Meal planning is one of the most important steps on the road to a healthy diet. “Just think of how less stressful last-minute meals are when you have dinner planned in advance,” says Carol Dombrow, registered dietitian with the Heart and Stroke Foundation. By planning your meals for the week you can save a lot of time too. “The other important benefit of planning your meals is that you will end up eating healthier in the long run.”

Consider the following tips to help you plan healthy meals for the week:

• Keep a shopping list in the kitchen. A printable list and other helpful meal planning tools are available online at www.healthcheck.org.

• Set aside one day when you can write down your week’s meal plan (Sunday’s work well).

• Plan your meals and snacks around the four food groups. A balanced meal includes at least 3 food groups for breakfast and 4 food groups for lunch and dinner.

• Plan for quick meals for those nights when there are after-school or evening activities. Foods such as bagged salads, frozen vegetables and lower-fat, lower-sodium frozen dinners can help.

• Let (make) your kids/teenagers make one meal a week. They are more likely to eat what they help to prepare. Suggest ideas such as soups, sandwiches, simple casseroles or pizzas made with pita and their favourite toppings.

• Make an extra batch of your favourite soup or pasta for the freezer so you can defrost, heat and serve.

• To help determine a serving size, use an adult hand as a guide. Here are some tips:

- 1/2 to 1 palm of your hand = serving of chicken, fish or beef (2 1/2 oz/75 g)

- 2 thumbs = serving of hard cheese (1 1/2 oz/50 g)

- a fist = serving of salad (1 cup/250 mL)

- a thumb tip = serving of margarine (1 tsp/5 mL)

Credit: www.newscanada.com