Quick Meal Ideas

Firstly, consider using a crock pot. This might sound a little strange when we are talking about quick meals, because crock pots take several hours to cook a dish. However think of the amount of your time which is actually involved. All you have to do is to throw in your ingredients in the morning, which might take you around fifteen minutes to do, and when you come home in the evening most of your meal is already done! You might want to put some vegetables onto go with it, or perhaps rice, or bread, or maybe you will only need to set the table, depending on what type of meal it is.

There are lots of crock pot recipe books on the market, or check out your local library. You can also get plenty of great crock pot recipe ideas on the internet, and crock pots themselves can be bought for around $30.

Another way to save time is to plan your meals in advance, and shop accordingly, so that on any given day you don't have to think about what to cook, and you always know you have the ingredients you need.

Canned and frozen foods will make your preparation time faster, and the nutrition value of these is usually the same as, or even better than the fresh product, depending on how recently it was harvested.

One really useful tip is to prepare foods in advance and freeze them. For example, if you are having rice with your meal, cook a double amount and freeze half of it for another day. Soups and stews can be approached in the same way. Or you could cook up a big batch of ground beef and freeze it in meal sized portions. Then just defrost and add sauce for a quick meal.

Fish is very quick to cook, just 5 or 6 minutes in the steamer, and also very good for you. Just add some vegetables, and there you are.

What could be faster and easier than cooking up a pot of pasta and adding a jar of your favorite sauce? Cook up a double batch and freeze half for later, making it even faster next time.

Finally, make sure that you are stocked up on basics such as beans, pasta, lentils, rice, eggs and cheese, as well as a few tinned and frozen vegetables, and you will always have the makings of a quick and nutritious meal at short notice.