Easy Family Meals

You don’t have to spend hours in the kitchen to have a nice sit-down family meal. Meals do not have to be complicated to be healthy and worthy of family togetherness and you certainly do not have to “eat from a box” to make meals convenient.

Microwave meals and oven-ready foods may be simple and tasty but most of them are filled with different types of preservatives, saturated fats, sodium and sugars. Even those that are low in fat and sodium would have been preserved with chemicals to prolong their shelf lives. While these are convenient to use when you are in a time crunch, they are not the only ways to prepare a quick at-home meal your family will love.

You can buy some products prepackaged. Lettuce, shredded cabbage, carrots and radishes all come in bags. There are varieties of salads you can buy in bags in the produce section of your local grocery store. If you like other vegetables on your salad, it does not take a lot of time to chop and add them. Canned vegetables and fruits to which salt and sugar have not been added are easy ways of giving your family the fruits and vegetables it needs. Frozen vegetables are not unhealthy, either, though if you want the best, you should buy your veggies fresh and steam them rather than boil them.

Healthy breads, cereals and pastas are all quick and simple ways to add complex carbohydrates to your meals. Canned tuna and ground poultry meats make great substitutes for red meats in many different sauces. Turkey burgers that are seasoned well make fast and scrumptious suppers. If you have even half an hour for meal preparation, these can be made along with a salad and some fresh fruit in less time than you have planned.

One-dish meals such as a pot roast with potatoes and carrots are easy to make in the oven but will be even easier and perhaps tastier when made in a crock pot. Put the vegetables in the bottom of your crock pot and place the roast on top. Season, cover and let cook for several hours. Put it together in the morning before leaving to work and when come home in the evening you have a healthy and delicious dinner waiting for you. What could be simpler than that? Well, pot roast is not your only choice and there are other recipes that are just as easy.

Make family meals easy and enjoy the time you have together instead of eating on the run. Easy family meals really can be healthy!