By: Paige Valentik MPS, RD, LDN

We are officially in the full swing of school around here. Charlotte is in kindergarten, Parker is in preschool a couple of days a week, John is teaching more credits than ever and our days seem to have gotten busy overnight! Between school bus drop-offs and pickups, activities, work, football season and all of the other things that fill up a family’s calendar, there are plenty of days when making a healthy dinner feels like one more thing on the to-do list.

But, honestly…I don’t think healthy eating has to mean making everything from scratch or spending hours meal prepping.

One of the biggest things I encourage my clients to remember is that convenience and healthy eating can absolutely coexist.

For example, a rotisserie chicken can be a great starting point for a quick dinner. Pair it with a bagged salad and some microwavable rice or a baked potato, and you have a balanced meal with very little prep work. There is nothing wrong with using foods that make your life easier!

The same goes for frozen vegetables. They are an easy way to add a vegetable to dinner without washing, chopping, and cooking fresh produce. Keep a few of your family’s favorites in the freezer and pull them out when you need a quick side.

Leftovers are another one of my favorite “busy family” strategies. If I’m making chicken one night, I intentionally make extra so that the leftovers can become chicken wraps or a salad for lunch the next day. One meal can do double duty!

And sometimes dinner might be as simple as turkey and cheese paninis (aka a fancy grilled cheese), sweet potato fries in the air fryer and some fresh cut veggies and fruits can make a perfectly reasonable dinner. Healthy eating doesn’t require a complicated recipe.

Breakfast and snacks can be simplified too. Yogurt with berries and granola, scrambled eggs and toast, a banana with peanut butter, or a smoothie can all be quick options when mornings are rushed.

I also think it is helpful to have a few “back-pocket meals” that you know your family will eat. For us, that means tacos, veggie burgers with a simple side, or pasta with meatballs. These aren’t necessarily fancy meals, but they are familiar, satisfying, and easy to adjust with whatever fruits and vegetables we have on hand.

As we head further into the school year, I’m reminding myself that the goal isn’t to create perfect meals every day. It’s to find realistic ways to feed our families well within the life we are actually living.

Sometimes that means cooking a new recipe. Sometimes it means leftovers. And sometimes it means opening a bag of frozen vegetables and calling it dinner. I’m cool with that…and you should be too!