Quick Easy Meal Ideas and Tips To Prevent Last Minute Panic!

We've all been there. It's been a long day, you rushed around from place to place, some things went sideways, you got caught up, just about managed to get home and finally time to relax. 

Not so fast- You completely forgot about dinner, are starving and now have to make yet another decision. Chances are you're gonna choose fast over healthy, but I'm here to tell you that you don't have to choose between the two...

Get Organised

1. Plan Your Food

Again and again I sound like a broken record, but if you don't plan your food and you're struggling then you're missing out on a valuable tool. Once you master it, it can take under one minute to rough plan the next day's food and it takes out all the decision making for when you're tired and hungry. 
Read: Meal Planning: Why and How

2. Make A Go-To List

To make food planning go even speedier, it can be useful to come up with a list of healthy tasty go-to meals and snacks. You may have some ideas already or it may take a bit of research. Scroll down for ideas and inspiration. Then when planning, simply pick a meal off your list for breakfast, lunch, dinner and snack (or however you spread your food out) et voila! Minimal brain power necessary. 

3. Food Prep

For during the day, super busy periods or out-of-routine events- Tupperware is your friend. If you eat well through the day, you're less likely to be ravenous by dinner time and more likely to be sane enough to choose wisely. So, look at your schedule for the following day when planning food and prepare and pack anything you need to. If done whilst cooking dinner, this does not take much time at all. (Especially with a list of go-to meals to pick from!). 

4. Leftovers

This is where food planning really comes in to it's own. If you see you have a busy day tomorrow whilst doing your food plan, it's super easy to make a bigger batch of dinner then either take some for lunch or save some to heat up after a busy day at work. Quick and simple. 

On the same note, you could batch cook more often and freeze it until you need it.

5. How You Cook

Certain methods are going to be quicker than others BUT don't discard oven cooking just because it takes a little longer. It's really useful to cut up your veg, stick it in the oven, go do something else and let the food cook itself. 

Speedy meals don't have to be boring- mix it up by boiling, wok-ing, oven-ing, re-heating and a slow cooker is also an awesome idea now the nights are drawing in. Spices and herbs help keep protein and veg interesting, as do different sauces. Think about mashing, grating, chopping different ways, different combos of ingredients. Healthy can and should be enjoyable too. 

6. Searching For Ideas

With the internet at our fingertips we are more lucky than ever for finding inspiration and recipes to put on a Go-To List. Pinterest have more recipes than you can shake a stick at, have a look through some favourite cook books and mark the recipes to try, think about what you already know and enjoy, and google will also give endless options. 

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Meal Ideas

1. Quick Foods To Have In Stock

- Eggs: Omelettes, scrambled, boiled, poached. All quick, all healthy. 
- Stir fryable veg (loads of variety if you mix up your veggies and your proteins).
- Quorn is useful to have in the freezer, as are some fish such as Basa. You can cook both from frozen so even if you forget to get any meat out, you're in luck. 
- Frozen veg. Same reason as above and it can never go off. Win. 
- Cous cous is also mega quick to cook. Boil kettle, pour over cous cous in a bowl, cover and five minutes later it's done. 
- Tins of beans/chickpeas are handy to have in the cupboards. Easy to chuck in to any meal for some carby energy and take no time to cook. 
- Wholemeal wraps are also useful to use for speedy burritos or quick healthy 'pizza'. 
- Part cooked rice/pasta. Super easy, super quick. 

2. Links To Other Sites

- 52 Healthy Meals In 12 Minutes Or Less
- 15 Minute Dinner Recipes
- Healthy Dinner Recipes In 20Minutes
- 35 Quick And Healthy Low Calorie Lunches
- 15 Easy Slow Cooker Recipes Under 375cal
- 59 Healthy One-Pot Meals
- Superfast Soups In 20min Or Less
- The Best Superfast Recipes
- 40 Delicious And Surprisingly Healthy Microwave Meals

- 100 Calorie Snacks That Actually Keep You Full and Satisfied - Another really great food/fitness website.
- 31 Healthy Snacks For Fruit Lovers
- 33 Healthier Ways To Satisfy Your Sweet Tooth - Always helpful to have quick easy options on hand

- Hello Healthy Recipes - A huge library of ideas to keep you going and beautiful images.
- 400+ Healthy Recipes That Won't Break The Bank
- Thug Kitchen- My favourite recipe website just for entertainment value.
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- 21 Meals With Tons Of Protein and No Meat
- 32 Chickpea Recipes (That Aren't Hummus) - Check out the super speedy chickpea burgers
- 19 Healthier Sauce and Salad Dressing Recipes

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So there you go. Did I miss a trick? Have you tried any of these? Do you have any burning questions on health, food and fitness? Let me know in the comments section below :)

Need a bit more help and a plan specific to you? Ready to make some changes and want some support and structure? Check out why all Hell Yeah Healthy Programs work and then find your perfect match ​❤

Read Next:
5 Time Saving Hacks For Exercise For When Life Gets Busy
6 Time Savers For Healthy Eating

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