Editor's note: This is the first of a two-part series on creating healthier food at home.

We spend a lot of time eating out, and the foods we eat at restaurants and fast-food joints are higher in calories and less healthy than those we cook ourselves. Here are tips that can help streamline making meals to create healthier foods at home.

PREPARE IN ADVANCE

Cut it up: Cut up vegetables, such as onions, broccoli, peppers and asparagus, and cheeses, such as parmesan, romano and Jarlsberg in advance. Put them into pre-portioned containers in the fridge. "You can even freeze them, so when you need chopped onions in a recipe you can just grab them out of the freezer," says Antoinette Kuritz, home-cooking expert and mom.

Buy ingredients partially prepared: It may cost more, but it still costs less than eating out. Buy bags of pre-washed lettuce, broccoli and cauliflower or pre-cut mixed vegetables.

Cold cuts: Low-calorie cold cuts such as sliced turkey and chicken are great to have on hand to create a quick, filling sandwich — a satisfying meal ready in minutes.

Pre-cook foods: Cook and freeze foods in advance. You can even prepare grains such as brown rice or quinoa and freeze them in serving-size portions in freezer bags.

Plan before shopping: Plan categories such as soups, stews, stir fries and grains. Have a recipe in mind before you shop, says Luhrs. Choose recipes for which all the ingredients are available at one location.

Same ingredients, multiple recipes: Pick a couple of recipe favorites and use them in different ways. For instance, from one grilled chicken you can use the meat to top salads, pasta and vegetables and to make sandwiches for lunch.

Buy it smaller, thinner and prepared: According to Nancy Mills, author of "Faster! I'm Starving! 100 Dishes in 25 Minutes or Less" (Gibbs Smith 2006), "The more surface area that is exposed to heat, the faster a food will cook, so buy your meats, poultry and everything else cut into thinner and/or smaller pieces."

Mills offers these tips: "It's easier to cut chicken and beef into thin slices or strips when the meat is partly frozen. Plus, you don't have to wait for the meat to completely thaw before cooking it. Steak or chicken cut into 2-inch-long, 1/2-inch-wide strips can be stir-fried in two to three minutes. Ground meat cooks faster than whole pieces of meat. Thin slices of vegetables cook faster. For instance, very thin potato slices cook in less than 10 minutes in soups, whereas a whole potato will take 20 to 25 minutes," adds Mills.

You can also pound meat, boneless chicken and pork to help it cook quicker. Mills suggests pounding the meat between sheets of wax paper with a rolling pin or the side of a heavy can.

Buy hamburgers and turkey burgers in patty form, or buy ground meat, package them yourself and store in the freezer.

STOCK UP

Soups and other canned foods: Stock up on these foods — they're filling, inexpensive and right there when you don't feel like making a big deal out of dinner.

Spices and condiments: Herbs and spices are a calorie-free way to add flavor. "If I could only buy five spices they would be black pepper, smoked paprika, curry powder, herbes de Provence and coriander seed. I always have ketchup, mustard, vinegar, Worcestershire sauce, hot sauce, soy sauce and honey on hand, as well as lemons and limes," says chef John Greeley of New York's famed 21 Club.

Keep your kitchen equipped.