Fast and Healthy At-Home Dinner Ideas

Serving up a fast and healthy dinner may seem like a nearly impossible task after an especially long day. But with a little bit of basic preparation, a simple, healthy, and satisfying dinner can never be more then about twenty minutes away. 


Before you can dive in it is essential that you keep a few basic items around your home so that whipping up a fast dinner is never more then a few steps away. No one wants to stop at the grocery store after work, that is the busiest time and I know I hate going then.


Keep on hand:

• Whole wheat pasta
• Tomato based pasta sauces
• Canned or frozen vegetables
• Canned beans
• Tuna
• Brown rice or quinoa
• Whole wheat bread
• Fresh vegetables
• Lean ground turkey
• Russet or sweet potatoes
• Salad dressing
• Eggs
• Frozen chicken

Using some combination of these items you can come up with a variety of easy and different meals to last through the week. And if you have a particularly busy week coming up, I would recommend just making a lot of one meal so that you can portion it out for the week to have ready to go when you need it. Here are a few basic meal ideas to get you started.

1. Brown rice with vegetables and egg.  Cook the egg(s) in the pan and mix in with rice and vegetables to give yourself a little chinese food at home.
2. Chicken salad with dressing. Using whatever vegetables you have lying around (I like to make salads at the end of the week with whatever I didn't end up using that week) combine everything into one big salad with a serving of chicken and dressing.
3. Tuna salad on whole wheat bread. Use a hard-boiled egg, some lemon juice, and mix it up with some tuna for a satisfying sandwich.
4. Whole wheat marinara pasta with roasted vegetables. Roast your fresh vegetables for the week so you already have a side ready to go for meals. You can even mix them in with the pasta.
5. Turkey burger and a baked potato. A quick grilling really adds flavor to a turkey burger, but stovetop works as well. A baked potato only takes about 7-10 minutes in the microwave. So cook your burger while your potato cooks itself!