Healthy dinner hacks to try tonight

Whether it's working, caring for children or running errands, we often rely on easy food like takeout or frozen meals instead of cooking healthy meals. These simple tips will help you prepare healthy dinners again.

Families tend to congregate in the kitchen, bringing with them newspapers, mail, schoolbags, schoolwork, toys and a thousand other little things. Don't allow it.

• Set a new policy: the kitchen is for cooking and eating only. Why? It's hard to get motivated about cooking if you have to clean up a mess first, not to mention what it does to your mood.
• The opposite also holds true: a clean, bright, inviting kitchen can be a wonderful oasis after a day of craziness.

• Is there music playing? Do you have a glass of wine? Is the evening sun shining through the window? Are the knives sharp, the vegetables fresh, the pots good quality, the counters clutter-free?
• All of these contribute to your desire to make good food. If you don't enjoy being in your kitchen, do what you need to change that.

Many of us don't know what we're having for dinner as late as 4 p.m. in the afternoon. Yet planning ahead takes just a few minutes. Here's how to do it.

• Every Friday night or Saturday morning, sit down with a pad of paper and your favourite cookbooks or some cooking magazines.
• Think about what's in your freezer and fridge, what your family likes to eat, what your upcoming week entails.
• Then plan out a week's worth of menus (you can always leave one night for takeout pizzas). At the same time, write out your shopping list.
• Now stick the list of menus on the fridge or bulletin board so it's the first thing you see when you get home. Voilà! No more thinking ahead.
• If you need help or inspiration, consider an online meal planner.

Of course, not everyone loves cooking. But there's no reason to not like doing it. If the thought of cooking fills you full of dread, you need an attitude adjustment.

• Cooking is a pleasure, far easier than many non-cooks realize.
• For the sake of your health, your pleasure and your wallet, you should learn – or relearn – the pleasures of cooking.
• Make it a project. Spend time with your friends and family while they cook so that you can absorb the methods and routines.
• Consider taking a class, or buy an introductory cookbook. Most of all, lose your fear. It is harder to be a bad cook than a good cook, particularly if you use good ingredients.

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