How to Make Healthy Low Calorie Meals: Part One

Would you like to dramatically improve your chances of achieving and/or maintaining a healthy weight? If you answered yes then this new article series is for you. The absolute best way to manage your weight is to have control over what you eat. And that means preparing most of your meals yourself. It doesn’t have to be difficult or overly time-consuming. Knowing how to prepare tasty, low calorie, healthy meals and snacks can be easy if you have a system.

Click on the image to view or print the system for How to Make Healthy Meals.

I have a system that works remarkably well for me and my family. But it didn’t happen overnight. I tried many different approaches before finding what works. My system may not be exactly what you need. But it will give you a good starting place. You can tweak it to suit your lifestyle.

Keep Meal Preparation Simple

It might surprise you to know that cooking and baking are NOT among my favorite activities. That’s precisely why I needed a system to keep things simple. The less time I spend preparing meals the happier I am. At the same time, I am a nutritionist and I understand the importance of eating healthy balanced meals.

So how do I manage to prepare healthy meals without a huge investment of time and energy? I do it with just a little bit of know how and some advance planning.

The system is simple. Putting it all into practice, however, will take some effort on your part just like it did for me. You’ll need to accept that trial and error is part of the process especially in the beginning but it’s not rocket science. When you see the possibilities, making quick, easy, healthy and low calorie meals won’t be as hard as you might think.

Create a Healthy Pantry

You may have a kitchen that is the size of a postage stamp. If there’s no room for a pantry, I can totally understand! That was my situation for over 25 years. I didn’t have the luxury of even a tiny kitchen closet that I could devote to food storage. So pantry for me became whatever foods I had on hand no matter where they were located (cupboards, shelving unit, or refrigerator/freezer).

Space or no space, I knew that having the right ingredients on hand is essential for quick and easy meal preparation. You don’t want to have to run to the store to pick up this or that before you start to cook. It’s a waste of time and a recipe for frustration unless you’re blessed with having a shop or market right on the block where you live.

If space is at a premium, you’ll be happy to learn that all you will need is a bit of cupboard space for dried, canned, and packaged food. Is space limited in your refrigerator for foods that need to be kept cold or frozen? Make some room! Limit how much high calorie less than healthy food you keep on hand. If you feel bad about throwing food out, give some thought to who else might like to have it and donate.

You might also consider having some additional space for foods that need to be kept cold by investing in a small dorm size refrigerator. Just plug it in wherever you have a bit of extra space. I kept one in the basement.

The goal is to have key staples on hand most of the time and you’ll greatly simplify the process of meal preparation.

Plan ahead: How to do it and why it matters

Create a Master List

It doesn’t have to take more than 15-20 minutes at most to plan meals and snacks for the coming week once you get the hang of it. Yes, it will likely take longer at first but you can catch on fast when you have a system to follow.

Begin by making a master list of the meals and snacks you like to eat. (Need ideas? No worry. I’ll be sharing lots of resources in this and upcoming articles.) Make a note of where recipes are located (cookbook? recipe file? online recipe site?)

Create a second master list for new recipes you’d like to try. Be open to eating new foods and it will give you a way to transition gradually to a healthier way of eating.

TIP: You may want to divide your master lists into subsists for breakfast, lunch, supper, and snacks.

Here are some ideas for low calorie, healthy meal and snack ideas to get you started:

Preparing Low Calorie Brown Bag Meals

28 Healthy Low Calorie Snack Foods to Go

300 Calorie Mini-meals: Eat Less but Often

Click on the articles link above on the menu bar for more ideas. In addition, In the coming months I will be sharing more articles and tips on how to quickly find low calorie healthy recipes you’ll want to try!

Write a Very Simple Menu Plan

Use your master recipe lists to write up a weekly menu plan. Don’t get carried away with this! The weekly plan doesn’t have to be detailed. Just jot down the basics of what you would like to prepare. Give primary focus to the main meals. I’ll show you how to come up with a plan quickly and easily in another article.

Make a Grocery List

Once you’ve decided on your main meals and you have a general idea of what you’ll eat for the other meals, you’re ready to make up a grocery list. This list will include anything you need to buy to restock your “pantry” plus any additional grocery items you might need for a particular meal or snack you’ve planned on making in the coming week.

TIP 1: Keep a small pad of paper in the kitchen at all times. Whenever you run out of something in your pantry jot it down. Knowing what you need to restock saves you a LOT of time when making up a grocery list!

TIP 2: When getting started with making healthy meals don’t begin by attempting to make all new meals and snacks right off the bat. That’s a good way to become discouraged. Think about trying 1 or 2 new dishes each week.

Let’s Move Grocery List Template

(Use this template to fill in your weekly grocery list. Some examples of healthy foods are included to help you. Print this sheet before every shopping trip and use it to help you pick healthier items for your family.)

Shop for groceries

Contrary to popular belief, healthy food is located throughout a grocery store not just around the perimeter. It’s o.k. to shop the aisles but be aware that you will likely need to pass by more “unhealthy” food than you might around the edges. There are some aisles you can avoid completely.

What are some of the healthier choices you might miss if you only shop the perimeter? You’ll miss canned fish such as tuna, salmon or sardines. The aisles are also where you’ll find dried or canned beans, canned tomatoes, whole grain cereals, and healthy oils such as olive oil. These are the kinds of food you want to have in your pantry to make meal preparation quicker and easier.

Fruits and Vegetables

If you can’t afford organic fruits and vegetables, you’ll be o.k. The debate over whether or not organic is healthier rages on. In general, organic produce is not more nutritious but it may have slightly higher levels of healthy phytochemicals such as antioxidants. The bigger concern for conventionally grown produce (not organically grown) has to do with pesticide residues.

Washing before eating is important and may help some but is not likely to remove all pesticide residues. As a general rule, be more concerned about fruits and vegetables you eat whole versus those you peel the skin off before eating such as bananas and tangerines.

If cost is an issue for fruits and vegetables whether they are organic or not, consider frozen or canned. Nutritional value is comparable. I often buy frozen blueberries for convenience and cost savings.

Whole Grains

Whole grains matter! The newest Dietary Guidelines from the USDA recommend you eat at least half your grain foods such as rice, bread, and breakfast cereals as whole grain. I’d encourage you to aim for more than that but any small changes will help. Strive to transition from buying refined and processed foods to buying more whole grain and minimally processed or unprocessed foods.

TIP: Do you like popcorn? If you said yes and you are not doing so already, would you be willing to eat unbuttered popcorn? Popcorn is a whole grain, an excellent source of fiber, and a great low calorie snack!

Commercially Canned and Packaged Food

Be wary of the “low fat” and “natural” claims on food packages. Look at the nutrition facts label instead. Steer clear of products with high sodium, fat, and/or sugar. Check out the calorie count per SERVING. Many food products have more than one serving per package.

Are you like most everyone else and you don’t have time to prepare all your meals and snacks every week? It’s o.k. to turn to buy some commercially prepared and ready to eat foods.

pre-washed and bagged salad greens

frozen entrees

pre-grated low fat cheese

and more…

Next in this article series:

Not too long ago, an article I read in Prevention Magazine reported that most Americans want to eat right. About 71% hope to cut back on fat and 62% want to reduce calories. But what was most fascinating is that only 30% said they look for a healthy option when making dinner. The reason? Most people found it to be difficult to come up with a healthy meal that’s easy to prepare.

My goal is to help you have LOTS of low calorie, healthy, AND easy to prepare meals. Now that you have some ideas for a basic system, we’ll look next at stocking a pantry with the kind of healthy food YOU like along with some basic ingredients that will simplify how to make healthy meals.

Till next time, watch those calories and eat healthy food!

Tagged as: healthy eating, healthy food, healthy meals, how to, how to make healthy meals, make healthy meals, meal preparation, system