Many healthy foods and diet meals are time-consuming to prepare and eat. Since diets already involve such a great deal of planning, it can be a welcome change to spend less time on cooking meals and snacks. To do so, it's helpful to learn more about what can make up a healthy meal and how to streamline the process of preparing one.
Health
Diet foods are intended to promote good health while helping to cut calories, fat, sugar or cholesterol. If a quick, convenient recipe is appropriate for a diet but doesn't provide a variety of nutrients, it's not a very healthy choice. The best diet foods that are easy to fix are also varied and balanced. Try to choose simple items from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's food guide pyramid, such as brown rice, whole-grain cereal, low-fat yogurt, skim milk, beans, nuts, lean meats and fresh fruits and vegetables. All are easy to prepare, and combining them is preferable to having an imbalanced but convenient meal.
Shopping
Keep an eye out for items at the grocery store that can make diet meals and snacks easier to prepare. You might pay more for the convenience, but some products can save significant amounts of time. Try pre-chopped vegetables and fruits, fresh deli salads and sandwiches or pre-cooked whole grains from salad bars. Though processed foods and "just-add-water" meals can be tempting, they're often loaded with sodium, fat and calories, and they very rarely offer the same health benefits that a fresh food would.
Techniques
The Mayo Clinic recommends relying on several classic healthy cooking techniques to save time and speed up preparation in the kitchen. Baking, roasting and steaming foods all work particularly well because they require minimal prep time and very little hands-on work, yet they involve little added fat and plenty of nutrient retention.
Examples
Large-batch meals, such as vegetable soup, chili, stew and low-fat casseroles, all take just a short amount of time to prepare, but they make enough servings to enjoy for several days, pack for lunches or freeze for later. KidsHealth.org suggests snacking on sliced melon, celery or carrots. Trail mix or baked granola bars, which are easy to make at home, are also healthy diet choices.
Tips
Crafting a meal plan that fits your diet and making a detailed grocery list may seem like notable time investments, but they prevent future last-minute trips to the store and help to weed out meals and recipes that won't fit into your schedule. HelpGuide.org also suggests getting kitchen tools that can help save time and speed up preparation. Blenders, food processors, rice cookers and slow cookers all make healthy meals that involve multiple steps easier to fix in a short amount of time.
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