By Robert Sturm
To save yourself and family time during the week, master chef and food designer Robert Sturm offers his Top 10 Timesaver Tips.
- Plan your grocery list – take 10 minutes and write it down.
- Shop the outside walls of the grocery store – produce, meat, fish, and dairy. Use coupons and buy what’s fresh.
- Use “Lean” cuts of meats – lean meats mean a “Lean You.”
- Sunday Prep – 1 hour on Sunday with the family in the kitchen will set up the whole week for school lunches, 10 minute dinners and healthy snacks.
- Cook off portions of chicken, fish, shrimp, and pork beef, lean beef patties – use for salads, school lunched or simple reheat dinners. Or roast a whole chicken or beef/pork roast.
- Keep the top shelf of the refrigerator for “Grab” items
- Small Tupperware or Zip Loc containers with cooked pasta (Quinoa), chicken, edamame, veggies, grapes, berries
- Small container of food the kids can grab for lunch and put in their backpacks.
- You can take these containers easy on the go for snacks when you’re stuck in a traffic jam.
- Keep a container of cut vegetables – broccoli, cauliflower, carrot sticks, celery sticks, and grape tomatoes.
- For quick meals at night make skinny slices of vegetables like mushrooms, zucchini, squash, onions, asparagus and tomatoes. Skinny vegetables mean a “Skinny you”.
- Slice meats and chicken in thin 2 – 3 ounce portions. See Skinny Chicken. Thin slices mean a “Thin You.”
- Pre-portion meats, chicken and fish in Flat Packs (Food saver Bags or Zip-Loc bags) – store flat in the freezer, thaws in 20 minutes at night or put in the refrigerator during the day and they will be thawed for dinner.
- Do the same with soups, chilies, stews, and sauces – Food saver bags can be boiled in a pot of water to reheat.
Planning meals and pre-portioning foods will help you stay on track for health and manage your budget.
