I know that this is a rather old post but in case you are still wanting some ideas for making quick dinners easier and healthier I have some ideas... 1. Prep ahead -- if you know you are going to be making pork chops/chicken then divide them into freezer bags ahead of time and try using different marinades on them or make your own and save some money and don't forget to write on the bags what marinade you used and when you packaged them. For example, if you have a zesty cajun marinade that you are giving a try then write on the bag "zesty cajun" and the date it was put in the freezer and then you can plan your meals around the marinade, like red beans and brown rice or balck beans and rice with some type of vegetable or salad .. 2. Make time to plan ahead -- I shop once every two weeks for groceries and I try to make sure that the grocery list is complete when I go to the grocery store. If you shop on Saturdays then make Friday your day to look over the list and add anything that needs to be added and prepare your marinades the same day then when you do your shopping on Saturdays you really won't have to waste your time preparing the marinades ..3. Make a meal plan -- I grew up in a household where every Monday was chicken or pork chops, Tuesday was meat loaf or tacos, Wed. was spaghetti with meat sauce..well, you get the idea but it helped tremendously with my mom being a single parent she had to find a way to make dinner easy and because I grew up making the meals I have adopted the same routine. I'm not saying you can't make something different once/twice/three times or even every night of the week but at least have 1 to 2 days that are scheduled to be something specific. It will make your dinner plans very easy...4. How about salad? -- if you make a pasta salad with italian dressing (fat free of course) and keep it in the fridge for a couple days and serve it with different dinners you will save yourself some time and that kind of salad only gets better as it marinates in the italian dressing. Salad greens are also an easy way to provide a quick and easy side to dinners. If your kids like to help you in the kitchen then get them involved (my nephew loves helping with dinners when he is at our house) and it will give them valuable training for when they move out on their own!! 5. Set a "Eat Out" date -- once a month my mom would have either take out or eat out dates and these were VERY highly prized dinners and it made it more special. I'm not saying you have to beawful about what you choose to do but you do need to take a day off from cooking every once and a while as well.
Hope anyone who reads this gets some useful tips :)
-Julia
