Here are some useful hints for maintaining a healthy and balanced diet:

1. Obtain an example of a healthy, balanced eating plan.

2. Make a list of the basic foods you need to have readily available in your cupboard or pantry or freezer, i.e. foods that can be stored for longer periods:
• Ready-to-eat high-bran breakfast cereals, oats (instant varieties are good if you need to save time on cooking) or Wheatbix or unsifted maize meal and Maltabella (for weekends when you can cook your breakfast porridge)
• High-fibre starches such as brown rice, crushed wheat, pasta made from 100% Durum wheat
• Wholewheat, rye, rice or maize crackers
• Sliced wholewheat or rye bread, or rolls (freeze in portion sizes that you require, for example if you are living alone then you may need only 6 slices a day - two for breakfast and four for sandwiches at lunch - take your daily portion out of the freezer every evening and store in the fridge, by morning the bread will have defrosted and be ready for toasting or for making those sandwiches)
• Fat-free long-life milk for times when you run out of fresh fat-free milk
• Frozen fat-free yoghurt
• Fruit juices and dried fruit
• Fruit canned in juice
• Canned vegetables such as tomato and onion, tomato paste, and green beans
• Frozen vegetables like broccoli, spinach, peas, beans, pumpkin, and mixed vegetables
• Lean meat (freeze fat-free mince, ostrich, small portions of steak or pork chops with all visible fat removed)
• Lean thinly sliced cold cuts (roast beef, Pastrami or roast pork) or Like-it-Lean products (pack into portions and freeze)
• Ready-to eat low-fat frozen meals (Woolworths has an excellent range)
• Tuna, salmon or pilchards canned in brine, water or tomato sauce
• Frozen fish, and calamari (buy plain without crumbs or batter)
• Skinned chicken breasts (pack into portions and freeze)
• Canned beans, peas and lentils of all types
• Textured vegetable protein products
• Lite margarine or Flora Pro-Activ margarine (the latter helps to lower blood cholesterol levels) and Spray & Cook for preparing fat-free dishes
• Low-fat salad dressings
• Olive, canola, or avocado oil
• Lite jam or honey
• Sugar-free cold drinks or spring water, and soda water
• Sugar-free gum
• Sugar-free jelly
• Canned gherkins, mustard and tomato sauce for flavouring
Buy these foods once a month when you go on your big shopping trip.

3. Make a list of foods that you need to buy on a weekly basis (i.e. foods that you can store in the fridge, not in the freezer):
• Fat-free milk, yoghurt and cottage cheese
• Fresh fruit and vegetables, including ready-to eat salads
• Fresh wholewheat or rye bread (if you prefer fresh bread)
• Fresh fish (if you live at the coast)

4. Plan when you are going to do your big monthly shopping trip and when you do your weekly shopping trip.

5. Write out a schedule for making those foods that you need to prepare on a weekly or daily basis.
Many meals need hardly any preparation, e.g. breakfast: fruit juice, instant oats with fat-free milk or yoghurt, wholewheat toast with Lite margarine and Lite-jam or cottage cheese, and a cup of coffee or tea.
Other meals need the minimum of preparation, e.g. lunch: fresh fruit, wholewheat sandwich with Lite margarine, thinly sliced beef, lettuce and cucumber, fat-free yoghurt and a cup of coffee or tea - all you need to prepare is the sandwich, which should take about three minutes if you have the basic ingredients available.
Some meals need a bit of preparation, e.g. supper: grilled fish with baked potato, mixed vegetables and a fruit (if you use the microwave to prepare the potato and the mixed vegetables, while grilling the fish, this meal should not take more than 20 minutes to cook).
You can also plan your programme in such a way that you cook certain dishes when you have the time, like over weekends, and freeze them for use during your busy week. Make pasta and vegetable bakes, or lean meat or fish and vegetable stews, or cooked legume dishes and freeze in portions for later use.
Remember, no matter how busy you are, and no matter how high-powered your job is, you can still make time for buying the foods you need for healthy, balanced eating or to lose weight.