There was a time when I made everything from scratch. From enchilada sauce to salad dressing, I wouldnt be caught dead cracking open a jar in my kitchen.

Fast forward to today, and Im a new mom who has found myself purchasing ingredients only to let them perish in the fridge when the thought of cooking is too daunting. The mental labor that goes into planning meals, let alone actually cooking them, has pushed me to order UberEats more times than Im comfortable sharing. That is, until I realized that using shortcuts can be just as delicious without being detrimental to your health goals.

This is a topic that I love to talk about because I do think theres this idea that in order to eat well and to be healthy, everything has to be made from scratch and its just not true, nutritionist and registered dietician Marisa Moore told HuffPost. While not everything has to be made from scratch, you do need to be selective about which shortcuts you use.

One of Moores favorite shortcuts is rotisserie chicken. Homemade roasted chicken is delicious and relatively simple to make, but time consuming. A rotisserie chicken, on the other hand, is relatively affordable and prepared with minimal ingredients. I buy a rotisserie chicken ahead of the workweek and shred it up. That way its ready to go when Im making a dish (like enchiladas) that requires plain cooked chicken.