Weekly meal planning can improve your nutrition while saving you time and money.

When you’re tired and hungry at the end of a long day, coming up with a recipe, stopping at the grocery store, and taking time to make a meal can be more than you can manage.

“That’s why, if healthy meals are important to you, it’s wise to make a plan ahead of time for what you want to cook and what you need to buy,” says Bethany Thayer, R.D., a Detroit spokeswoman for the American Dietetic Association. “Planning isn’t difficult, and the time you spend doing it ends up saving you prep and shopping time later on.”

Sensible planning also has nutritional and financial benefits. That’s because it can keep you from splurging on high-calorie, expensive takeout or restaurant meals.

“So find a system that works for you—post your menu and grocery list on your refrigerator or in your laptop or PDA,” she explains. “You can have great ideas for a meal, but everything falls apart if you don’t have the right ingredients on hand.”

Make a Plan
Your meal plan for a typical week should include:

• Three or four recipes you want to prepare
• An ingredient list for those recipes
• Creative ways to use leftovers so you don’t have to cook from scratch every night

Keep It Healthy
These tips can help you prepare healthy, low-fat meals:

• Have plenty of fresh and frozen vegetables on hand. “Having fresh veggies such as salad greens, tomatoes, green onions, and carrots on your grocery list makes it easy to whip up a salad in no time,” Thayer says. “Frozen vegetables such as broccoli, spinach, and green beans can be quickly prepared in the microwave and topped with lemon juice and a shake of Parmesan cheese for a side dish.”
• Keep your pantry stocked with healthy ingredients. You can create nourishing dishes without a lot of fuss with wholesome staples. Stock up on brown rice, whole wheat pasta, tuna packed in water, kidney and black beans, cans of green chilis and diced tomatoes, prepared pasta sauces, olive oil, flavored vinegars, and your favorite spices.
• Use your grill. “Outdoor barbecues and indoor electric grills cook foods quickly and with less fat than pan frying or sautéing,” Thayer says.
• Pay attention to portion sizes. A healthy diet has two major components: healthy foods and proper portions. If you don’t have both things working together, you won’t be able to attain or maintain a healthy weight.
• Make meatless meals. “Not only are they healthier, they’re less expensive, too,” Thayer says. You can also reduce your meat costs by using less meat and substituting beans for part of the meat in casserole, soups, or stews.

Make It Fast
When time is of the essence, keep these tips in mind:

• Look for recipes with few ingredients. The less measuring, slicing, and dicing you have to do, the faster dinner comes together. Go online or to a bookstore to gather a collection of such recipes.
• Use your food processor. These machines are great for chopping vegetables and blending sauces.
• Master quick-cooking techniques. Stir-frying and microwaving take less time than stewing, for example.
• Double your recipes and freeze them in meal-sized containers. “Soups, stews, casseroles, and grilled meats freeze beautifully,” Thayer says. “Having a nutritious, fully prepared meal you can heat and serve is the ultimate in quick and healthy.”

Barbara Floria spoke with Bethany Thayer, R.D., a Detroit-based spokeswoman for the American Dietetic Association. For more information, visit www.eatright.org.

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