August/September 2024 Issue

Back to School: The Weeknight Chef
By Michelle Dudash, RDN
Today’s Dietitian
Vol. 26 No. 7 P. 8

Dinners ready in under 30 minutes the whole family will enjoy.

Back-to-school season can be a time of excitement and new beginnings for families, but it also means getting back to busy weeknight schedules with extracurricular activities and the intention of an earlier bedtime. Having a plan for home-cooked dinners can help set families up for success.

With food prices and labor costs skyrocketing, restaurant takeout—including drive-thru windows—can throw a family budget off quickly. Perhaps now more than ever, considering rising grocery prices, consumers seek affordability. In the 12th annual “What’s Trending in Nutrition” survey, 65% of the 564 RDs surveyed predict affordable and value-based foods and beverages as a top purchase driver.1

While some families thrive with a weekly meal planning routine, it can be overwhelming for others, resulting in food waste. For the nonplanner, a well-thought-out pantry inventory is a must. In this article, Today’s Dietitian offers tips to help with both practices. “Go into the week with a plan!” explains Allison Schaaf, MS, RDN, the founder of Prep Dish.com, a popular meal planning subscription website providing gluten-free, paleo, and keto recipes. “Start by looking at your calendar to confirm the number of meals needed and then jot down meals and add the ingredients to your grocery list.”

If planning the entire week at once seems like too much to comprehend, starting with a well-stocked pantry with a few proteins, grains, and vegetables may be just enough to put a meal on the table.

Getting Started
Once a clear understanding of the patient’s goals becomes evident, dietitians can dispense the appropriate tools to develop a plan of action that works with their culture, lifestyle, and budget.

One great tool is a strategically stocked kitchen separated into daily and weekly shopping visits, and perhaps “a big shop” to make the groceries a bit more efficient and manageable and possibly more economical if buying in bulk is feasible. To keep shopping manageable while preventing food waste, here are some tried-and-true staples to consider stocking on a daily, weekly, monthly, and quarterly basis. Begin by choosing foods that you and your family would be most excited to make and eat.

Daily or Weekly Shopping List
• fresh, in-season vegetables;
• fresh salad ingredients;
• fresh or frozen lean meats and poultry;
• fresh fruit for salads, sides, and dessert;
• milk and cheese (in dairy varieties or fortified plant-based alternatives);
• plain yogurt for sauces and salads;
• avocados;
• fresh or frozen seafood lower in methylmercury, such as shrimp, cod, tilapia, and salmon;
• eggs;
• breads and tortillas (aim to choose half as whole grains);
• lemons and limes;
• tofu;
• fermented foods, like naturally fermented pickles, kimchee, kombucha, and sauerkraut; and
• aromatics, including garlic and onion, or use dried varieties to save time.

Monthly or Quarterly Shopping List*
• frozen and canned vegetables (check sodium levels on canned vegetables or choose low sodium);
• canned and dried beans, peas, chickpeas, and lentils (rinse canned beans or choose low sodium);
• canned and jarred tomato products (check sodium levels);
• frozen edamame, peas, and corn;
• pasta and noodles;
• grains, like rice, oats, quinoa, bulgur, and farro;
• nuts, like pistachios, walnuts, almonds, and cashews;
• seeds, like sunflower, pumpkin, and sesame;
• canned and pouched tuna and salmon;
• canned and boxed broths and stocks (read the label for sodium levels); and
• frozen, dried, and canned fruit with no added sugars.

*Consider curbside grocery pickup services to save time when buying in bulk.

As Needed Groceries
• nutritious oils, including extra-virgin olive oil, avocado oil, and sesame oil;
• vinegars;
• dried herbs and spices, including blends, to help save time while maximizing flavor;
• whole-grain and nut flours; and
• cooking oil spray.

Prep Fresh Ingredients Immediately
If you find yourself faced with fresh proteins and produce surpassing their best-by date, consider prepping these foods as soon as you get them home. For example, slice and dice chicken and cut peppers into strips for adding to different meals like fajitas and Asian-inspired stir-fries later in the week.

Basic Supplies for Meal Planning
“Meal prep doesn’t require a lot of fancy kitchen gadgets and tools, but some basics will be helpful,” Schaaf advises. These items are on the top of her list:

• a large wooden cutting board;
• a large chef knife;
• glass containers with lids for storing food;
• a peeler (for potatoes, sweet potatoes, and squash);
• a citrus zester;
• an instant-read thermometer (to avoid under/overcooking proteins); and
• a blender or food processor.

Also, consider adding these items to your arsenal:

• a good-quality 12-inch sauté pan;
• a large cast iron pan (which is naturally nonstick and doesn’t scratch) for browning one to two pounds of protein at once; and
• a large wok for stir-fries.

Maximize Freezer Storage
The freezer is nature’s pause button. Many simmered, saucy dishes reheat beautifully after being previously frozen, such as spaghetti sauce, sloppy joes, chili, and broth with meat. Schaaf is a big fan of doubling recipes for freezing for future meals. Be sure to keep painter’s tape and a permanent marker in your kitchen to label and date the container.

Meal Ideas for Selective Eaters
For families with more particular tastes that may be averse to trying new foods, homemade versions of their favorite dishes are attainable. The following are great examples:

• Chicken nuggets: Cut up boneless, skinless chicken breasts or thighs into bitesize pieces. Sprinkle with garlic salt and dot with butter or olive oil. Bake at 375° F until cooked through, about 10 minutes. This recipe can even be executed in a toaster oven for a quicker turnaround time.

• Dinner grazing board: If you’re in a food rut, a grazing board can be a welcome treat for the whole family while still covering all the nutritional bases. Idea starters include sliced cheese and French bread, hummus, whole grain seeded crackers, grape clusters, broccoli florets with dip, and sliced turkey. Garnish with nuts and olives. The sky is the limit. Use up leftovers and scraps when possible, too.

• Meatball cupcakes: Make a simple turkey or lean beef meatloaf and bake in muffin tins topped with spaghetti sauce. Older children can measure and mix the recipe on their own.

• Walking tacos: Brown turkey or lean beef with taco seasoning made with simple ingredients. Set out tortilla shells and corn chips, plus toppings like cheese, avocado, lettuce, and tomato. Each family member can tailor it to their own liking. Older children can cook the meat. You can also replace the meat with a vegetarian option like marinated and baked tofu.

• Fish fingers: Cut whitefish or salmon into strips, dip in egg, then dredge in seasoned grain or almond flour. Bake until white and creamy inside, about 10 minutes. Serve with a dip.

• One-pan chicken Parmesan: Coat pounded chicken breasts in flour, Parmesan, and seasoning. Sauté, then top with spaghetti sauce and mozzarella cheese. Bake at 400° F until cheese is melted and chicken is cooked through.

• Lasagna with no preboiling or prebrowning required: Add extra sauce and use lean ground beef (which doesn’t require draining), which can all be added raw to the pan, then baked magically, cooking the ingredients to doneness just in time.

• Breakfast for dinner: Homemade pancakes and scrambled eggs may seem like a luxury on weekday mornings for busy families but can turn into a novel and economical meal option come dinnertime.

Enlist Trusted Sources for Recipes
Schaaf advises, “Avoid going down the rabbit hole with recipe selection every week and instead choose one cookbook or one favorite recipe site each week.” Over time, you’ll learn which sources provide your favorite recipes that are pretested and produce delicious results.

Bottom Line
• Start slow. Schaaf points out, “One of the biggest mistakes people make when trying to start a new habit is doing too much too soon.” Instead, “Start planning whichever meal is causing you the most trouble.”

• Utilize theme nights. Whether it’s Seafood Sunday, Taco Tuesday, or Friday Pizza nights, theme meals mean you’re not starting from scratch each week and staring at a blank page, according to Schaaf.

• Plan around ingredients you’ve had in the pantry for a while and need to use up. If you have a plan, you’ll fill that pan!

The most important thing is to just start … with one meal, one favorite recipe, or one favorite ingredient. Over time, families will settle into a routine that works for them.

— Michelle Dudash, RDN, is a Cordon Bleu–certified chef, author of Clean Eating Kitchen: The Low-Carb Mediterranean Cookbook, and creator of Spicekick Seasoning Mix, a line of gluten-free, no-added-sugar seasoning mixes. Follow her at @michelledudash.

Reference
1. Pollock Communications; Today’s Dietitian. Affordability and gut health predicted as leading food purchase drivers in 2024. PR Newswire website. https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/affordability-and-gut-health-predicted-as-leading-food-purchase-drivers-in-2024-302061882.html. Published February 15, 2024. Accessed June 3, 2024.