20-minute meals

If you’re a busy mom, chances are you struggle to come up with easy, healthy meals for your family every night. Fortunately, three simple words — plan, prepare and participate — can make dinnertime an easier task.

With help from Marjorie Fitch-Hilgenberg, associate professor of dietetics at the University of Arkansas, let’s look at ways to create tasty 20-minute meals.

“With a little planning, advance preparation and family participation, it’s as easy to make a healthy, satisfying dinner as picking up a pizza — not to mention faster and cheaper,” she says.

•First, plan. Your quest for easy meal-planning begins at the grocery store. Stock up on large bags of meat or chicken, which you can use for several different meals. Always have some convenience foods in your pantry, like canned beans and frozen or canned fruits and vegetables, all of which make great side dishes.

Spices and condiments add variety to your meals. With different seasonings, you can make baked chicken one night and chicken fajitas the next — two unique meals from the same bird. Also, keep a quality pasta sauce on hand, which has many uses for quick meals. Just be sure to get a sauce with low levels of sugar and salt.

•Now it’s time to prepare. The key to a 20-minute meal is advance preparation. Divide large bags of meat, poultry or fish into meal-sized portions, and freeze. Wash and separate your greens ahead of time, and don’t forget to clean and cut your veggies and slice and seed your fruits.

•Finally, encourage your family to participate. Your kids can help by getting things out of the cupboard, setting the table or washing fruits and veggies. Plus, when the family participates in meal preparation, even your kids will develop a sense of responsibility.