5 Ways to Create Fast Healthy Dinner Plans When You Are Exhausted

When the extended family arrives to spend a few days you plan meals in advance and have all the ingredients on hand. With ease you cook two or three meals a day and wonder why you can't seem to plan this well the rest of the year. Your mother is worried your kids will never know how good a seven layer casseroles is and you have to admit that the expense of eating out is starting to turn your stomach. Unfortunately, your stomach is growing with that take-out food, despite feeling a bit sick about it all. You may even be one of the many people who have to search online for instructions on how to plan a spaghetti dinner. But with your busy schedule and limited energy, how do you discover the best meal planning approach that will thrive in your family?

Here are five ideas to get you started:

1. Set up a meal exchange with one or two families each week and agree to try it for a couple of months. Make a double batch of your favorite taco salad to deliver and know that you will have a prepared meal in exchange one night a week. Split the cost of inexpensive containers and lids that can go between homes.

2. If you have a craving from your favorite restaurant, look online for the recipe. You may have a good chance of finding it when you search for words like "copy cat recipes" or "top secret recipes." Before long your kitchen will start smelling like the Olive Garden. This is a great way to produce healthy meal plans for teens who think they are too busy for dinner at home.

3. Check out a meal preparation service, for example Dream Dinners, which is in 37 states. It gives you fast healthy dinner plans as well as the food. Your costs include all the ingredients for the meals. You choose meals centered around your own family's likes, dislikes, eating limitations, and budget. Then you cook the meals right there, package them up, and bring them home to your freezer. Although the cost may be a more expensive than if you'd done it all in your own kitchen, it's considerably less than the cost of eating out and much healthier. You'll also pick up some great meal planning and cooking tips.

4. Don't be tempted to buy entire meals of take-out, but rather mix up a large meal from your favorite restaurant with partially prepared meals at home. For example, it's inexpensive to prepare a huge Greek salad with dressing, olives and feta cheese. Then stop by your local Greek restaurant and order a large side order of Gyro meat. You'll get more for your money and also feel like you're treating yourself to something that is hard to prepare at home.

5. Get organized with meal planning by deciding what works best for your schedule. Can you make a double batch of meat loaf and freeze half for another evening? Online you can find various dinner menu planning software systems. Or find a blank print out of a weekly meal plan. Does it help to break down the dinners by style of foods? For example, plan six night's meals as: two - fish; one - poultry; one - beef; one - salad; one - sandwich.

So, flip through the magazines, dust off the cookbooks, ask your family members their favorite recipes and start planning. In no time you'll have at least twenty solid recipes that can easily get you through six weeks of meals. And don't hesitate to get everyone involved. Put the kids in charge of a meal a week, or have your spouse accompany you to a Dream Dinner style meal preparation outing. Soon your dinner blues will be gone and filled instead with a sense of accomplishment . . . and relief!

Instant download of 200 Ways to Encourage a Chronically Ill Friend from "Beyond Casseroles" by Lisa Copen when you signup for HopeNotes invisible illness ezine at Rest Ministries. Lisa is the founder of Invisible Illness Awareness