Save Time And Energy With An Assembly Approach For Dinner
If you’re lucky to carve out a space for dinner with the people you love at the end of each day, the last thing you want is for the process of actually getting that food on the table to bring you additional stress.
Your day has been hectic enough as it is. For so many of us it may be the only time of day we have to fully immerse ourselves in the ritual of eating a delicious meal. Making the most of this opportunity to shift your body into parasympathetic mode (rest and digest) will not only support your digestion and gut health, but also ultimately ensure your body is getting the most of the food you’ve lovingly prepared. Good digestion equals good nutrient absorption equals energy and nutrient uptake by our cells and tissues.
I’ve talked about the concept of assembly meals before for my go-to high protein and savoury breakfast, but it’s an approach that can also be supportive of a more efficient—still delicious—dinnertime.
Sometimes you just need a formula to get you from A to B. And save that new recipe that looks amazing for another night when you have more time to navigate your way through ingredients.
3 Steps To An Assembly-Style Dinner
Visualize your template of a balanced meal: Half vegetables, a quarter starchy carbs, a quarter protein, and drizzles of flavour-making fats. Bringing balance to your plate (or ingredient list—you can use this for soups, stews, curries, and more, too) is one straightforward way of assembling a meal or snack without overthinking it.
Rotate ingredients to keep things fresh and get that variety that’s so good for nutrient density and our microbiome diversity. Do this with each of the segments of your meal. For example with protein, try baking chicken breast one night, then roasting salmon the next, stir-fry tempeh another night, and simmer chicken thighs the next. Stock your pantry with yams, potatoes, rice, quinoa, lentils, amaranth, and whole grain pasta to mix up starchy carbs. And for each grocery shop of the week bring home a few options for vegetables and salads. Don’t forget to add herbs and spices throughout for even more nutrition and flavour punch.
Lean into flavour-packed dressings and sauces to maximize the deliciousness as you drizzle or sprinkle your servings of fat. And don’t forget dips! They can turn a simple chicken breast into a divine flavour experience. These can also be made ahead of time if you enjoy meal prepping.
Then it’s all about mixing and matching and trying things as you go. The more you get comfortable with trying new things (consider adding one new vegetable to your grocery shop each week!) and seeing what works for you and your household, the easier this gets to bring down to a 30 minute meal or less each night.
Have picky eaters in your house? Get them involved in the process of putting together the puzzle and picking some pieces!
Energizing Pantry Favourites
Balancing your plate overall is in support of blood sugar balance, a key element to sustained energy levels. But there are some key nutrients our body needs to support our overall energy production. Consider stocking up on these energizing foods so you always have them on hand to add into sauces, dressings, dips, and flavour crumbles.
Pumpkin Seeds
Packed with zinc, iron and omegas, pumpkin seeds are a great addition to sprinkle on soups and salads, blend into pestos, or roast with cauliflower. Buy the raw version so you can choose their destiny, and they’re best stored in the fridge.
Tahini
Sesame seeds are abundant in Vitamin Bs, manganese, and anti-inflammatory compounds and tahini is a great version that’s easy to blend into dressings, dips and even tastes amazing in a chocolate dessert.
Cannellini Beans
For an extra hit of magnesium, iron, and fibre-rich protein, cannellini beans are a nice mild flavour that can add a creaminess to pasta sauces, stews, or blended into lemony-herb hummus.
Walnuts
Nuts and seeds are a great way to add energizing nutrients to your diet overall, but walnuts in particular are fabulous for their anti-inflammatory omegas, vitamin Bs, and fibre. Plus, they’re a natural source of both melatonin and magnesium, so eating them later in the day can support sleep. Buy these raw and store in the fridge, then crumble over salads, blend into dressings and dips, or roast with veggies.