Meal Assembly: No-Fuss Home-Style Cooking for the Busy Mom

The modern mom is the family accountant, chauffeur, guidance counselor, referee, and sometimes breadwinner. With so many jobs to juggle around, many moms have downgraded the task of cooking the family meal in their list of priorities. However some moms have found a creative way to come up with delicious, healthy, home-style meals, without the need to slave over a hot stove all day. The solution? Meal assembly.

Meal assembly is the technique of using prepared and pre-packaged foods as shortcuts when prepare home style cooking (meals). Some ingenious mothers are able to turn ordinary food items bought from convenience stores and supermarkets into great meals. Don't believe us? Here are some suggestions:

1) Grab a bag of pre-washed salad greens and some mixed veggie sticks from the produce section, a pack of walnuts or

a small bottle of olives from the snack aisle, a can of tuna from the canned goods section, and a bottle of salad dressing like ranch or vinaigrette from the sauce aisle. Mix them up in a salad bowl for a healthy side dish for two or a light meal for one.

2) Make a fast chicken stir fry by pan-frying shredded rotisserie chicken and pre-sliced vegetables from the produce aisle in some soy sauce and sesame oil from the Asian food section. Add salt and pepper to taste and serve with some microwave-cooked rice.

3) Have kids who hate vegetables? Fool them into eating it by layering some fresh broccoli or cauliflower florets from the produce section in between some sliced processed cheese like Velveeta in a baking dish. Bake the dish in a conventional oven (a microwave works too, but not as well) for a few minutes in low heat, until the cheese melts. Cool for several minutes, and serve.

4) Fry up some prepared chicken fingers from the frozen food section. Then, cook a small pack of pasta according to package instructions. Lastly, saute a bottle of tomato or pasta sauce in a very small amount of oil with some sliced onions and green peppers. Pour the sauce over the chicken and pasta for an Italian-inspired feast.

5) Grab a pack of seafood ramen noodles from the Asian food section, then head for the seafood section for some frozen de-veined shrimp and sliced-up squid. Lastly, get several packs of frozen vegetables like corn, carrots, and peas. Prepare the ramen noodles according to package instructions, add the shrimp halfway through the cooking process, and add the vegetables near the end. Enjoy your Asian-style seafood noodle soup!