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I’m not good at meal planning ... at least not when it comes to summertime. Winter? That’s easy. I just throw some stuff in the Crock Pot in the morning and by dinner we’re ready to go.

But summer is different. It cries for light meals. Food on the grill or cool dishes — none of my traditional heavy Crock Pot dishes like potato soup, roast beef or chili even sound good. Add to that the crazy schedule and you can see where I get derailed.

So I’ve been contemplating lately what I can do to remedy the situation. After all, I’d really like to have the kids eating healthier — and the kids being on a first-name basis with the drive-thru attendant at Mickey D’s isn’t a good sign.

Enter Jessica Hagey. The registered dietitian with Heartland Health’s Wellness Connections program says we don’t have to be doomed to live in the drive-thru lane — even if we do have insanely busy lives. We just need to get busy getting organized.

Ms. Hagey says we can start by setting aside a little bit of time before we go grocery shopping to think about the next week’s schedule, what meals and snacks we’d like to have and what our schedule will allow. For example, if you have a bunch of ballgames, think about taking a small cooler with sandwiches, fruit cups, veggies and drinks, an easy solution to a chronic problem.

“If you don’t know what you are going to fix for the family and you don’t have the groceries to fix anything, it becomes a lot easier to drive-thru,” Ms. Hagey explains.

Shauna Johnson agrees. The nutrition instructor at Wellsprings Camp, a weight-loss camp for kids, says getting the kids involved in packing the cooler should make them more interested in eating what’s in there.

“It may mean sandwiches twice a week,” she says. “But it’s definitely healthier than hamburgers and fries.”

If an endless menu of lunch meat and cheese sandwiches doesn’t sound appealing, you may need to consider starting to prep food ahead of time. That may require some new cooking utensils. Ms. Johnson says there are three things every busy family needs in the kitchen — a Crock Pot, a rice cooker and a good set of non-stick pans.

“They do wonders,” she says. “You can put a roast or a chicken or whatever you want into the Crock Pot and leave it in there all day and you have rice and then all you need to do is make a salad or have some veggies on the side and you’re done.”

Ms. Hagey takes another approach. She suggests making the meals ahead of time, perhaps on the weekend, and then freezing them. That way all you have to do when you get home from a game is pop one in the oven or microwave — almost as convenient as the drive-thru window.

If, for some reason, you find yourself out and about and you really don’t have the time to get anything to eat from home, you still have options. Sandwich shops are a relatively healthy alternative to burgers and fries. The kids can even have fun making their orders.

“It’s especially fun for young children — having them choose their sandwich and having them go down the line and choose their vegetables and their cheeses.” Ms. Johnson says.

And even many of the traditional fast food restaurants have healthier choices. It’s all a matter of making good choices and portion control.

“Portion control makes a big difference at any fast food restaurant,” Ms. Hagey says. “A value meal with a regular soda provides all the calories or more than you need for a whole day.”

But if you take the child’s-size portion you can cut the calories by about a thousand. Consider sharing meals or sides to decrease the portion size. Try grilled items and less added sauces. If your really think you need the sauce, have it on the side so you can control the amount and go for the calorie-free drinks. Even small changes like that will make a difference.

But in the end, Ms. Johnson says, it’s really the example you set for your children that will make the biggest difference in giving them a full, healthy life.

“If you get a young child used to going through a drive-thru window out of convenience, the odds of them going through when they’re teenagers, adults and then taking their children through increases,” she says. “So we sort of want to nip this one and make healthier options.”

Lifestyles reporter Tamara Clymer can be reached at tami.clymer@npgco.com.