How to put meals on the table fast

In the time it takes to wait for take out, you can have a delicious dinner on the table. You just have to be a little organized.
You Will Need
* Meal plans
* Frozen vegetables
* Advance preparation
* Meal exchange (optional)

Step 1: Plan ahead
Plan a week’s worth of meals in advance so you don’t waste time staring into the fridge, wondering what to cook.

Step 2: Rely on frozen vegetables
Rely on frozen vegetables. Because they’re flash frozen as soon as they’re picked, they’re usually just as fresh, or even fresher, than non-frozen.

Step 3: Cook in batches
Always cook in batches. It’s just as easy to roast two chickens as it is one – or three for that matter.

Start a meal exchange with friends: Each person makes several batches of a main course, and then swaps with each other. Everyone ends up with several meals for just one cooking session.

Step 4: Do prep work
Do prep work in advance, like boiling a whole bag of rice that can be reheated in portions later in the week, or cooking a big batch of potatoes that can be served scalloped one night and made into home fries on another.

Step 5: Get kids involved
If you have kids, get them involved in prep work, like washing and spinning greens for salad, and setting the table.

Kids who help make a meal are more likely to eat it, even if it’s something they don’t like.

Step 6: Think in threes
Think in threes when you cook, as in how you can get three meals out of one main course. A ham dinner one night might be ham paninis two nights later, and the scraps can be thrown into a hearty bean soup or vegetable-heavy stir-fry that you freeze for another time.

Fact: The average American cooks and eats a frozen packaged dinner about six times per month.