Healthy Dinner Ideas

healthy dinner ideas

Quick Healthy Dinner Coming Up

Who doesn’t want quick healthy dinner tips? From eating healthy while saving time to finding new cooking techniques, check out some of these awesome quick healthy dinner tips and get started today!

In need of quick healthy dinner tips?

You’re likely feeling exhausted by the time six o’clock rolls around.

Whether you’ve just been working out for a few hours or attending meeting after meeting, the day doesn’t end when the sunsets. In fact, for you, dusk simply means that it’s time to start thinking about what’s for dinner.

Smart Tips For a quick healthy dinnerThe thought of standing over a stove to prepare an intricate meal is enough to keep many cooks out of the kitchen. Put down the phone book, though, because you don’t need to do takeout: there are many ways around this method of cooking.

And, with the right appliances and accouterments, you can prepare dinner without much effort at all. Here are three of the easiest ways to make a meal without your stovetop.

Fill the Crockpot

There’s a reason why this small appliance has fans across the country: the crockpot is king when it comes to easy-to-make dinners. All you have to do is some prep work the night before or the morning of chop veggies, open cans, measure out spices and broth, etc. Then, simply dump everything into the crockpot, turn it on and let your meal simmer all day long.

When you get home, not only will the entire place smell amazing — imagine: the savory scent of stew simmering all day long — but you’ll have a hot dinner on the table as soon as you can ladle it out.

Meals in the crockpot are also appealing because there are seemingly countless recipes that ensure the dinners you whip up will be healthy, nutritious, and filling for you and your family. To that end, you can do more than just heat and simmer with a crockpot: some users rely on theirs for their baking needs, as well.

As you master yours, you’ll surely find it a welcome and wonderful addition to your kitchen.

Harness the Power of Steam

This tool requires the heat of your stove, but don’t worry: it doesn’t require much hard work on your end. That’s because a multi-layered steamer allows you to cook all elements of your meal at once. All you have to do is boil water beneath it in order to create steam. Then, place your steamer over the source to cook through whatever it is that you’d like for dinner.

Typically, meats should go on the lower tier of the steamer, since they’ll need more time to cook; add the top layer of, say, veggies, after a few minutes of steaming have passed. Steam locks flavor into each individual component of your meal, so you don’t have to worry about your veggies tasting just like your fish, for example; you can, however, add and spices to the water in order to infuse your steamed dinner with a bit more flavor.

Smart Tips For a quick healthy dinner FoodClearly, you’ll have dinner on the table quickly once you master the art of steaming meats and veggies. If ease of use isn’t enough to sell you on a steamer, then consider the fact that steaming is a gentler form of cooking vegetables than other heating methods.

This ensures that the body-bettering vitamins and minerals contained in these foods remain intact — in other words, a steamed dinner is both delicious and nutritious.

Go Meatless (and Heat-Less)

Both the crockpot and the steamer require you to cook your food with heat. If you’re really trying to stay away from the stove, try your hand at preparing a raw vegetarian or vegan dinner a few nights a week.

Sure, it might take you a few extra minutes to chop veggies or mix everything together; however, there’s no denying that putting together a raw dinner is a bit simpler than, say, broiling a steak to the perfect temperature. You can find plenty of delicious vegetarian and vegan raw recipes, too.

Aside from the ease of preparation, raw food boasts a handful of benefits not offered by cooked food. That’s because raw fruits, veggies, and nuts are presented in their natural form. Without cooking and heat, they bring the highest number of vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, and every other feel-good element that a food can contain.

Many who have dabbled in raw food have made it into a lifestyle because of the many improvements they felt in both mind and body. Give it a try for yourself to see if it’s worth it — it’s more than just an excuse to step away from the stove, after all.

Wrap-Up

These three quick healthy dinner suggestions are obviously not the only ones when it comes to cutting down on time spent in front of the stove.

At the end of the day, it all comes down to preparation…

Even if you just whip out a frying pan or pot every once in a while, having a plan and prepping in advance — chopping and bagging ingredients on the weekends, for example — will help you get in and out of the kitchen and on with your life.

We can all be okay with that.

Kacey is a lifestyle blogger for The Drifter Collective, an eclectic lifestyle blog that expresses various forms of style through the influence of culture and the world around us. Kacey graduated with a degree in Communications while working for a lifestyle magazine. She has been able to fully embrace herself with the knowledge of nature, the power of exploring other locations and cultures, all while portraying her love for the world around her through her visually pleasing, culturally embracing and inspiring posts.
Kacey Bradley
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