No Time to Cook?

Q: I don't have time to cook — can you suggest some quick and easy breakfast, lunch, and dinner options that don't involve cooking?

A: Here you go!

Breakfast: Snack-sized containers of organic, low-fat Greek or low-fat plain yogurt (varieties with no high-fructose corn syrup!), a hard-boiled egg with a piece of fruit, oatmeal with 1/4 cup of crushed walnuts or almonds, a slice of whole-grain toast with a light spread of almond butter, or high-fiber cereal with organic skim milk. Each of these ideas will take less than three minutes of your time.

Lunch: Ideally, you would take some time the night before or on the weekends to prepare healthy foods to pack and carry, but if that just isn't realistic for you, try the following options. Buy prepared salads at your supermarket. I like to get Greek salad, tuna niçoise, and seafood salads at Trader Joe's to have on hand when I need to run out the door. Another thought is a sandwich — make sure the bread is whole grain and the meat is organic and not processed (look for fresh, low-sodium deli meat). Avoid high-fat condiments like mayo; choose mustard (it's naturally low in fat) instead.

Snacks: Try nuts, fruit, low-fat cheeses, whole-grain crackers like Kashi, organic low-fat yogurt, and hard-boiled eggs. If it's chips you're craving, check out all-natural Popchips.

Dinner: This entails a similar effort as lunch, in that you need to buy precooked foods at the deli counter in the supermarket — but always ask for organic meat (you might have a better chance of getting this at a market like Whole Foods). Buying food like this is a bit more expensive because convenience doesn't come cheap, but it's quick, easy, and healthy. If you're in a hurry, try picking up grilled chicken breasts, salmon or halibut fillets, or turkey breasts, all precooked — toss a portion in a glass container and run out the door with it. You can even buy veggie side dishes — grilled vegetables, for example — brown rice with shrimp, and so on.

At the end of the day, your choices are going to come down to what is more feasible for you. I've given you many options, involving varying amounts of money and time, but I urge you to find the time to plan your meals for the week and cook healthy on the weekends. This way you will know EXACTLY what is in your food — salt, fat, calories, and so forth.