Doing some prep work when you get home from the grocery store will save you time and make getting your meals on the table throughout the week a lot easier. These tips will help you get your meals on the table in a flash:

• Wash and chop vegetables when you get home from the store. If your veggies are in the fridge and ready to use, you’ll be more likely to use them. Proper storage will also keep them fresher for a longer period of time. Different vegetables have different storage needs. Here is a link to a storage chart that you can print out and keep in the kitchen: http://www.midamericaparts.com/faqrefrigans1.htm

• As you are sorting out your groceries, you may want to prepare meal kits. You can find large, inexpensive plastic containers at the grocery store. You simply keep all your ingredients in these storage containers. When it is time to make dinner, just grab your meal kit and you are ready to get cooking.

• For example, to prepare a chicken soup meal kit, fill your large plastic container with a box of chicken broth, a smaller plastic container or Ziploc bag of veggies, and another Ziploc bag with your pre-measured amount of rice or pasta (to make things even speedier, cook the rice and pasta ahead of time, but only do this a day ahead of time. Otherwise, the rice or pasta could get dried out). Store everything in the fridge until ready to use. This is also very helpful if you have teenagers who will be getting the meal started while you are on your way home from work.

• Buy a rotisserie chicken from the deli and cut it up into portions when you get home. This will allow you to make several meals from one chicken. For instance, if you are going to want a portion of it thinly sliced for fajitas and another portion cubed for a casserole and yet another portion shredded for chicken salad, do this as soon as possible. If you wait, you may get busy with other things and forget. The next day you may be in too much of a rush to do it, and instead of using the chicken as planned, you end up picking dinner up at the drive through (which defeats the whole purpose of meal planning).

Remember, the more work you can get ahead of time, the easier it will be to throw a few things together when you need a speedy dinner during the week.