These busy lives make it difficult to prepare basic meals. There is a growing trend towards daily fast food for dinner, breakfast, and lunch. You can still eat healthy and cook at home, even if you are busy.

Deana Gunn, Wona Miniati, are the authors of The “Cooking with Trader Joe’s”Two moms found shortcuts to fast meals through cookbooks.

“By taking fresh ingredients and strategically coupling them with prepared items and shortcuts from the grocery store, we can create healthy meals in a fraction of the time it would take to make from scratch,”Gunn.

Markets now stock ready-to use ingredients such as cut vegetables, jarred marinades, and bagged salads. These are Gunn’s top 10 kitchen tricks and tips that will help you cook delicious, easy meals at home without having to sacrifice quality or use a drive-thru.

1) Use readymade sauces. Sauté vegetables or meats in a saucepan. You can also add sauces to couscous and pasta.

2) Use canned beans or precooked lentils as superfoods in soups or salads.

3) Buy a fully-cooked rotisserie chicken. The leftovers can be used in soups or wraps.

Fresh herbs can spice up any dish. You can add fresh basil to any pasta dish, cilantro to plain white rice, and rosemary to your roast potatoes.

5) In just minutes, make a healthy salad using washed-and-bagged salad.

6) Salad dressings double as marinades for meats and chicken.

7) Add frozen vegetables, pancetta and curry powder to transform boxed meals like rice pilaf and mac-n cheese.

8) Say goodbye to greasy pizza delivery. You can make quick pizza crusts using ready-made dough that you can top off with your favorite healthy ingredients.

9) You can customize bread and cake mixes to suit your personal tastes. You can add dried fruits and nuts to bread mixes, or mix lemon juice and orange zest in plain white cake mixes.

10) Make a list of simple recipes to use for the week before you go shopping. Shopping with meals in mind will save you time and reduce the amount of grocery shopping.

Deana Gunn is the author of The Best-Sellers. “Cooking with Trader Joe’s”Cookbooks “The Trader Joe’s Companion.”Learn more at www.cookingwithtraderjoes.com.