What if I don't have time to cook?

Eating healthy doesn't have to take a lot of time. You can prepare a healthy meal just as quickly as an unhealthy one. It's just a matter of planning ahead, having the right foods on hand, and learning how to cook quick, healthy meals.

Ask friends or coworkers who eat healthfully how they manage to find time. Get family members involved and ask them to help prepare meals or do other tasks. Find a cookbook or collect recipes that feature time-saving ideas.

To help make preparing meals more fun, take a cooking class with a friend or loved one. Learn to prepare healthy ethnic dishes-such as Mediterranean, Indian, and Japanese foods-that you can share with your family and friends.

Try following these tips for making fast, healthy meals and snacks:

• Buy packaged, prewashed, ready-to-eat fresh vegetables, such as baby carrots, salad mixes, and chopped or shredded broccoli and cauliflower.
• Buy packaged, presliced fruits, such as melon or pineapple.
• Find recipes using foods that don't require a lot of cleaning and preparation, such as baby carrots, cherry tomatoes, or grapes.
• Blend low-fat yogurt, fruit juice, and canned or frozen fruit to make a smoothie for breakfast or a snack.
• Use frozen vegetables to make a stir-fry with skinless chicken. Serve on top of a quick brown rice or whole wheat pasta.
• Add frozen vegetables to a jar of marinara spaghetti sauce and serve on whole wheat pasta.
• Cook potatoes or other vegetables in a microwave.
• Cook vegetables and fruits over the grill. Drizzle them with olive oil and wrap in aluminum foil. Or put them on a skewer and cook directly on the grill.
• Make a fast fruit salad with sliced bananas, apples, blueberries, and a can of mandarin oranges.

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For more information, see:

Shopping tips for healthy eating.