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MAKING MEALS IN A PINCH IN 20 MINUTES OR LESS!

These days, people are busier than ever, and sometimes even the best intentions to eat healthy nutritious foods can disintegrate. To top it off there is nothing worse than getting home and having nothing in your fridge that tempts the taste buds. In order to Eat for Energy and Enjoyment everyday, it is important to keep things fresh, simple and colourful when it comes to your meals. It is easy to achieve this if you try to aim for at least 3 out of the 4 food groups at every meal. Here are come tips to achieving this goal:

1. When using packaged/processed items for your meals always add something fresh whether it is a side salad, steamed vegetables or chopped fruit.

2. Cook enough brown/white rice, potatoes/yams or pasta for 2-3 days and keep in the fridge and heat in the microwave or oven for an easy starch accompaniment.

3. Keep a variety of low fat salad dressings in your refrigerator and add to any salad, cold left over pasta or rice, or as a dipping sauce for veggies. Examples: Western Classics Fat Free Zesty Italian or Five Herb. Western Family Italian dressing or Kraft low calorie dressing in Sun dried Tomato, Greek or Balsamic. Annie’s Naturals dressing also has a variety of flavours made with all natural ingredients and flavours.

4. Soup can be created into a meal by simply adding some extra vegetables, left over pasta, potatoes or rice, and legumes to the prepared soup and topping with some low fat yogurt. Pacific Foods has a variety of organic soups in a tetra-pack that is easy to heat up in a microwave or on a stove. Cooking the soup with the added veggies and beans and serving with whole wheat bread makes it a balanced meal. Alternatively, miso soup can be prepared in a pinch by adding miso paste or seasoning to water and boiling with cubed firm tofu, green onion, and bok choy (or other leafy green). Add some left over rice for a complete meal.

5. Stir fries are another easy and quick way to get your veggies in. Try cutting up vegetables for the week on your grocery shopping day so you have them set to go when you need them during the week. Add some flair to the usual stir fry by mixing peanut butter (or other nut butter) or a Thai sweet chili sauce with your soy sauce before adding to the stir fry. Thai Kitchen also has a variety of easy curry and stir fry mixes that you simply have to add the vegetables and noodles to.

6. One can be very creative with pasta, by adding tomato sauce, vegetables and beans/chickpeas and heating it in the microwave. Experiment with different protein choices such as smoked salmon or canned tuna, salmon or sardines. Alternatively, top your veggie tomato sauce with some ricotta cheese and cottage cheese, heat in the microwave, and you will be amazed at how similar to lasagna it tastes!

7. Believe it or not pizza can be a healthy meal if you follow the guidelines in the introduction. Pick up a ready prepared pizza dough (whole wheat preferably) and add an array of vegetables, lean meats/poultry/shrimp/crumbled tofu and top with partly skimmed mozzarella cheese or ricotta. Serve this with a side salad for extra veggies. Alternatively, use a whole wheat pita, tortilla or bagel if you do not have pizza dough. Try spicing it up by using the Indian Life masala roti’s for the base of the pizza!

8. How about breakfast for dinner, omelets are a quick and nutritious meal if you add finely chopped vegetables and serve with whole wheat toast. Try Born-3 Eggs for some added omega-3 fatty acids.

9. Pete’s Tofu offers an array of delicious tofu-to-go packages that are easy to add to any rice bowl (rice and steamed vegetables). Try all the different flavours for taste variety!

10. In the frozen section, there are veggie burgers and wild pacific salmon fillets (Highliner) that can be cooked in under 18 minutes. These are easy protein options and make a balanced meal with some vegetables and pasta/rice.

Bottom line: To keep meals nutritious and delicious when you are busy, just remember:

• Balance (>3 out of 4 food groups)
• Plan (chop ahead and keep easy condiments in the pantry)
• Fresh (add fresh veggies to all your meals)
• Colourful (try for >5 colours)
• Variety (try to eat something different every day!)