"Always On the go?" "No time to plan meals?" Then try these meal planning travel tips!

The "On-The-Go" mentality seems to run our lives nowadays. We seem to be in a rush the moment we get up by the time we get home from work. Even then, it doesn't slow down. By the time we relax, it's already time to go to bed. Then the cycle continues.

I lived with this "on-the-go" mentality for years. I know how difficult it is to travel a lot and feel that rush on a daily basis. I commuted to work and spent a total of 4 hours of day on the road. It is not a way to live. Before I knew it, I was feeling tired, irritable, and cranky. Of course, the traffic didn't help the situation. But also, not having the proper nutrition or calories for the day contributed to my stress.

As a result I had to take charge and come up with a plan!

There are a few questions that you need to ask yourself before you start meal planning "on-the-go". These questions along with my meal planning travel tips are outlined below.

Depending on what your answers are, you can design a meal plan that will work best for you and your lifestyle. Remember, meal planning is supposed to be a benefit, not a nuisance. The sooner you start on the path of meal planning, the sooner you can lead a healthier life.

Meal Planning Travel Tips

1)How often are you "on the go" or travel each week?

Based on the number of days you travel or are "on the go" each week, you will need to decide how often you will grocery shop. Will you grocery shop on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis? What will work best for you? Based on this, you will know exactly how much groceries to buy in a given week to avoid wasting any food.

2)What type of meals will be easy to take on an airplane, eat while driving, or not spoil until you reach your destination?

I am not condoning eating while driving, but hey, you know the reality. The only foods I eat while driving are quick finger foods. I usually snacked on baby carrots or I cut up veggies/ fruits and placed them in a sandwich bag. The ones that worked well are: Cucumbers, Bell Peppers, Baby Carrots, Cherry Tomatoes, Apples, Oranges, and bananas. If I needed "heartier" finger foods, I would cut up a muffin, eat hard boiled eggs, bagels. If your food is already cut up, then it is easier to eat them instead of going through your bag while driving!

If you plan to take them on the plane, it is easier to put in your bag and won't create a huge mess.

3)What type of foods won't spoil until I get to my destination?

This is a very important question. If you are traveling quite a bit, you do not want to be transporting foods that will spoil quickly, especially during hot summer months. If you must, you can always purchase a cooler. Otherwise, plan for non perishable food items. Canned foods are great. I would take canned tuna to work and mix it in with my rice. I avoided mayo. Canned soups are also wonderful, as are, canned fruit. I also would take Top Ramen soups as well. Cold cut sandwiches also worked. I never had a problem with them going bad in a 2 hour drive.

4)When do I prepare my meals?

The best time to prepare your travel food is the night before. That way, when you are ready to leave, all you have to do is grab and go!

5)What are the benefits?

There are a lot of benefits for planning your meals. In addition to it being a time saver, meal planning benefits far outweigh the initial investment you put in. You will truly notice a difference in how you feel. Speaking for me, when I am rushing around town and have not eaten properly, I just don't feel like myself. Who wants to constantly feel run down?

6)I travel by plane, I can take snacks, but what about meals?

If you travel by plane, sandwiches are the way to go. Especially if you won't arrive at your destination anytime soon. If it is not a long commute, take some snack foods with you. When you reach your destination, you are bound to eat out a lot, unless you have the luxury of staying with friends or family. Otherwise, make healthy choices. Go to restaurants that have healthier meal options. Eat salads with protein such as chicken, steak, etc..

No one has to eat at greasy fast food joints!

7)I travel by car, I can take snacks, but what about meals?

Otherwise, if the commute is not long, and have access to a microwave at your destination, you can transport leftover meals from dinner in a cooler and later heat up your meals.

8)It sounds great, but I don't know where to start!

Exploring a few organization tips for your kitchen will get the ball rolling. It is an investment in time, initially, but it does pay off in the end. These are a few of my meal planning travel tips. If you are interested in learning additional methods and get back on track to eating right, mealplan4me.com has some additional meal planning tips and ideas. My meal planning travel tips for those of you "on the go" should enable you to start the process of organization. Short of having wonderfully balanced meals at home, "on-the-go" meal plans do not have to include fast food meals!

Take the extra time needed and you will notice a difference!

Summer is the season when you enjoy longer days and shorter nights so you should take advantage of the season by going outside more often just to enjoy the fresh air or get some exercise. But you need to prepare yourself for the hot summer heat. Consuming the right food and drinks give you the energy you need to enjoy your daily summer routines. Here are some good foods to eat that can be paired with some cool drinks that everyone should enjoy.

Watermelons

When it comes to eating healthy, fruits are the way to go and one of the best fruits for the summer are watermelons. Coming from its name, watermelons consist of around 50 per cent water so indulging on a big slice of watermelon is a good way to quench your thirst. Watermelons come in large sizes too so you have a lot to consume or you can share with friends. Getting organic sources are best so you can enjoy the sweetness of the watermelon without the added sugar.

Iced Tea

There are lots of different kinds of iced tea mixes being served in restaurants or can be made right inside the house using powdered mixes. They are much healthier than soft drinks and can be a decent alternative if cold water doesn't satisfy your taste buds. For the healthiest choice, go for the brewed tea because they are low on calories. Then you can add artificial sweeteners or clover honey for a nice taste. Fresh mint and lemons add a nice summer zing to the drink, too. Herbal iced tea is another good healthy alternative.

Chilled Soups

Summer is usually the time when people want to slim down, but still want to eat delicious foods. Many chilled soups are not only low on calories, but they cold so you can feel comfortable eating them. These soups will also fill you up so you do not have to eat anything else afterwards which aids to weight loss. Good chilled soups to try include cucumber-dill and gazpacho. Generally, any grilled soups with chunky vegetables make great summer dishes.

Bloody Mary

Bloody Mary is a cocktail that is famous for curing hangovers, but it can also make a nice summer drink whether there is vodka present or not. The combination of tomato juice, lemon juice, Tabasco sauce, and Worcestershire sauce make a very tasty combo especially when you add lots of ice and fresh lime.

Salads and Grilled Veggies

A great way to begin your quest for weight loss is to make it a habit to eat more vegetables every day. This includes salads where you can choose what ingredients to add as well as your favourite dressing. You can also add some fresh meat like chicken. To add variance to your meals, you can eat grilled veggies another day to burn more fat. Any healthy veggies including bell peppers, grilled onions, carrots, garlic, and asparagus are tasty and healthy.

These aren't the only foods that are nice for the summer. You can make other nice iced beverages if you have a blender or you can enjoy healthy fruit-based desserts. What matters most is that you like what you are eating and you don't sacrifice healthiness.

With the weather starting to get really nice all around the country many people are ready to start grilling. They have been looking forward to this season for a long time and it is finally come. It is finally time to start having your friends and family over for some delicious cookouts.

This is a time of year that gets many people excited as they love to cook, but the love cooking outside even more.

So what is needed for you to have a great barbecue? First you don't actually need to have a really fancy grill. These days you can find a very good grill for a very affordable price in the neighbor of $100-$400. This will give you a great grill. Now you can decide if you would like to have a grill that is gas or charcoal that is up to you. Some people enjoy using the charcoal grills for better flavor, but do keep in mind that they do take longer to get going. You can use a gas grill and just buy some propane to get it going.

Next you will want to get a good supply of seasonings. You can go to your local grocery store and buy about $30 in seasonings and that should last you the whole season. Some great seasonings to start with are a good meat rub, garlic salt, basil, black pepper and Italian seasonings.

The last thing that you should get is quality meat. It is important that the meat be good quality otherwise no matter how good you are at grilling it will not taste as good. If you can go to your local butcher and get the meat the day of unless you plan on marinating the meat before hand.

I'm a meat lover who decided to try vegetarian eating awhile ago. I stumbled across some information that talked about how the bowel becomes distended. According to this information, the main reason for this distention of the bowel was the amount of meat we eat that hasn't digested properly. This was terrible news as I loved my meat - all meat. So I chose a vegetarian lifestyle change to see if it would make a difference to my digestive symptoms.

I'd always been conscious of the nutritional component of what I cooked and had insisted on eating fresh - ready-made anything was hard to find in my cupboards or my freezer. Balancing a meal wasn't difficult, but, how to make a meal without meat. That meant no pizza to me - oh, dear. My lasagne, which had taken me years to refine into "yummo" was out too. So I set about learning what I could eat and how to turn it into palatable forms of consumption.

These days I have quite a store of meals that meet the criteria and are classified as vegetarian, and the best part is no-one would even think twice about not eating them. A vegetarian version of lasagna based on sweet potato, pastry parcels filled with spices, vegetable and lentils, rissoles/meatloaf made from brown rice and red kidney beans. I have everyday things like pancakes and fruit, toast and avocado or tomato or bananas, or cereal for breakfast, and salad mixes for lunch. The soy milk took some adjusting to and I prefer my coffee black now. And my ready supply of what my friends call 'birdseed' - various nuts including macadamia, cashew, pine, pistachio and things like pumpkin seeds and sesame seeds for nibbling on, are just some examples.

I remember my invitation to a friends place for dinner and my first restaurant outing as a confirmed vegetarian.

The restaurant was not too difficult to maneuver as the menu had the dishes listed on them and since I cook I basically knew what went into making most of them. Restaurant speak, the listing of what the dishes were, outlined the contents enough for the menu items I wasn't sure about. I walked out at the end of the night both satisfied and unscathed - still intact vegetarian.

The friends invitation, however, was a little more interesting. It was a BBQ, which meant that the smell of BBQing meat was the first thing I encountered as I arrived. That waft in the air and the sizzling sounds of meat on a grill. My mouth was watering. Once I resumed control of my senses and we started along the buffet-style table, I was confronted with more difficulty. The potato salad contained bacon and the salad nicoise had hard-boiled eggs in it. Luckily the rice salad was okay and there was a tossed salad and bean salad that was fine also, bread rolls too. The good part about the BBQ was the nibbles. People love to make homemade nibbles for BBQ's. This meant that I had an excellent variety of foods on offer, which everyone was eating and not even recognising them as vegetarian. A vegetable platter, with aloi that I found out was made eggless, crackers that I dipped into homemade salsa and corn relish dips. This time it took a little more maneuvering but I managed to stick to my 'vegetarian standards' and left unscathed again.

As an update to my digestive symptoms, yes it made a difference. So, if you are considering becoming vegetarian for whatever reason you may have, it is not impossible. Once you have the basic information you can incorporate it into a normal everyday lifestyle and enjoy the benefits.

I had figured it would be fun, but didn't think it was that big of a deal. Then my friends scheduled a time to take me to a very upscale restaurant so I could really experience the food. We got dressed up and went out to eat. We went for dinner and wow the food was amazing. I was able to enjoy the pot roast and it was true that I had never experienced anything like it.

I hadn't really been to an upscale restaurant before and I had no idea that there was much more to it than the food. I found that it was an all around experience. From the greeting, to being seated, to being served by amazing waiters and the warm feel of the place. The other thing was that it was very clean and the lighting and decorations were just as warm. That made the experience of enjoying the food even better.

Many don't take the time to enjoy fine dining as often as they should. It is an experience that everyone should do every once in awhile and get pampered through the food.

Now, this type of canned food is not healthy to human beings and you need to cook the fresh vegetables and boil rice for the preparation of the food dishes. Now if you are not very much competent and efficient for cooking food, you need to attend the classes for the preparation of different sorts of the delicious dishes. The fact is that you will have to be disciplined and competent for mugging up the different cooking programs. If you have the large family and you are the only earning member of your family you need to prepare cheap meal and you will get that meal if you know very well how to cook without paying higher price rates.

The professional culinary training centers will give you the effective training and guidance for bringing the perfection to the cooking process. Always pay attention to the cooking classes for better understanding. You can also continue taking training on cooking through online service which is very fast and dynamic. There are few institutes which are available for providing the cooking training at very negligible cost.

Before signing up the registration form of the training institutes, you should be well informed of their previous performance track record. You must check whether these training classes provide the practical demo for cooking different types of dishes. You can feel free to learn the basics for the preparation of the continental dishes. Always feel free to talk to the professional cook and the expert how to develop the skill to cook fast and in perfect way.

Your house must be loaded with the sophisticated cooking appliances. Finally if you see that there is no such good and ultramodern institute in your locality for offering the good training and advice, you must visit the metropolitan cities for completing the cooking course. In comparison to the rural belt, the main city will provide you ultramodern cooking training institutes which are loaded with the good equipment and cooking devices for showing you the demonstration in practical.

Now, this type of canned food is not healthy to human beings and you need to cook the fresh vegetables and boil rice for the preparation of the food dishes. Now if you are not very much competent and efficient for cooking food, you need to attend the classes for the preparation of different sorts of the delicious dishes. The fact is that you will have to be disciplined and competent for mugging up the different cooking programs. If you have the large family and you are the only earning member of your family you need to prepare cheap meal and you will get that meal if you know very well how to cook without paying higher price rates.

The professional culinary training centers will give you the effective training and guidance for bringing the perfection to the cooking process. Always pay attention to the cooking classes for better understanding. You can also continue taking training on cooking through online service which is very fast and dynamic. There are few institutes which are available for providing the cooking training at very negligible cost.

Before signing up the registration form of the training institutes, you should be well informed of their previous performance track record. You must check whether these training classes provide the practical demo for cooking different types of dishes. You can feel free to learn the basics for the preparation of the continental dishes. Always feel free to talk to the professional cook and the expert how to develop the skill to cook fast and in perfect way.

Your house must be loaded with the sophisticated cooking appliances. Finally if you see that there is no such good and ultramodern institute in your locality for offering the good training and advice, you must visit the metropolitan cities for completing the cooking course. In comparison to the rural belt, the main city will provide you ultramodern cooking training institutes which are loaded with the good equipment and cooking devices for showing you the demonstration in practical.

Improve your memory with some brain boosting food. From salmon to tofu, here is the lowdown on what to eat to make your memory sharper.

The right food can dramatically improve your memory.

Brilliant memory booster foods
Oil-rich fish, such as salmon, trout, mackerel, fresh tuna, not tinned, Olive oil,Soya products, such as soya milk, yogurt, tofu, Lean meat, Pulses, such as lentils and beans, fresh and dried fruits. A rainbow of vegetables to provide antioxidants, fibre-rich vegetables, such as pumpkin, leafy greens, root veg, corn, potatoes

Brain food facts

Food for thought:
Food that's good for the brain ensures good concentration and helps your memory

Clear your mind:
If you want to keep your head clear and your brain alert, you need to maintain a steady blood sugar level with good amounts of antioxidants, protein and amino acids. These are found in fish, veg and fruit.

Something fishy:
Oily fish, such as mackerel, sardines and herring, are an excellent source of omega-3 fatty acids, essential for healthy eyesight and brain development. So eat plenty of these, especially if you're pregnant and want your child to be super-intelligent.

Get it down you:
Two teaspoons of cod liver oil a day will provide you with vitamins A and D and about 2g of omega-3 fatty acids - more than enough to meet the recommended daily intake and great for brain food.

It's actually true:
Carrots are an excellent source of beta carotene, which the body converts into vitamin A...and night blindness or poor vision in the dark is usually a sign of a deficiency of vitamin A!

Whether you are new to the world of cooking or just new to using chicken as an ingredient, there are several very important things that you should know before using chicken in recipes.

Choosing and Buying Chicken Made Easy

First of all, only buy chicken within its expiration date that feels cold to the touch. Do not buy fresh chicken, which is leaking or damaged.

Chicken is chilled in food storage vehicles during its distribution to supermarkets to keep it fresh and stop bacteria from growing. Make cold meat and poultry the last thing you put in your grocery cart when you are shopping before heading to the checkout, so it does not get warm. Bag the chicken separately from the other groceries and refrigerate it as soon as you get home, still in its packaging.

Chicken Basics - Freezing, Thawing and Chilling Guide

You need to use fresh chicken within a couple of days. If you are not going to do this, it will need to be frozen. To defrost frozen chicken, you can either use a microwave, cold water or the refrigerator. The safest yet slowest way is to use the refrigerator. Boneless chicken breasts will thaw overnight in the refrigerator but a whole chicken might take a couple of days. If you defrost too much chicken in the refrigerator, you can refreeze the surplus.

If you want to defrost the chicken in water, submerge it, still in the packaging or in a Ziploc bag, in cold water. Change the water every half an hour so it stays cold. You can defrost a pound of boneless chicken breasts in an hour or a whole chicken in two or three hours.

If you are going to thaw chicken in the microwave, you will need to cook it immediately afterwords because some parts might warm up and start cooking while it is being defrosted and partial cooking does not kill the bacteria.

You can cook chicken from frozen in the oven or on the stove, as long as you allow it a 50% longer cooking time but do not cook frozen chicken in the microwave or in a slow cooker.

You can marinate chicken in the refrigerator for up to two days but you should not stuff a whole chicken unless you are going to cook it right away. Cooked chicken needs to reach an internal temperature of at least 165 degrees F to ensure that any bacteria have been killed.

If you have made a Kentucky fried chicken recipe and you have some left over, you should put it in the refrigerator within a couple of hours to keep it safe for enjoying the next day.

How Long Can You Keep Chicken Safely?

A whole raw chicken keeps for two days in the refrigerator or a year in the freezer. Raw chicken parts will keep for two days in the refrigerator or nine months in the freezer. You can keep cooked chicken parts or a cooked whole chicken for four days in the refrigerator or for four months in the freezer.

When was the last time you sat down and had a meal with your family? I know it's difficult with ball practice, karate, cheerleading, dance and demanding work schedules. But it's really time that we bring this dying tradition of family meals back to the tables of homes across America. Research is beginning to show that eating as a family has great benefits for your children, teenagers and families. The facts speak for themselves:

Benefit #1: Communication and Sharing

How much time did you spend conversing with your children this week? According to A.C. Nielsen Co, the average parent only spends 38.5 minutes per week in meaningful conversation with their children. Sitting down around the table --whether it be for breakfast, lunch or dinner-- provides the opportunity for your family to bond, plan, connect, and learn from one another. It's that chance to share the news of the day and let members of your family know what is going on in each others lives. Family meals foster warmth, security and love, as well as feelings of belonging. It can really be a bonding experience for the entire family.

Benefit #2: Prevent Unwanted Behaviors

Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine noted in 2004 that frequent family meals are associated with a lower risk of smoking, drinking and using drugs; with a lower incidence of depressive symptoms and suicidal thoughts; and with better grades in 11 to 18 year olds. A University of Minnesota study in 2004 noted that adolescent girls who have frequent family meals, and a positive atmosphere during those meals, are less likely to have eating disorders.

Benefit #3: Better Grades

Children do better in school when they eat more meals with their parents and family. Teenagers who eat dinner four or more times per week with their families have higher academic performance compared with teenagers who eat with their families two or fewer times per week. In 1996, Harvard Research did a study that found family dinners are more important than play, story time and other family events in the development of vocabulary of younger children. The statistics are clear, kids who have dinner with their families are healthier, happier and better students.

Benefit #4: Better Nutrition

Eating meals at home gives your control over what is prepared and served at mealtime. Home cooked meals are generally more nutritious and healthy. Eating at homes allows you to offer meals containing more fruits, vegetables, and dairy products along with additional nutrients that are essential for healthy bodies and minds. Reason # 8: Save Money Eating out can be expensive. Did you know that a family of 4 dining at Olive Garden 8 times spends around $480? Eight pizza deliveries cost about $200! Eight trips to McDonalds run about $180! Eating at home is a great chance to save time, eat healthier meals at home and stretch your grocery budget. Meals purchased away from home cost two to four times more than meals prepared at home. Currently, the restaurant industry's share of the total food dollars is more than 46%.

It is time to bring your family back to the dinner table. With a little planning and scheduling, you can reap the benefits of family mealtime. Soon you will be reconnecting and communicating more effectively with your family, helping your children do better in school, preventing unwanted behavior in your children, providing better nutrition for you family and saving money.

Are you always rushing home, trying not to get a speeding ticket, knowing that you will have about 30 minutes to feed the family and get one or two of them out the door? The life of a mom can be so busy that at times she can wonder how she will get through it all. But if cooking a 15 minute meal can be mastered then keeping everyone happy at the end of a busy day will be a breeze.

Fast foods are a popular way to getting a quick meal for the family but there are very few of them are healthy. Most are full of fats and unhealthy fats at that and very few are really tasty.

There are many meals that can be prepared quickly but here is an easy 15 minute meal.

Honey Soy and Garlic Fried Rice (feeds 3 adults)

1 cup uncooked rice 5 rashers of bacon chopped

1 medium onion chopped

4 cloves garlic finely sliced

1 cup corn kernels

1 cup frozen peas

1/2 cup chopped red pepper

1 cup chopped mushrooms

3 tablespoons olive oil

Salt and pepper to taste

Honey Soy and Garlic sauce (approx. 3 tablespoons and adjust to taste)

Method:

Cook rice in 2 cups of water in microwave for 12 -13 minutes.

While the rice is cooking, put oil in the pan and fry onions and bacon until onions are soft and bacon browning. Add garlic and cook 1 minute. Add all other vegetables and cook 2 minutes. When rice is cooked, add and stir in. Add Honey Soy and Garlic sauce adjust taste, stir and serve.

This is a really tasty dish and very 'morish'. All ages like it, but if very young children are going to have it they may like it served before the sauce is added, although many children do like the Honey Soy and Garlic sauce.

Many other 15 minute easy meals are such dishes as omelets, eggs and bacon, open grilled sandwiches, steak sandwiches and pizza. Omelets are good to cook because if just one or two family members need to leave the house in a hurry they can be served first and then be off to whatever it is that they are doing.

Being organized before a busy day is half the problem solved. If warning is given of a busy night ahead by making sure that the ingredients are in the fridge then getting the meal together is not such a problem. 15 minute easy meals will help mom feed the family in a hurry and keep them all happy then mom can sit down and put her feet up afterwards.

Copyright (c) 2009 Kaye Dennan