Are you trying to eat healthy AND use packaged foods because your time is limited? If so, here are a few tips to make convenience foods healthier:

1. for boxed mixes of rice, pasta, stuffing or macaroni and cheese, use half (or omit) the butter or margarine called for in the instructions;
2. to spaghetti sauce or creamed soups, add canned, frozen or cooked vegetables;
3. to frozen pizza, top with raw or cooked vegetables before baking; and,
4. for seasoned rice mixes, use only half the seasoning packet–the remaining seasoning may be added when cooking plain rice or to flavor slow cooked meat.

–contributed by Peggy Martin