Sometimes I feel too tired to cook. Everything’s raw and/or frozen solid. Canned food doesn’t seem appealing. If only I had planned ahead!

Fortunately, I keep bags of salad greens handy in the fridge. Toss in some cheese, nuts, raisins, and a dash of olive oil and balsamic vinegar, and presto -- a light but tasty meal. Alternatively, I can make a sandwich of some kind.

If I’m really in a hurry and all else fails, a can of beans and some additional broth (if broth is not available, a reasonable substitute is bouillon and water), heats up into a nourishing soup, enough for two.

An even better solution, which is ideal for your weight loss meal plan, is to prepare your own diet meals ahead of time. Why pay big bucks to some mail-order diet-food company for the privilege of eating dehydrated, packaged foods just because they are convenient? A little pre-planning can give you all the benefits at a lower cost, with the bonus of tasting great!

Four Chicken Dinners

1 3-lb chicken
8 small potatoes
4 cups frozen peas and carrots

Season chicken all over with poultry seasoning and other spices.
Put chicken in a baking pan, and cover with foil.
Roast chicken until 180 F in thickest part of chicken.
Let chicken cool. Remove skin.
While chicken is cooking, steam potatoes, carrots, and peas until done.
Cut chicken into four portions.
Put each portion into a freezable, microwaveable container.
Put 2 potatoes and 1 cup peas and carrots into each container.
Freeze.

Now you have four quick delicious dinners, ready to heat and serve!

VARIATION:

Vegetarian Dinners

In place of meat use tofu, tempeh, wheatmeat, beans, or other protein.