If you live alone, it can be difficult to muster up the energy to cook a healthy meal for yourself. Try cooking up meals in batches and freezing them, or cook extra and use the leftovers for the next night or two.
Make graffiti
Don’t be afraid to annotate your recipe books when you make changes – instead of using them as food bibles, think of them as starting points and use your own creativity to make healthy changes, making notes as you go. It’s usually a good idea to make the original recipe first so that you can compare with any alterations.
Online advice
If you’re having problems making a meal or menu plan for you or your family, visit one of the increasingly popular menu-planning websites online. Some of these even suggest weekly menus and shopping lists, which means all you have to do is the cooking!
One-pot cooking
If you’re cooking for one or two, preparing one-dish meals such as beef, barley and vegetable stew, chicken or turkey casserole, vegetarian chilli con carne, or fish and vegetables roasted in a foil package will give you the benefits of home cooking without the hassle.
Tick the right boxes
To make sure you and your family are getting the right levels of nutrients in your diet, make yourself a weekly or fortnightly meal planner. Include tick boxes for essential nutrients – that way, you can check at a glance whether your diet is balanced and healthy.
Plan your shop
Planning your meals for week or two at a time and then putting together a grocery list with everything you need to cook those meals will cut your trips to the supermarket down to one a week – giving you more time to cook up all those fresh ingredients. You’ll be less tempted by fast foods, too.
Be an early bird
It might be tempting to lie in for a few extra minutes each morning and skip breakfast, but studies have shown that breakfast eaters are slimmer and perform better at work. Set your alarm five minutes earlier than normal and sit down to eat before you leave the house.
Mealy mouthed
Redefine a “meal” – if you’re short on time or energy, make a nutritious snack rather than a full meal, but make sure you serve it on a plate rather than eating it on the go. Try healthy snacks such as rice cakes with cheese, olives and tomatoes, or oatcakes with apple and cheese slices.
Save your plans
Keep hold of each week’s menu plans, especially when you feel they have worked well, and you will soon be able to start using previous plans for reference, or even repeat successful weeks in their entirety.
Be rigid
A really rigid meal plan and schedule makes the early days of a diet much easier to stick to because it eliminates choice, helping you to deal more easily with temptation. Try to stick to it for at least five days, preferably two week,s before you get in the swing.
No going off
Plan your meals around the things that go off most quickly. To avoid soggy veg, for instance if you buy a big bag of carrots, try to include them in several dinner recipes. Eat them as snacks, too, and use them up by making a carrot cake towards the end of the week.
Free up five minutes
Many people have a problem with meal planning, because they can never find the time. Make a five-minutes slot in your day or week to sit down with a cup of tea or cold drink and plan at least your day’s, if not your week’s, meals. The more you do it, the easier it gets.
Meal file
Make yourself a family meal planning file. Keep your previous week’s plans in it as well as blank paper for shopping lists, recipes you want to try and any coupons you might have cut out and saved.
Tear out a page
Many magazines and newspapers now contain recipes which you may want to try, and these are often aimed at healthy eating. Create a “healthy eating” recipe folder or scrapbook to keep them all in once place, and use different headings to make the recipes easy to access.
Check your stores
Don’t forget what’s already in your cupboards. Every week or month, look through your kitchen store cupboards to see if there are any foods you can use to plan your meals around. That way, you’ll reduce food wastage and give yourself some ideas as well.
Think of the freezer
Think ahead when planning meals and use your freezer. If you’re making something that freezes well like a lasange or a spaghetti sauce, a stew or casserole, make double and freeze the second portion for those days where you just don’t have any time to cook.
Add fruity flavour
Get a vitamin boost by adding fruit to flavour main meals as well as puddings – cook rice in a mixture of water and apple juice, sprinkle broccoli or spinach with raisins, sunflower seeds or chopped almonds, or simmer carrots and parsnips in orange juice.
Slip in a quickie
Although going to the supermarket once a week is a good way to save time and avoid overspending, it may not always be possible for all items. If you buy a lot of fresh fruit and vegetables you may want to include only half a week’s worth of items on your list, and to make a second quick trip during the week for the rest.
Be realistic
When you’re planning meals, remember to make allowances for days when you don’t have a lot of time. If you know Tuesdays are always stressful, plan something simple for that day like leftover meat and steamed vegetables or salad.
Balance your intake
Planning meals is a great idea because you can make sure you balance your meals both nutritionally and in terms of cost. If you plan an expensive meal one night, balance it with a pasta dish or a cheaper vegetarian meal the next.
In full view
Stick your weekly or bi-weekly menu on your fridge or other prominent place and plan ahead every day. Make a note on your plan if you need to take something out of the freezer, for instance, or if you can prepare part of the meal in advance.
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