Supermom Tip! Meal Kits

If your family is like mine, you have a few days a week that are extremely hectic.  Those are the days that we tend to run to things like microwave dinners, pre-packaged meals, or even worse - the dreaded fast food.  We all know that these items can be loaded with extra fat, sugar, preservatives, and sodium.  How can this problem be solved?

Robin Miller of the Food Network has the best solution I've heard:  Home Made Meal Kits.  The intention is simple:  Time saving and healthy meals for you and your family.

Here's what you do:

First, you chop all the veggies you need for separate meals.  Let's say you're making meatloaf one night, chicken stir-fry one night, and chili another.  Chop all the onions you need and separate them into bags - one for each meal.  Chop all the celery, carrots, bell pepper, etc. and place them all into the "veggie  bags"  (you might not have ALL the veggies you're chopping in all the meals your prepping for.)  Once you have them all chopped and separated, seal up your veggie bags and set them aside.  

The next step is to chop/slice all your meat.  If you're using ground meat, take it from its package.  Now, put your meat into separate bags - again one for each meal.

The final step is to put your veggie bags into the meat bag - right on top of your meat!  It's okay - the veggies are sealed in plastic, so there's no need to worry about cross-contamination.  Now seal up your bags, and place them in the fridge or freezer to use when you need them (remember if it's going to be more than a couple of days, freezing is the best option).

The night you need to use them, pop them out of the fridge (or freezer - don't forget to thaw before use!) and right into the pan.  Since all your prep work is done, dinner only takes a fraction of the time it normally would!

Want to know more about meal kits?  Watch this video:

http://www.foodnetwork.com/videos/sensational-stir-fried-chicken/451.html