Healthy, easy fast dinner recipes can save your bacon

A collection of easy fast dinner recipes takes the pressure off, it means that you don't need to constantly think about what you're going to eat for dinner, and you can keep the staples of many of these meals in the pantry and cupboard for when time is short.

It also means you're less likely to resort to high energy, higher fat options by ducking into the quickest takeaway.

There's an abundance of easy healthy recipes around. I have found that there are some foods which lend themselves particularly well to easy fast dinner recipes, and these are the foods that are always on the shopping list and which I always keep on hand.

For a while there I'd spend time each week meal planning, and then I'd find that because things didn't go as planned, and I was home later than I expected, or something came up, that I wouldn't even have the energy to prepare and cook the dinner that I had decided on...so, I decided that all dinner recipes on week nights, unless it was the holidays, would have to be easy fast dinner recipes.

There are now more of these meals in my book than any other.

Easy fast dinner recipes...never underestimate the power of the egg!

Eggs have had a bit of a bad rap over the years, because of their fat content. But as with anything, as long as your not eating them every night...there's a plethora of easy healthy recipes based on the humble egg.

Poached/Boiled...add them to mixed salad leaves, with a piece of toast cut into croutons, some capers and anchovies (patted dry of oil on a paper napkin) and in the five minutes it takes to cook the eggs, you've got dinner done.

I like my eggs fried, although I do drain them on paper towel after frying. But there's nothing better than a fried egg on top of tomato, red onion, spinach and a piece of sour dough toast...yum.

Omelets...with mushrooms (try Inoki and Swiss brown mushrooms in these...yummy), onion, with mixed salad leaves dressed in white balsamic vinegar...yes, please? Anyone hungry yet?

Soft boiled eggs with multigrain toast cut into soldiers, followed by a bowl of fruit salad...bananas, oranges, apples, mango, strawberries...whatever ones you've got. Make the fruit salad while the eggs are cooking, sprinkle with half a teaspoon of brown sugar, mix and let sit in the fridge until you're ready. Yummy

Eggs...a mainstay of the easy fast dinner recipes. We have them once or twice a week.

Another mainstay base of easy healthy recipes...'minute steaks'

Use them as an open steak sandwich. A slice of multigrain or sourdough bread, avocado, salad leaves, tomato, red onion, grated carrot, a minute steak on top, a little tomato sauce (no added sugar) and you're done.

Start putting together a list of easy fast dinner recipes that you can keep close in the kitchen.

Quick pasta toppings, egg recipes, salads....you'll be surprised how many you can come up with. Remember you're losing weight and keeping it off too, so watch the amount of fat in the recipe itself, and in the cooking. Be careful of sauces that have a lot of cheese and cream, and watch how much you put on your plate. That way, you'll have a great set of stand-bys for those busy evenings.

Make a list of the common elements for your shopping list, put them in the pantry and fridge, and you're ready for the next time you're too tired to spend ages in the kitchen, or you're running late.