These cooking cures won't take any more time (and may actually take less) than you're spending now to make a meal. What's more, most may save you money because they rely on healthy, quick-cooking, minimally processed foods instead of expensive processed entrees and side dishes.

ChangeOne Extras: ChangeOne Diet Make your weight-loss goals a reality with ChangeOne Diet. Join today!Join today! Smarter Food Shopping Here are 10 easy steps to stay on track.. Three Secrets to Fast Meals: Spend less time in the kitchen with these tips for home-cooked meals in a hurry.

Strategy #1: Use lots of precut, prewashed, and/or frozen fruits and veggies.
The cure for: Thrown-together dinners that feature no produce because you don't have the time or energy to buy, clean, chop, and cook it.

Heart-healthy bonus: Frozen veggies and fruits have as many, and sometimes more, nutrients than fresh because they're usually frozen soon after picking, when nutrient content is highest. Precut produce is also usually as nutritious as fresh.

The plan: Load your refrigerator with precut, prewashed, and/or frozen veggies, as well as frozen berries (and in winter, other frozen fruits, such as peaches). These convenient veggies cook up fast in the microwave, and having a variety on hand could double or triple a meal's veggie servings because it's so easy to open the bag, heat, and eat. Smart choices include baby carrots (easy to munch raw or cook in the microwave); sliced carrots, precut broccoli and cauliflower; and frozen blends of diced onions, garlic, and peppers. Frozen berries don't even need to be defrosted; just let them thaw while you eat dinner, or mix the contents with other, room-temperature fruits.

Strategy #2: Stock your pantry for heart-healthy "magic meals".

The cure for: Nights when you're too tired to even figure out what's for dinner, and you've prepared nothing in advance. Heart-healthy bonus: Fiber to lower cholesterol, spices and flavorings rich in antioxidants, good fats to please the palate and protect against atherosclerosis, and calcium to help control blood pressure.

The plan: Think like a short-order gourmet cook, and you could sit down to a cheese omelet with a spinach, mandarin orange, and pecan salad on the side; pasta with clam sauce and mushrooms and a glass of merlot; bean burritos with guacamole; and more-in just 15 minutes. The key? Your imagination-and a pantry stocked with healthy basics and a few fun, high-flavor extras.

By keeping quick-cooking items (such as eggs high in omega-3 fatty acids; whole wheat pastas; nuts; canned beans; canned seafood; whole grain breads; and reduced-fat, low-sodium cheese) on hand, you'll be ready to whip up something fast and flavorful even on nights when you're drop-dead tired-the nights when you most need a good meal and are most vulnerable to eating too much of the wrong stuff. Here are four more fast, flavorful ideas.

1. Supercharged soup. Add rinsed, canned beans and frozen veggies to low-sodium canned minestrone or vegetable soup. Serve with whole grain toast and a fruit salad (canned fruit mixed with frozen berries).
2. Field greens with chicken. Rinse bagged spinach, arrange it on a plate, and top with nuts, precut carrots, and cherry tomatoes. Add strips of precooked chicken breast and dress with olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Have sliced melon for dessert.
3. Simple pasta with white beans. Cook whole wheat spaghetti, then toss with olive oil; Parmesan cheese; black pepper; and rinsed, heated canned white beans. Serve with steamed broccoli and fruit. (Variation: Toss the spaghetti and beans with a spoonful of pesto from a jar.)
4. Turkey melt with cranberry sauce on whole wheat. Arrange sliced turkey on whole wheat bread and top with cranberry sauce and one slice of reduced-fat, low-sodium cheese. Microwave until the cheese melts. Serve with a green salad and top off the meal with mixed berries and a dollop of low-fat frozen yogurt.

The cure for: A pretty good diet that could use a nutritional upgrade-more fruit and veggies, more fiber, more good fats, more dairy, or whatever applies to you. Heart-healthy bonus: These changes are small enough, and tasty enough, that you'll soon make them part of your cooking repertoire-giving your cardiovascular system a steady dose of antioxidants, good fats, and vitamins and minerals.

The plan: You don't have to overhaul your kitchen and cooking style to eat for a healthy heart. Start with these smart cooking cures.

1. Garnish fruit salads, green salads, and cooked veggies with chopped nuts for an extra helping of monounsaturated fats. Toss a handful into muffin and pancake recipes or add some to yogurt. For extra flavor, first toast the nuts in a 350°F oven until golden, 5 to 10 minutes.
2. Top salads with avocado slices, rich in monounsaturated fat. Skip the bacon bits and croutons, which are dripping with saturated fat and trans fats.
3. Instead of ice cream topped with a few strawberries, have a bowl of berries crowned with 1/2 cup of low-fat ice cream, frozen yogurt, or sorbet. You'll triple the antioxidants and cut your fat and sugar intake in half.
4. Cook or serve veggies with a drizzle of olive or canola oil. Fat helps your body absorb more of the antioxidants, vitamins, and minerals in vegetables.
5. Think in color. Serve fruits or veggies in contrasting colors: red peppers with broccoli, blueberries with peaches, or carrots and peas. New research suggests that the antioxidants in vegetables and fruits work harder when they're combined.
6. Use canned salmon instead of tuna in your lunchtime "tuna salad" for a hefty dose of omega-3 fatty acids.
7. Toss rinsed, canned beans into everyday foods-chickpeas on salad and kidney beans in spaghetti sauce. Beans are rich in appetite-controlling fiber.
8. Keep a jar of minced garlic and a jar of minced ginger in the fridge. Use each at least once a week to season veggies, meats, or soups. Garlic may help lower cholesterol and cut the rate of plaque buildup in arteries, and antioxidant-rich ginger fights inflammation and may discourage formation of blood clots.
9. Pump up your iron intake by cooking regularly in a cast-iron skillet or Dutch oven. Long-simmering soups, stews, and sauces absorb the most iron, but even scrambling an egg in a cast-iron skillet doubles the egg's iron content. Your body needs adequate iron to deliver oxygen to cells, including heart muscle cells.
10. In recipes, cut the amount of salt in half or eliminate it entirely. Replace it with antioxidant-rich spices, garlic, or salt-free seasoning mixes.

Get a Free Year of Reader's Digest Subscribe to America's most popular magazine now and you'll get a two-year subscription for the price of one.

Copyright 2005 The Reader's Digest Association, Inc. "Reader's Digest" is a registered trademark and "ChangeOne" is a service mark of The Reader's Digest Association, Inc. Used under license.