My wife is out of town for a few days on business. That leaves me alone with our three year old daughter. Our normal week day routine has me bringing our daughter to her daycare in the mornings and my wife picking her up in the afternoons. This gives me time to ride home and start dinner before they get in. Usually, I can have dinner on the table by 5:30 – 5:45 latest.

But, because I have to collect the Bee (that’s what I call my daughter) I don’t have the usual time to get supper ready when I get home. And as anyone with a young one can attest, they NEED to be fed at a regular time to avoid any “meltdowns”. You could have a selections of snacks ready for when they get home…I know this works for older kids but with the Bee, a snack will fill her up before she has dinner and then she’ll be hungry again just before bed…not a good scenario. Besides, I still would not be allowed to prep dinner: “I need someone to play with me”.

So what do I do? I create a meal planner!

Yesterday’s supper was spaghetti with meat sauce, one of the Bee’s favourites. Before I left for work in the morning, I placed a large pot filled with salted water on the stove top, measured out the amount of pasta required and made sure the sauce was completely defrosted. When I got home: bring the water to the boil; add pasta; heat the sauce; and when the pasta is cooked, we have dinner! 15 minutes maximum…and very little prep time.

Tonight’s dinner will be stir fry. Everyone knows that the prep is what takes time when making stir fry…the cooking takes about 5 minutes. Therefore, after dropping the Bee off at daycare, I returned home to slice all my vegetables, marinate the tofu and get whatever pans I need ready for when I get home. The veggies and the tofu can sit covered in the refrigerator for up to 24 hours assuming your vegetables were fresh when you sliced them. Dinner will be on the table in a matter of minutes. How’s that for an efficient and healthy meal planner?

Sure, I know what you’re saying: “but I don’t have time in the morning”…my answer is MAKE TIME! Get up 10 minutes earlier if that’s what you need to do. I’ve always maintained that time is the one thing I’ve got lots of…it’s a question of setting your priorities and organizing yourself. Create healthy meal plans in advance and you’ll find “time is on your side”, as the song goes.

MealEasy has plenty of healthy meal plans available for those looking to make things easier in the kitchen!

What do you do when you’ve got lunches to make, kids to awaken and dress and a little time to read the newspaper in the mornings? Plan ahead! It’s soooo easy to stop off on your way to work and pick up whatever fast food that’s in your path. It’s also not a very wise or healthy thing to do.

Plan ahead. Around our place, my three year old loves waffles for “breakfixed” as she calls it. I am not about to whip up a batch of waffles every morning and store bought is out of the question. Therefore, I usually make a batch of waffles or pancakes for breakfast on Sunday mornings when I have more time. A batch of waffles means about 12 and with only three of us eating, that leaves quite a few left over. These I freeze and then zap on the weekday mornings for a really fast breakfast. A waffle, some fruit and maybe some yogurt and my daughter is a happy camper.

My wife and daughter also made muffins this weekend and along with some of our homemade granola that was made about a month ago, we’re fully stocked for breakfast options. Planning ahead and making foods that can be stored either in the freezer or as dry goods, is the best way to save time when life is too hectic in the mornings. And homemade is always better for you. Enlist the help of a meal planner from MealEasy to help you integrate breakfasts into your healthy meal plans.

Two recent articles found here and here point out essentially the same things. If you want to live a healthy and long life, you need to get at least 30 minutes of exercise a day and eat healthy and nutritious meals. Now, 30 minutes of exercise a day may sound impossible when you’ve got three kids to get off to school, then feed and help with homework when you have to work late because the boss NEEDS this project done ASAP and your partner is busy with his or her chores.

But 30 minutes of exercise a day doesn’t mean you are expected to go out and run 10km. It could be a simple as walking to work. Another recent article I read pointed out that North Americans walk less than any other peoples. Sure, when you have to commute from your home to your office, walking to work just isn’t an option for you. But there are other things you can do: try using the stairs whenever possible; a walk around the mall on rainy days; or do like I do and ride a bike.

As for diet, it’s really simple. Avoid excess fat, excess calories and excess sodium. How do I do all that you may ask? By planning your meals ahead of time. A healthy meal planner eliminates impulse buys at the grocery checkout counter, trips to the drive thru and consumption of fast foods. Now, that’s a bit draconian I know, how about trying to limit all these things and live by the rule: “everything in moderation”. That goes for everything from beer, wine and spirits to desserts. Planning your meals will also help with another important factor when it comes to your longevity…it helps reduce stress. When you know what you’re going to cook for dinner, how long it will take and that you have all the ingredients necessary, it relieves a lot of stress.

Enlist the help of our healthy meal planner software to create meals for the week.

I make a batch of pizza dough which I then separate into four and freeze for later use. I’m always planning ahead when it comes to meals. This way, on Fridays I can come home, turn on the oven, chop some veggies and off we go. (See how much creating a meal planner helps?) We love pizza night around our house. My daughter helps me make the pizza and we all sit on the floor in the living room and listen to music and drink wine…well, it’s beer (apple juice) for the little one.  Tonight’s pizza will feature chicken left over from last weekend’s roast chicken meal planner. YUM!

My daughter loves helping dad make pizza. She helps place the ingredients on the dough…that’s if she hasn’t eaten all of them.  She adores olives and goat cheese – not your typical fare for a 2 1/2 year old.

The weekend also means a trip to the farmer’s market. We buy about 90% of our groceries from the farmer’s market. I feel it’s very important to buy local and to buy organic

whenever possible. Many of the farmers I buy from are farm’s we’ve visited, so I know that the cows were pasture raised on a diet of grass; I know that the carrots and beets I’m getting were not sprayed with pesticides; and I know that the dollars I spend are going to the people who deserve it and need it most…the farmers.

I try to always take my daughter along when we go to visit farms so that she understands where her food comes from. She knows that the pig she’s looking at will be slaughtered and eaten, same goes for the chickens, cows, etc. (She calls beef “cow beef”, which I adore). I feel it’s very important for her to understand that her food does not come from a grocery store but from a farm – because without farms and farmers, where would we be?

I look forward to helping you out with your healthy meal plans come Monday. Have a good weekend!

This Saturday, the 31st of March at 8:30pm marks the start of Earth Hour. If you’re not familiar with the idea, Earth Hour is a way folks can try to make a difference when it comes to climate change and energy consumption. Basically, Earth Hour asks that you turn off the lights for one hour on Saturday evening to draw awareness.

You may ask: “So what does this have to do with food?”

Well, here’s what we’re doing this Saturday night. Since our daughter will be in bed by this time, my wife and I are planning a romantic candle lit wine and cheese date. In previous years we’ve had fondue and pizza by the fire place. We see Earth Hour as an opportunity to sit, talk and eat food without the distractions of everyday life.

If you’ve got older kids, why not get them involved in creating a meal planner and making some snack foods or dips, then sit down to play Scrabble by candlelight? Around our place, we take every event or celebration and make it about food. So why not create some healthy meal plans? Get everyone involved and enjoy some food and some company.

Luckily, MealEasy can provide superb and healthy meal plans based on advice from nutritionists, while saving you money. With over 900 delicious diabetic safe recipes, your diabetic meal plans won’t ever get stale or boring. These healthy meal plans are quick and simple to create online. They are also easily customizable – simply click to exclude any unwanted ingredients from your meals. Exact nutritional values are provided for every recipe which eliminates the guess work that otherwise goes into controlling your carbohydrate and other sugar intake. After you create your personalized diabetic meal plan for the week, MealEasy can automatically generate a shopping list so you know precisely what foods, and in what quantities, to purchase at the grocery store. And every recipe is simple to prepare in under forty-five minutes. Detailed cooking instructions are provided so that even those who are new to cooking can fix their own healthy meals at home. But if you get stuck, we even offer telephone support to answer any questions.

Living with diabetes presents a number of challenges, but planning healthy, diabetic-safe meals doesn’t have to be one of them. We’ve done the work, alongside nutrition specialists and chefs, to create healthy diabetic meals that taste great. Using our meal planning tools quickly and easily lets you create delicious plans that are nutritious and help control the effects of your disease.

But that can be much easier said than done. Especially for those new to healthy eating, putting together healthy meal plans can be a time consuming and confusing task. We can help you create your own healthy meal plans easily with our healthy meal planner. Our tasty recipes have been developed to meet recommended nutrition allowances without exceeding healthy caloric limits. That means you’ll be able to eat complete well balanced meals while losing weight. In addition, our meals are customizable to avoid unwanted ingredients, quick to prepare, and affordable.

Our healthy meal planner tools will also ease the preparation of meals, from automatically generated shopping lists so you get precisely what you need (and no more!) to detailed instructions for cooking your daily meals. You’ll save on groceries by eliminating wasted food.  And with over one thousand recipes from which to choose, your healthy meal plans will never get stale or boring – which helps avoid that restrictive feeling in most traditional weight loss diets. Best of all, MealEasy isn’t a diet plan. Instead, we provide a healthy meal planner that creates eating habits for a healthy diet – whether or not weight loss is your ultimate goal.

• Portions: An effective meal planner includes the correct serving amounts of fruits and vegetables every day. A meal planner should also include strict guidelines for the intake of carbohydrates, dairy and meats. The portions prescribed for each of these groups would differ in the case of vegetarian meals.
• Easy Recipes: A meal planner should provide easy to follow recipes for specific items. It would not be beneficial for a meal planner to say what to make without providing instructions on how to make it well.
• Customization: Customization is one of the most important components of a successful meal planner. A meal planner should take into account different dietary needs. A meal planner should be customized if someone prefers vegetarian meals or vegan meals.
• Specific Needs: Focusing on the specific dietary and nutritional requirements of a family or individual creates the best meal planning. For example, if a family eats only vegetarian meals, the meal planner should be able to create a menu for a family that includes only vegetarian meals. If, for example, only one member of a household requires vegetarian meals, the meal planner can create meals for that individual. It can also be designed in accordance to the number of people at the household, the age of each of the members and their genders. These factors should be considered when planning meals for the week. There should also be options for weight loss meal planning and other specific conditions, such as hypertension, diabetes and high cholesterol.

If looking for a successful meal planner that pays attention to the specific needs of a household, then look no further than MealEasy. For one’s convenience MealEasy offers automated meal plans along with automated shopping lists for the week.