When making skillet meals we often don’t know where to begin. Let’s keep things simple. Think about it this way, you need protein, starch, a little healthy fat, and a generous serving of veggies.
1. Healthy Oils
For nearly all your skillet cooking, olive oil remains as the champion winner in health. Choose organic or GMO free oils when possible. Start off your skillet meal with a tablespoon of oil.
2. Add in your meat
Choose from chicken, beef, fish, or even pork. Saute your meat in the skillet until fully cooked. Note, if you are using fatty meat, you may want to forego the olive oil.
3. Veggies
The frozen food aisle in your local grocery store is a great place to look for easy to prepare healthy meals. There are an array of frozen bagged veggies that make great ingredients to your skillet meals. No need to spend a lot of time chopping and prepping. Just open a bag and toss it into the skillet. Many even come with tasty sauce pouches.
4. Choose Your Starch
You can never go wrong with pasta. It satisfies our hunger and makes any meal better. Pick your favorite type or switch it up to try a few varieties. You can cook your pasta while your meat and veggies are cooking. If your skillet is big enough and if there is enough liquid, you can boil the pasta in the skillet. Enjoy immediately or allow to cool and toss into a zip lock bag, with this tool. Label the bag first. Lay the bag flat in the freezer and allow it to fully freeze. When you know that you will be using that bag, thaw it in the morning. Place it in the fridge inside a square pan, while you are at work. When you come home, it will be ready to toss back into the skillet for reheating. Note, when freezing meals, try to slightly undercook the pasta so that upon reheating, it is not soggy. For more inspiration look at these recipes.