Long workday, heading home, my stomach chattering the whole way. It’s one of those nights where I’ll head straight to the kitchen before even taking off my coat. I just want dinner in less than 10 minutes otherwise I’ll start in on the cookies. Thankfully I’ve discovered a great go-to meal for moments like these. Yes it includes frozen stuff that gets stuffed into the microwave. But boy does it satisfy and even better I know that it’s nutritious. The three ingredients are:

1. Trader Joe’s Rice Medley: A blend of cooked whole grain brown rice, sweet brown rice, red rice and black barley. Each pouch contains 2 servings that microwaves in 3 minutes.
2. Gardein meatless products: Gardein makes a wide range of tasty meat-free products that heat up in the microwave in minutes. Find them in the frozen foods section. Pictured here are BBQ skewers chopped into chunks, but these are no longer available. Try instead the porkless bites or meatless meatballs.
3. Green Giant Steamers: Mixed vegetables in a light sauce. There are many varieties so choose whichever you prefer. Microwaves in 3 minutes.