Juggling a job, family, friends, exercise, etc. can be tough--What are your strategies to ensure you get a healthy meal on the table?

I try my hardest to make a menu for the week. I do most of the cooking at my house, which is an odd situation involving 6 people right now. One of my housemates will randomly go shopping so I'll dig through the refrigerator and try to make a plan that way based on what she's bought. Our farmers' market is in full swing now so I buy what looks good and then incorporate that into my menu plan. Leftovers generally come with one of us for lunch, so that's never an issue for me.

Making a weekly plan on Sunday Night is crucial. I scan the grocer ads for specials on producrts and work from there. I try to incorporate one frozen meal (for those nights I get home late) and one meal that will make it through 2 nights (like chili or soup). Without a plan --I'd be calling out for pizza. but with this plan I make a list. shop for the week and usually I can make 5-6 dinners (in 30 mins) for my family. I always by fresh, frozen and canned produce to pick from--its all good...using up the fresh produce in the begining of the week.

For years I've always made out the weeks menu so I have a list to use while shopping. This time of year the veggies maay change a little depending on what we do come across from the local farmrs though. The two nights a week we have aerobics class hubby makes the dinner so we have time to eat and get ready to go. LOL he also does 3 of the breakfasts in mornings each week. He's cooks a little more basically and has learned a couple of basic vegetarian recipes with lentils, rice and the like as we alternate our evening meals between meat and vegetarian. I am the one who does the fancier cooking though. And I'm usually the one who makes meals we can use for leftovers at lunch time.

I buy for the week Sunday morning. On a good week, I go to bed Sat night with a store list completed, coupons sorted, and recipe sources stacked on top of the microwave, all accompanied by a list of anticipated entrees noting the source in which each recipe is found. On a great week, I wake early enough Sun to jog and leave for the store before the kids wake up. I plan on four or five meals for the week, one night of leftovers or miscellanea, and Fri night out for pizza. Lots of fruit and finger food type veggies to go with lunches and for snacks. If I cook anything fancy, it generally happens Sun evening when our schedule is most flexible. Our standard formula for weeknights is a simply prepared protein, steamed veggie, a starch, and a big tossed salad. We are always trying new protein preparations to keep the system from seeming monotonous. Eating healthy is hard work.

There are too many variables in our work schedule, to ever have a consistent week. Even now that we are on a structured project for 2 months, we still are going to have nights where we are required to move and drive 3 hours after work. We always keep vegetables and ground buffalo frozen for emergencies. Lunch meat and bread is on hand for dinners on the run, and we only have those fruit/veggie chips around. Typically I pick one night of the week and try to pick out 2-3 dinners that I want to try out. We venture to the store and hope that it has half of what I need (why is it that half of the eating light recipes, call for random ingredients that aren't available anywhere?) If so, we work on those meals for a few nights, and then repeat a few nights later.