plastic containers. Melons become a ready-to-go food when they are sliced, seeded and stored in containers in the refrigerator. Open a can, rinse the beans and store them in a plastic tub for a quick and nutritious addition to salads.
Packages of meat, poultry and fish should be divided into meal-sized, easy-to-cook portions before freezing. Fitch-Hilgenberg advises slicing chicken breasts and other thick pieces to less than an inch thick for easy defrosting and quick cooking later. With a small counter-top grill, chicken or meat can be cooking while the salad is assembled and the "planned-over" rice is re-heated.
Participation
"One of the great advantages of planning is that whoever gets home first can start the meal," Fitch-Hilgenberg says. "Even children can get things out of the cupboard and pull out fresh veggies to be diced." Children can also be involved in washing vegetables and choosing which fruit the family will have for dessert. "When other family members participate in meal preparation, there's the added value of giving everyone some responsibility for their own well-being," she says.
Here's an easy recipe for spinach-cheese quesadillas, which can serve as the dinner entrée or a filling after-school snack for the kids:
- Thaw a package of frozen spinach.
- Once the spinach is thawed, squeeze out all the water so it is as close to dry as possible. (This is a fun task for young children.)
- Mix the spinach with shredded cheese, using about as much cheese as there is spinach.
- Spoon the quesadilla filling into the center of a tortilla.
- Fold the tortilla and, if you'd like, add salsa. Fold or roll the tortilla and microwave until the cheese melts.
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