Like my girlfriends who are also moms, I struggle to find time to make healthy meals. I'm determined to avoid fast food and frozen meals that are high in fat, sodium and calories -- and not just because I'm a proud professional chef, but because I want to teach my children by example.

So, putting my chef-mind to work, I began brainstorming on how to maximize the time I have to reach my goals. In the process, I've developed several ideas that can be boiled down to “work smarter, not harder.” Want to know more? Read my weekly secrets.

Plan your meals in advance – all 21 of them

The key to working smarter is having a plan for healthful meals. This means my preparation begins on the weekend when I have time to carve out an hour or two to plan my menus. First I go to my recipe file, Internet sources and library of cookbooks, and select 21 dinnertime meals that are:

• Delicious and ones my family will love
• Nutritionally balanced
• Relatively easy to prepare within my time constraints
• Easy to prepare in larger batches with little extra effort
  

Once the dinner menus are planned, I'll usually stick with that cycle of 21 dinners that span a three-week period. Doing this takes the stress out of worrying every night, when I'm tired from work, about what we'll have for dinner and at the same time ensures that we'll eat a variety of healthful foods. At the end of the 21-day cycle, I'll start working again at the start of my menu list. Seldom has my family gotten bored from a cyclical menu and if they do, there's no rule that says a couple of meals can't be substituted to appease them.

I also apply the same concept to preparing school and work lunches, varying cold sandwiches or vegetables with hummus on one day, with hot food like soup or chili packed in a thermos on another. Knowing what foods I have to prepare is so helpful in developing the weekly shopping list -- and takes the headache out thinking about what to pack for lunches in the evenings when I'm at my least energetic.