How to Prepare Healthy Meals Faster than You Can Order Takeout

Written by Editor in Chief, Pick The Brain - 28 Comments
Categories: health and fitness

healthy food

Everyone knows the benefits of cooking at home vs. eating out, but when it comes to preparing meals, people are never short on excuses. ‘I don’t have the time’ and ‘I don’t know how’ are the most popular. After reading this article you won’t be able to claim either.

Eating out takes a lot longer than you think. Between looking through menus, placing orders, and waiting for delivery, the process usually takes 30-45 minutes. If you follow these basic steps, you’ll be able to prepare healthy meals at home in 15-20 minutes.

Stocking Up on Food

I hate going to the grocery store, so when I do I load up for 2-3 weeks. Although I love eating fresh produce, it goes bad quickly. Buy as much fresh produce as you can eat in a week, along with a bunch of frozen and canned food.

Some types of canned or frozen food tastes terrible, while others are surprisingly good. I absolutely hate canned vegetables, but find frozen veggies taste great. Things I buy frozen include peas, broccoli, green beans, and other vegetables. Canned foods I eat include beans, lentils, and tuna.

With meat, I generally buy massive economy packs of chicken, beef, pork, or fish. When I get home, I open up the packages, separate the meat into single meal portions, place them in baggies, and put them in the freezer. This is a great way to save money and stock up for weeks.

Perfecting your grocery list takes a bit of practice, but it makes your shopping and cooking very efficient.

Food Preparation

Preparing meals efficiently depends on a few core principles:

  • Routine – Eating the same meals on a regular basis will allow you to master the process.
  • Simplicity – To cook quickly, you’ll need to eat simple meals that don’t require elaborate preparations.
  • Multi-tasking – Having multiple cooking processes going on at once is the key to efficiency.

The Microwave is Your Friend

The fastest and easiest way to cook is popping something in the microwave. Most of the foods I’ve mentioned above (canned/frozen vegetables and grains) don’t need any other preparation. Note that this is much different than eating pre-made microwavable meals.

A Sample Meal Walk Through

To give you a concrete idea of the process, here is a step-by-step walk through of a typical meal.

  1. Start by defrosting meat in the microwave. This takes approximately 5 minutes. While the meat is in the microwave, get everything ready for the next step by pulling out vegetables and beans and preparing them for the microwave. Also, turn on your Foreman Grill (a great way to minimize clean up time) or start heating a pan on the stove so it’s already hot when the meat is ready. If you’re cooking rice or pasta, you’ll want to start boiling water a bit earlier. Personally, I’ve been hooked on beans (and much leaner) ever since I tried the slow carb diet.
  2. When the meat is done defrosting, start cooking it. Immediately place your frozen vegetables in the microwave (3 min). When the vegetables are done, throw in your beans (1.5 min), or take the next step in preparing your pasta or rice, since the water should be boiling. It’s easy to do this stuff while tending your meat at the same time.
  3. Throw it on a plate. By the time the meat is done, all your vegetables, beans, or grains should be ready or close to it. Apply which ever seasonings you like and enjoy.

The total preparation time should be around 15 minutes, possibly a bit longer if you decide to make pasta or rice. The resulting meals are not only easy to cook, but they’re also remarkably nutritious and inexpensive. To cut down even more on prep time, cook the meat for multiple days at once and microwave it later.

If you can enjoy simple meals and don’t mind eating the same food most of the time, you can save tons of time and money by mastering a process, multi-tasking, and utilizing the speed of microwaving.

What are your healthy and efficient cooking tips?

Image by mullingitover

  • Bones

    These are some good tips. Some points that perhaps other commenters can clarify though: some canned and frozen vegetables contain more nutrients than their fresh counterparts? The example I heard of was frozen spinach.

    Also, for speedy meals, don’t forget pasta dishes where you can make the sauce in the time it takes for the pasta to cook in boiling water (~10 mins). You can make it whole-meal pasta to healthy-it-up!

  • VitalyK

    Hi! Great article, except one thing – microwaves isn’t healthiest thing on this planet :) . Why? Check this out
    http://www.mercola.com/article/microwave/hazards.htm

  • http://www.selfgrowth.com/experts/stanley_f_bronstein_mr_achievement.html MrAchievement.com (Stanley Bronstein)

    I listened to a speech yesterday about healthy eating.

    The main point behind the speech is that so many of the ingredients in pre-packaged food these days are artificial.

    For example, they asked us to consider whether or not the blueberries in our waffles were actually blueberries? In this case, it turns out they were little sugar bits with blue dye added.

    MrAchievement
    Stanley Bronstein
    Attorney, CPA, Author, Blogger & Professional Motivational Speaker

  • http://www.twokitties.typepad.com Heidi

    I make batches of homemade soups – hearty ones with lots of protein and fresh vegetables. Then I freeze them in individual containers. Wake up in the morning, put one in the fridge to defrost, and when you come home from work, there is a healthy, quick meal waiting.

  • http://kimtasticgrafix.co.nr Kim

    I dislike grocery shopping too so I only shop once a week, and I am very organized with my shopping list.

  • http://www.pickthebrain.com John Wesley

    That sounds delicious! I love soup, so I should look into learning how to make it myself.

  • http://www.pickthebrain.com John Wesley

    Wow, that’s a scary article. I hope its just a conspiracy theory.

  • http://www.theofficediet.com Ali from The Office Diet

    I agree with Kim that being organised definitely helps. I’m pretty good at preparing meals in the evening — the biggest challenge I’ve faced over the past couple of years is not dinner time but lunchtime. I’ve managed to stick to taking packed lunches into work rather than buying sandwiches out or going to a restaurant with colleagues.

    It’s saved me a HUGE amount of money though, well worth 5-10 mins of prep time in the mornings. :-)

    I’ve posted a sample shopping list and plan on The Office Diet at http://www.theofficediet.com/2008/04/23/17-ingredients-6-sandwiches-10-days-of-fantastic-healthy-lunches/ if anyone would find it inspiring/helpful.

  • http://www.pickthebrain.com John Wesley

    Yes, making my own lunch probably saves me $40 a week. I have some fast ways to do that is people are interested. :)

  • http://www.etavitom.com etavitom

    Thanks for the smart post. I love cooking at home and improvising with whatever I have.

  • Nadine

    Crockpot meals are easy to make ahead, then you can freeze the leftovers to make another even easier meal.

  • http://www.smarterfitter.com/blog monica

    I’m with Nadine – we’re a veggie household and I make big batches of dal, chili and beans then freeze them in meal-sized portions. If I’ve gone through the freezer, then I do puy lentils (or green lentils, which cook in

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  • cesibon

    I also do mega-cooking on the weekends then freeze portions for week-day consumption but what’s up with the plastic plate and fork in your pic? Paper and plastic should be used only when absolutely necessary! Go Green, Save The Whales, all that kind of thing!

  • http://www.traviseneix.com Travis

    I second (or third) the soup idea. Make a big batch on the weekend while watching a movie on my laptop in the kitchen. Freeze portions and reheat when desired. Add a bit of fresh herbs, some grated cheese, sausage or sour cream to the reheated soup to give it a different character. Yum.

    Also, I don’t own a microwave, so I freeze the soup in sturdy tuperware and bring a pan of water up to steaming where the water is high enough to match the level of the frozen soup in the container when I put it in, but not submerge the soup. Transfer to a small pot when the soup has separated from the sides of the tuperware, stir until ready. Double-yum!

  • Nadine

    This is my latest quick lunch idea:

    In a good sealing container, throw in about half a can of rinsed beans, frozen corn (and/or fresh chopped tomatoes), about 2 tbsp oil, and a good size sprinkle of spice mix (I use Herbamare as it doesn’t contain additives, should be findable at a health food store or from a web search).

    By the time lunch roles around, the mix has had a chance to marinate and it is quite tasty.

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  • http://www.thenaturalmd.wordpress.com Dr. Pam

    Great ideas for quick convenience food that is healthy. I do agree that frozen food in general is a little more healthy because it typically doesn’t contain salt and sugar additives. But always important to check the label for added salt and sugar.

  • http://www.definingsomeday.com Elle

    I spend a little time (30 minutes) on the weekend making a giant salad, and then we eat it for lunches and dinners throughout the week, with variations at each meal to keep it interesting. Sometimes I add hard-boiled eggs, chicken, shrimp, or tofu. Sometimes I put it in a wrap or a pita. Other times I’ll eat it as a side dish to a soup or sandwich. It has reduced my meal prep time to 10 minutes or less!
    Simple is important for speed, and variations to the basic salad keep me from getting bored.

  • http://www.MyFamilyDoctorMag.com Leigh Ann

    I just submitted a comment that hasn’t shown up yet, but I wanted to add: Defrost in the *fridge* overnight, not on the counter. :-)

  • http://www.MyFamilyDoctorMag.com Leigh Ann

    Er … my update just showed up without the original post, so now my comment makes no sense. Ha!

    Anyway, I had said in the original post that I like to make healthy stuff in advance and freeze it. The night before I want to eat it, I thaw it out (in the fridge), and it’s ready to cook the next day.

    We have a few recipes that are good for freezing on the site of the publication I edit. (Click on my name above and then “Recipes” in the top menu.)

    If my original comment ever shows up, this is going to seem really repetitive and weird. Oh well …

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  • http://www.christopherwarden.typepad.com Christopher Warden

    The microwave might be your friend in terms of speed, but it’s not ideal if you’re looking for optimal health. The radiation from the microwave alters the biochemical structure of the food(s) being heated to the point that, essentially, your body doesn’t recognize it as food anymore. (Quick experiment — microwave an egg. Does it look the same as a “regular” oven-cooked egg to you?)

    This is one instance where, if you’re looking for optimal health, a few minutes slower is better.

  • Kenya

    Wow I’ve always wondered about microwaves. I’m definately gonna throw mine out now!

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