Solve the time crunch:
"Delicious" in minutes. Meal preparation and clean-up can take 10 minutes or less if you choose ready-to-heat meals like Healthy Choice Dinners. For a sensational meal in minutes try our Grilled Chicken with Smokehouse BBQ Sauce. With the prep and clean-up time you save, treat yourself to a walk with a friend.
No heating time required. It doesn't have to be hot to be delicious. Sandwiches, such as those made with Healthy Choice Deli Meats on Healthy Choice Whole-Grain Breads, piled high with fresh tomato slices, crunchy green lettuce, and perhaps a slice of avocado, are a great start. Team a sandwich with fresh fruit and yogurt, and you've created a nutritious meal in minutes.
Simple preparation. A delicious meal does not require tedious preparation. You can make meal preparation easier and faster with these tools and techniques.
Your plan:
First, figure it out. If you are stumped about what to fix, Healthy Choice has plenty of resources. Check out our recipe section, or if you prefer, take advantage of the Healthy Choice team's creativity and expertise by enjoying any of the Healhty Choice Frozen Dinners, Flavor Adventures or Familiar Favorites. Enjoying Healthy Choice meals can relieve the burden of mealtime decision-making.
Put yourself first. Before squeezing in one more meeting over lunch, or working through dinner, consider this stress-busting alternative: Schedule meal times in your daily calendar just as you would important meetings. The few minutes it takes to eat can be made up with increased productivity later on.
Have a back-up plan. It is easy to get caught in the trap of skipping meals. When schedules get tight, prevent missing a meal by having a grab-and-go back-up close at hand. Something as simple as a shake, a snack bar, or one of our Healthy Choice Soup varieties in new microwaveable bowls is an effective weapon against meal skipping.
Master nutrition:
Take out the guess work. Our name, Healthy Choice, assures you that our meals are giving your body needed nutrients. Lean protein, complex carbohydrates, low in fat and saturated fat—Healthy Choice products help take the guesswork out of nutritious eating.
Don't lose the forest for the trees. Eating in a way that will provide your body with the needed fuel and nutrients gets complicated if you consider each nutrient or food individually. But eating right is about the big picture; what matters are your balanced and moderate food choices over weeks and years. Make the best choices that you can, then relax. For guidance about nutrition-boosting strategies, please refer to Eat Well.
Cooking Tips
Is the kitchen your haven for reducing everyday pressures? Or do you often feel too stressed to cook? Either way, a few strategies can help you dump the stress of mealtime, and put your time, energy, and efforts elsewhere.
Tool Up to Save Time
A microwave oven, a slow cooker, a pressure cooker: all three are designed to help cooks save time, effort, and perhaps stress in the kitchen. Many small utensils can streamline your food prep, too, and so help you put a nourishing, great-tasting meal on your table in minutes! A few kitchen tools that may become "must-haves":
Salad spinner: Wash and quickly "spin dry" your salad greens, spinach, and fresh herbs.
Flexible plastic cutting board: Just slice veggies, fruit, nuts, and more, then lift and fold the board so you can pour these foods into your cooking pot or bowl.
Stackable bowls, pots, and pans: Use the right size container for the job. Stackable utensils can save you from an avalanche of pots and pans as you rummage through a cabinet!
Kitchen scissors (shears): Use them to snip herbs, trim visible fat from meat or chicken, portion dough, and many other small food prep jobs.
Food processor or blender: Quickly slice, grate, and chop a larger amount of ingredients with these appliances.
Digital timer: Let a timer "watch" your cooking time as you multitask. Look for a clip-on kitchen timer than can go wherever you go.
"Shortcut" Your Cooking Tasks
Running out of time? Use a few kitchen shortcuts and smart planning to shop and prepare good-for-you meals and snacks within your time and energy limits.
Read the whole recipe. Make sure you have all the ingredients before you start food prep cook.
Pre-prep your cooking. Slice vegetables for tomorrow's stir-fry. Assemble a casserole or homemade pizza to pop in the oven later. Make meat patties for burgers, then freeze for meals later.
Multi-task in your kitchen. As a Healthy Choice Meal heats up, make a tossed salad, slice some fruit, load or empty your dishwasher, or pack your lunch for tomorrow.
Keep on ongoing shopping list. Jot down what you need as you use up the ingredients—and as you consider some new foods you need or want to try. Keep an envelope handy, too, for coupons.
Cook with Convenience
Convenience foods: for time-starved consumers and their families, they're a great solution for great taste and good nutrition. Stock your pantry, freezer, and 'fridge for simple assembly cooking. A few stress-less menu ideas:
Salad mixes: For an easy main dish, top salad mix with a grilled chicken or salmon filet. Toss mixed pre-cut greens with sliced Healthy Choice Deli Meat or canned drained tuna, grated cheese, and perhaps sliced artichoke hearts, olives, or fruit.
Pre-sliced veggies – fresh or frozen. They're ready to go for a quick chicken or shrimp stir-fry. Keep bottled stir-fry sauces on hand.
Jarred pasta sauces: No need to simmer sauces for great flavor. Just heat a Healthy Choice Pasta Sauce, and toss with your favorite cooked pasta, spoon over a baked potato, or use to make chili, sloppy joes, or lasagna.
Frozen pizza shells: Spread tomato paste or pesto sauce over the dough, load it with sliced vegetables, Healthy Choice Deli Meat, and shredded cheese. And bake!
Canned soups: Just heat and eat any Healthy Choice Soup. Or create your own "signature soup" by adding leftover vegetables, sliced cooked meat or chicken, sliced deli meat, or canned beans or veggies to canned soup.
Frozen meals: For the quickest meals of all, keep a variety of Healthy Choice Frozen Meals on hand to heat and eat whenever time is short. Stock up on Familiar Favorites, such as Macaroni and Cheese, or Chicken Sesame… on Flavor Adventures, such as Apple Glazed Pork Medallions, Beef Merlot, or Roasted Chicken Marsala… or Dinners, such as Meatloaf, Creamy Garlic Shrimp, or Blackened Chicken.
Eat Twice, But Cook Once
Cooking up a larger "batch" may take nearly the same effort and food prep time as a smaller batch. So why not cook once with two meals in mind? Either make extra to have enough for leftovers—or double up with a recipe to serve in two different ways. Try this:
Cook up a bigger batch of pasta bowties, twists, or macaroni. Use the extra to make pasta salad for tomorrow's lunch.
Cook a larger beef roast on one day. Slice half for a hearty beef stew made with leftover, canned, or frozen vegetables for later… or for a protein-rich pizza topping.
Double the amount of rice you cook for dinner. Use the extra to make chicken fried rice for dinner tomorrow.
Make a double batch of breakfast waffles. Freeze the rest, and serve later as a dessert topped with Healthy Choice Ice Cream and sliced fruit.
