Fast food at home
By Cara Rosenbloom, RD

After a busy work day, are you faced with the stress of what to serve for supper? While take-out foods are convenient, they are not the healthiest dinner option. The good news is that it’s possible to prepare a healthy meal in the time it would take for fast-food to be delivered.

Home cooking is the best choice if you are trying to eat healthier since you can limit the amount of salt, sugar and saturated fat that goes into each dish. You can also choose to prepare meals that are loaded with heart-healthy fibre, vegetables and whole grains. By following the five secrets below, you can serve stress-free meals that you are sure to enjoy, while discovering that take-out isn’t the only speedy option.

Keep a full pantry
Stock these basic ingredients for quick dinner ideas:

• Canned tomatoes
• Frozen mixed vegetables
• Whole-grain pasta
• No-salt-added canned beans
• Frozen chicken breasts
• Low-sodium canned tuna or salmon (packed in water)
• Cooking oil (such as canola or olive oil).

Here’s a full list of foods for a well-stocked pantry.  

With these foods readily available, you can make a chicken stir-fry, minestrone soup, pasta with tuna and veggies, and a host of other nutritious options. When using frozen vegetables, steam rather than boil them. Steaming will lock in more vitamins and will produce vegetables that are crisp, not watery or limp.

Be organized and plan ahead
The fastest way to get weeknight dinners on the table is to create a plan and stick to it. Start the week by making a list of what you’ll make for dinner each night, and then shop for the necessary ingredients. To reduce emergency trips to the store for missing items, keep a running grocery list of foods you need to replace on your fridge door. Don’t forget to take the list with you to the grocery store!

Planning ahead will also enable you to cook in bulk and use ingredients in more than one dinner. For example, if you cook extra brown rice on Sunday when you make Tamari tempeh, you can use it again on Monday for Shrimp and “fried” rice with vegetables.

Enlist help
On busy days, your kids and spouse can help with meal preparation. Have your children set the table and ask your spouse to chop the vegetables. There is no need for you to do everything on your own. Even during downtime, you or a family member can slice vegetables (for stir-fry, soups) and store them in a container in the fridge so prep time for next night’s dinner is already in the bag!

Freeze your meals
When cooking foods that freeze well such as soup, pasta or stew, make large batches and freeze leftovers in single-portion containers so that one or all family members can access a meal quickly. The easiest dinner is one that you cooked and froze last month, since all that’s required is simply defrosting - either by leaving the frozen food in the fridge overnight or using your microwave. Try our easy-to-freeze tomato-lentil soup with cashews.

Instead of…try… 

• Instead of ordering pizza, make it at home. Use whole grain pitas, English muffins or tortillas as the base, add some tomato sauce, your favourite vegetables, and a sprinkle of lower-fat cheese (such as mozzarella). Bake for 10 minutes at 350°F (180°C).
• Instead of take-out submarines, try our recipe for Submarine sandwich with honey-mustard dressing. Having family members prepare their own sandwich means less cooking for you, and the variety of ingredient combinations will please every palate.
• Instead of Italian take-out, try our easy lasagna rolls.
• Instead of fatty fast-food burgers, try our Beef and black bean burgers.

Posted: April 2009