--- title: 5 Tips From Dietitians That Will Make It Easier to Eat Healthy description: Registered dietitians share their secrets for making meal planning and prepping a no-brainer. canonical: https://time.com/5303475/dietitian-tips-healthy-eating/ author: TIME article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-06-06T19:37:37.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T20:29:25.453Z article:section: Health og:title: These 5 Tips From Dietitians Will Make It Easier to Eat Healthy og:description: Dietitians share their secrets for making meal planning simple og:url: https://time.com/5303475/dietitian-tips-healthy-eating/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt82ef83c150bfa96e/6988cf8186f68e1a156e4ec8/weight-loss-calorie-counting.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 5616 og:image:height: 3159 og:image:alt: Foods Items High in Healthy Omega-3 Fats. og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: These 5 Tips From Dietitians Will Make It Easier to Eat Healthy twitter:description: Dietitians share their secrets for making meal planning simple twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt82ef83c150bfa96e/6988cf8186f68e1a156e4ec8/weight-loss-calorie-counting.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # These 5 Tips From Dietitians Will Make It Easier to Eat Healthy > Sponsored content. 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Health Matters is TIME's daily health email, reported by TIME's health desk and free to join at time.com/newsletters. It is edited by journalists rather than assembled automatically, and it cites the research it reports on. #### Is Health Matters free? Yes. Health Matters is a free daily newsletter from TIME, available at time.com/newsletters. #### Who reads TIME's Health Matters newsletter? Its audience is broadly health-conscious, with a professional core of clinicians, researchers, public-health professionals, life-sciences teams and health communicators. by [Jessica Migala / Health](https://time.com/author/health-com/) ## Jessica Migala / Health Contributor Jun 6, 2018 7:37 PM UTC  Table top still life of foods high in healthy fats such as Salmon, olive oil, nuts and avocados with vegetables and herbs. Table top still life of foods high in healthy fats such as Salmon, olive oil, nuts and avocados with vegetables and herbs.Getty Images by [Jessica Migala / Health](https://time.com/author/health-com/) ## Jessica Migala / Health Contributor Jun 6, 2018 7:37 PM UTC We’ve all been there: you come home from a long day at work and you’re exhausted and hungry, so you start munching on a bag of chips as you plan dinner. Before long, you’ve snacked yourself full. Luckily, implementing the nutritionist tricks that follow can help you throw together fast, simple and healthy meals on even the busiest nights. Pretty soon, using them will become second nature, and the “What should I make?” dinnertime crisis will become a thing of the past. ### 1) Stock your freezer with fish The American Heart Association recommends eating at least two servings of fish per week. To make that happen, pick up fish that can go from your freezer straight to your oven, suggests Vicki Shanta Retelny, a registered dietitian nutritionist in the Chicago area. Typically, frozen fish should be thawed before cooking, but “some brands are marinated, individually wrapped, and can be cooked from frozen,” she says. (Look for phrases like “no need to thaw” or “from freezer to oven” on the package.) Also smart: Pick up a bag of cooked, peeled, and deveined frozen shrimp (a great source of low-cal protein) to quickly heat up and add to pasta dishes, stir-fries, and salads. ### 2) Do just a little prep work If you love getting all your veggies, proteins and grains cooked for the week ahead, more power to you. But if it’s something you dread, skip it. “It’s easy to get overwhelmed with meal prep,” says Amy Gorin, a registered dietitian nutritionist and owner of Amy Gorin Nutrition in the New York City area. Instead, she recommends taking the prep down a few notches by chopping on Sunday only the ingredients you can incorporate into meals during the week. For example, Gorin keeps sliced mushrooms and onions on hand for stir-fries or omelets; it removes some of the prep burden, and you don’t have to start dinner from scratch. _Read more:_ [_10 Things I Learned From Culinary School That Every Home Cook Should Know_](http://www.health.com/syndication/culinary-school-lessons-every-home-cook-should-know) ### 3) Embrace shortcuts Fact: No one actually likes to peel and cube a butternut squash. Or mince garlic, or chop brussels sprouts. That’s why store-bought prepped produce can be a lifesaver. “They may be a little pricier, but they can save time and help you eat healthier at home in the long run,” says Lindsay Livingston, a registered dietitian in Columbus, Ohio. Look for creatively prepped veggies to jazz up meals, like spiralized carrots and zucchini, shredded brussels sprouts, or bagged cauliflower rice. ### 4) Make smoothie cups What’s better than a blend-and-go smoothie when you’re running out the door? Prepack an individual container with fruit, nut butter, and any other additions (think coconut, greens, cocoa powder, chia seeds, or cashews). The next morning, dump the bowl into your blender and add your liquid of choice (milk, coconut water, kefir). Gorin always keeps frozen wild blueberries in her freezer (some research has found that raw wild blueberries have twice the antioxidants of the raw, farm-raised ones) and combines them with plain Greek yogurt, milk, peanut butter, banana, and a tiny bit of maple syrup. _Read more:_ [_Is the Nordic Diet Really Healthier Than the Mediterranean Diet? A Nutritionist Weighs In_](http://www.health.com/nutrition/nordic-diet) ### 5) Keep these go-to foods on hand There are days when you come home and are so starved you need to eat ASAP. Always have quick-cooking 10-minute grains on hand, like bulgur or barley, says Retelny. Toss with ready-to-eat bagged salad, and throw on a pre-seasoned package of tuna or salmon. This meal comes together fast, so you can eat well no matter what. More staples to keep in the house, according to Holley Grainger, a registered dietitian in Birmingham, Alabama: eggs, canned beans, frozen cooked chicken, jarred spaghetti sauce, hummus, veggies, noodles and frozen pizza. _This_ [_article_](http://www.health.com/nutrition/nutritionist-healthy-eating-meal-prep-tricks) _originally appeared on_ [_Health.com_](http://health.com) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5303475/dietitian-tips-healthy-eating/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5303475/dietitian-tips-healthy-eating/"},"headline":"These 5 Tips From Dietitians Will Make It Easier to Eat Healthy","datePublished":"2018-06-06T19:37:37.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T20:29:25.453Z","description":"Dietitians share their secrets for making meal planning simple","url":"https://time.com/5303475/dietitian-tips-healthy-eating/","keywords":["Healthy Eating","Nutrition","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt82ef83c150bfa96e/6988cf8186f68e1a156e4ec8/weight-loss-calorie-counting.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Jessica Migala / Health"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt82ef83c150bfa96e/6988cf8186f68e1a156e4ec8/weight-loss-calorie-counting.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Foods Items High in Healthy Omega-3 Fats.","caption":"Foods Items High in Healthy Omega-3 Fats.","creditText":"Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/healthy-eating/","name":"Healthy Eating"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5303475/dietitian-tips-healthy-eating/","name":"These 5 Tips From Dietitians Will Make It Easier to Eat Healthy"}}]}] ```