Healthy Meals that are Fast, Easy and Tasty even if cooking for one
Whenever I am on this local radio show to talk about healthy eating, one of the talk show hosts keeps telling me it is tough to prepare healthy meals because he lives alone, with his cat. Well, I finally had enough of that, and told him “Come to my house and let me show you that healthy cooking for yourself is easier than you think!” He took me up on the challenge. He was stir-frying, grilling, and baking in my kitchen. We had so much fun together cooking and eating! He left with 2 weeks’ worth of delicious meals, all proudly prepared by himself!
Anchor with protein Foods
Follow this Myplate made simple, to enjoy a healthy meal, every single time. Your plate should have 3 food groups at a minimum: protein, vegetables, and fiber-rich carbohydrates. Within each food group, change it up. Don’t worry if you go for a beer and a pizza some days with friends, it is the overall pattern you should aim for.
- Anchor the plate with a variety of protein foods throughout the week. Chicken for Monday, fish for Tuesday, beef for Wednesday, beans for Thursday, etc.
- Then pair with a side of vegetables such as broccoli, bell peppers, or Brussels sprouts.
- Last, add a fiber-rich grain or carbohydrates, such as whole-grain pasta, brown rice or hummus. You can choose to omit this grain component if you already include fiber-rich vegetables such as beans and sweet potatoes.
Save Money and Time with Smart Pantry
No time to grocery-shop often? No problem! Follow these tips to stock your pantry and freezer with smart shopping. Keep on hand these nutritious food ingredients which are not easily perishable, but can be building blocks to a variety of healthy meals. Frozen vegetables are convenient, economical, and are similarly nutritious as fresh produce. Take advantage of prepared condiments to save time, such as squeezable minced garlic and lemon juice in a bottle, which can be found by the produce section. Find fresh chicken or beef on sale. Wrap and freeze individual portions.
For maximum quality, fresh raw chicken, fish and ground beef can be refrigerated for 2 days, and steaks for 3 days.
- Pantry: Oatmeals, potatoes, onion, garlic, pasta, brown rice, dried beans, chicken broth, beef broth. Canned beans, canned tuna, canned salmon, clams, clam sauce, canned tomatoes, olives, corned beef.
- Fridge: Proteins such as fresh chicken breast, ground beef, stew beef, and eggs, and bell peppers, broccoli, tomatoes, minced garlic in a jar, lemon juice in a squeezable bottle.
- Freezer: frozen broccoli, frozen bell peppers, frozen corn, frozen fish fillets, pre-portioned wrapped ziplock bags of ground beef, frozen chicken breasts, frozen fish.
- Save time by ordering groceries online. Most supermarkets offer online grocery order and pick-up services. and some even deliver to your home.
Smart Meal Planning
- Cook Once, Eat Many: Once you have the meal plan for your main proteins for the weekdays, use recipes that allow you to create multiple dinners or lunches from the same protein. Remember, one serving of beef or chicken is 3 oz. cooked, about the size of your palm. A 10 oz piece of Top Sirloin steak can be cut into two portions, grilling one for a steak dinner, and slicing the rest into strips for stir-fry with bell peppers.
- Top Sirloin steak with broccoli and brown rice
- Sliced Sirloin Stir-Fry with broccoli and bell peppers
- Diced steak with egg omelet breakfast (Breakfast for Wednesday). See the beef and egg breakfast recipe here.
- The chicken breast can be seasoned and roasted in the oven. Enjoy half with bell peppers, and slice the other half for a delicious lunch of roast chicken sandwich at the office.
- Roasted chicken breast with bell peppers and whole grain bread
- Sliced roasted chicken with tomato and avocado sandwich for lunch
- Left-over roasted chicken with canned beans and spinach stew
- Save money and time by stocking the freezer with individually frozen and wrapped fish fillets, such as Tilapia from Costco or BJs food clubs. Defrost one or two pieces of fish fillet in the morning. A delicious Fish Vera Cruz dinner can be on the table in 15 minutes. See the recipe below.
- Store meal portions in Pyrex or other glass containers. Your meals look much more delicious in a glass container.
5-day Nutritious Meal Plan
- Monday – Top Sirloin Steak with Broccoli and Brown Rice
- Tuesday – Roasted Chicken with Bell Peppers and Whole-Grain Bread
- Wednesday – Fish Vera Cruz
- Thursday – Beef Stir-Fry with Broccoli
- Friday – Chicken with tomato and Avocado Sandwich
- Weekend entertaining – Roasted Chicken with Beans and Spinach stew
Tilapia Vera Cruz
Servings: one
Ingredients
2 pieces Tilapia fish fillets
1 can of diced tomato, 14 oz drained
1 can of sliced black olives, 2.25 oz drained
1 tbsp olive oil
2 tsp minced garlic
1 tsp salt
1 tsp black pepper
1 tsp lemon juice
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 300 degrees.
- In a foil-lined baking pan, place the fish fillet, add the oil, salt, black pepper, lemon juice, spread the garlic, top with the tomato and olives.
- Bake for 12 minutes or until a fork pierces through easily.
