Healthy Meals in 10 Minutes or Less

By Susan Male Smith, R.D.

My friend Caroline recently lamented that all too often, she finds herself wandering the supermarket aisles at day’s end in desperate search of something -- anything! -- to serve for dinner that night. Something quick. And easy. But healthful, too, of course. After all, she isn’t willing to compromise on her children’s health -- or her own. Fortunately, with more and more supermarkets catering to hurried, no-time-to-cook shoppers, it’s easier than ever to find dinner fixings without resorting to overly processed, sodium-laden convenience foods.

Start by visiting the sections of the supermarket that hug the perimeter of the store, advises Elizabeth M. Ward, registered dietitian and author of several nutrition books, including The Pocket Idiot’s Guide to the New Food Pyramids (Alpha 2006). Processed foods are generally located in the interior aisles. The perimeter is where you’ll find healthful whole foods, like produce, dairy, eggs, fish, meat and bread. Then follow these four steps to put together meals that are quick, easy and nutritious:

1. Pick Your Protein
“Pick a source of protein and work around that,” says Ward, “because that’s the hardest piece of the puzzle.” Good places to start:

Rotisserie chicken A deli department staple and a favorite of the swoop-in-just-before-dinner shopper, add veggies and brown rice for a complete, hot meal.
London broil steak strips Buy a few strips of this flavorful store-cooked beef and use it to top a salad of mixed greens, peppers and tomatoes
Fresh fish Many fish departments will steam fish for you while you wait, providing a heart-healthy centerpiece for any meal.
Shrimp cocktail Buy it deveined, cooked and ready to eat. Toss into a salad or a whole-wheat wrap.
Roasted chicken breast strips Fully cooked -- serve cold right out of the package, reheat in the microwave or toss into a quick stir fry.
Eggs Scramble up eggs into a quick meal by adding shredded cheese and prechopped peppers and onions. Top with salsa or hot sauce for some added pizzazz.
Cheese Make a healthy open-face sandwich by top-grilling reduced-fat cheese on whole-wheat bread, pita or English muffin.
Sardines Buy a tin of Norwegian or other northern European sardines. (Unlike some other fish, northern European sardines are neither full of toxins nor endangered.) These omega-3 superstars are great in a salad, spread on toast or as part of an English muffin or pita pizza.
Tofu Make “egg” salad by mashing tofu and mixing it with dry mustard, reduced-fat mayo and chopped celery and scallions. Or drizzle reduced-sodium soy sauce on a block of fresh, chilled tofu, then sprinkle with sesame seeds, sliced scallions and/or grated ginger.
Beans and lentils A valuable vegetarian source of protein, even when canned. Tip: Rinse well to halve the salt content and get rid of the carbs that contribute to gas.

2. Choose Your Whole Grain
Once you’ve nailed down your protein source, wrap it in a tortilla or pita, surround it with slices of bread, enjoy it on crackers, or serve it with a crusty roll or rice pilaf. Whichever you choose, make it a whole grain. Tip: Multi-grain breads often aren’t 100 percent whole grain -- so when buying bread, look for “100% whole grain” rather than “multi-grain” on the label. And when it comes to rice, look for quick-cooking 10-minute brown rice mixes as well as combos with wild rice.

3. Don’t Forget Your Veggies
Produce aisles, salad bars and the frozen food section are great places to find interesting add-ons to complement your meal. There, you’ll find things like:

Precut vegetables, including broccoli florets, cauliflower and bell pepper slices (often packaged as a colorful trio of red, yellow and green peppers)
Salad in a bag Choose an arugula blend for maximum nutrition, or combine with Romaine or mixed baby greens
Spinach Steam right in the package
Baby carrots
Grape tomatoes
Frozen vegetables Pop in the microwave and they up the nutrition of just about anything you add them to. Consider green peas or butternut squash -- colorful on the plate, which means nutritious, too
Sun-dried tomatoes
Beet salad
Black olives (try flavorful Kalamata)
Precut fruit, including melon, pineapple, mango, papaya and kiwifruit
Dried fruit Go beyond raisins and try apricots, bananas, cherries, cranberries, mango, papaya and pineapple

4. Put it All Together
Use quality ingredients like extra virgin olive oil, balsamic vinegar and Pecorino Romano cheese to infuse flavorful appeal. Be sure to add spices, hot sauce or freshly ground black pepper to make meals more mouthwatering. Fresh herbs, such as basil leaves or a sprig of cilantro add gourmet appeal. One of my favorite 10-minute meals is to buy canned or grilled salmon (the latter available at the prepared food counter of my supermarket); place it atop a plate of arugula; add grape tomatoes cut in half and red onion sliced thin; then drizzle with a peppery green olive oil and red wine vinegar.

Another big hit with my kids is chicken and veggie kabobs, which I get already skewered and ready to pop on the grill. I brush on a bottled grilling sauce -- Asian ginger or chipotle barbecue, for example -- then throw some instant brown rice in the microwave, which cooks in 90 seconds. See? Once you have a plan, you really can shop and eat in less time than you think!

Susan Male Smith, R.D. , is co-author of Foods for Better Health and has written for Redbook, American Health and Family Circle. In her previous life, Susan worked as a clinical nutritionist and an investigator of food and health claims.

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