The Two-Minute Meal: Yes, it's tasty, healthy, and inexpensive.

Many commercials are designed by, alas, psychologists and other experts on influence, to manipulate people into believing they’ll be more worthy homemakers if only they spend big on meal-related items:

The kitchen industry wants to you to forget the $400 Whirlpool range and buy the $4,000 Wolf or Viking. They want you to forget the $9.99 Farberware pot and buy the $99 LeCreuset "cookware."

The food industry wants you to forget the one-pound, $2 head of lettuce and buy a bag of “spring mix” that costs twice as much for 1/3 the amount. They want you to forget the $1 box of pasta that’s delicious with just some parmesan and garlic and to spend $4 on 10 ounces of prepared frozen pasta, filled with sodium, fat, and calories.

But you are not inadequate if you choose to be a wise food shopper and cook. You are not inadequate if you rarely create elaborate meals. Indeed, in our busy lives, many of us have better things to do for ourselves and our family than to spend lots of time chopping ingredients around a hot stove.

People don’t believe me when I say I cook many of my meals in under three minutes, often well under, let alone that they’re tasty, healthy and inexpensive. But I do and they are. And they don't require any fancy kitchen tools or equipment.

In my PsychologyToday.com article today, I offer instant recipes for some things I often make. I really like their taste, ease, and healthiness. But of course, everyone’s taste is different. I offer these recipes merely as evidence that it’s possible to create good meals incredibly quickly. Perhaps reading them will trigger ideas that will work better for you.