Cooking your own food is the best way to control your nutrition, but finding the time can be challenging. Use these five tips to squeeze in quick, healthy cooking despite a busy schedule.

Stick with one-pot meals.

Forget filling the table with a main and multiple side dishes. Combine vegetables, protein, complex carbohydrates, and healthy fats into one pot. Stir up a pot of vegetarian chili, cook a skillet full of healthy fried rice , or make an easy fajita bowl. One-pot meals make cooking and clean-up easier, so you spend less time in the kitchen.

Dust off the slow cooker.

The slow cooker works miracles when it comes to putting healthy meals on the table. Waking up a few minutes early to toss together ingredients is well worth it when you come home to a ready meal. From soups and stews to pasta sauces and whole chickens, you can enjoy a different meal every night.

Try more make-ahead meals.

Cook large portions of beans, meats, and sauces you can use throughout the week. For example, cook a whole chicken in the slow cooker on Sunday and serve it with steamed vegetables and a baked potato for dinner. Shred the leftovers for a salad topping, a wrap, or tortilla soup. Cook a large pot of beans and eat them over brown rice for one meal, then use them as a burrito filling for another. Reheat any leftover beans with cooked chopped vegetables for a filling vegetable soup.

Stir-fry, sauté, and broil.

Stick to quick-cooking methods, and save baking and roasting for when you have more time in the kitchen. Stir-frying shrimp or chicken, sautéing vegetables, and broiling fish mean you can have a healthy meal ready in minutes.

Organize ingredients by day.

At the beginning of the week, decide what meals you plan to cook each day. Group those ingredients together in your refrigerator and pantry. Use labels to identify the meal by day. Organizing ingredients in advance saves time and helps you start cooking as soon as you step into the kitchen.

Lori Rice, M.S., is a nutritional scientist and author with a passion for healthy cooking, exercise physiology, and food photography.