As winter draws near and colds and coughs are on the rise, it’s time to perhaps rethink your food choices. If you want to cook healthier meals for your family here are a few tips. Great ways to get started with more nutritious meals can be found below. It can often be the best medicine and even better it can help prevent you from getting ill.
PLAN YOU SHOPPING AND MEALS
The first thing you need to do is plan your meals. Then shop accordingly. If you don’t plan your meals for the week then you may find that you end up going for a takeaway a lot of the time because you don’t have time or energy to cook. It happens to us all and it’s an easy trap. Although there is nothing wrong with the occasional takeaway, you don’t want it to become a habit. It’s hard on your health and your wallet. If you do then your family may not be having as nutritious a diet. This can work against you going forward.
INVEST IN STORAGE
Another thing you need to do is invest in storage. An organised fridge, pantry and freezer will always save you a lot of time and energy in the long run. Well-labelled storage pots and jars are great too. After all, there is nothing worse than you defrosting some salsa, only to find that it is pasta sauce. Take your time and make sure that you are organised. If you can do this then things will become much easier for you going forward.
BATCH COOK FOR SEVERAL DAYS AT A TIME
Figure out what meals freeze well and also make bigger quantities when you cook. By batch cooking, you can make sure that you are always working ahead of time while ensuring healthy meals are always available. You can use your leftovers, too. If you are cooking a whole turkey then you can put any leftover meat into a pie or pasta dish. This is a fantastic way for you to make sure that you are always getting the most from your money. If you need some help with cooking, you can find a guide on how to cook a turkey here.
Pre Cook Meals
A lot of food can be cooked over the weekend. You can then store them for later on in the week. This is great if you have a base sauce that can be used in a lot of different ways. If you have tomato sauce for example then you can use this for lasagne or you can use it for spaghetti bolognese. You can put it with some meatballs, or you can use it as a base for a curry or on a pizza. Things like this can help you to stretch things further and it also means that you have to buy fewer ingredients too.
Prepare
If you have a spare weekend then use this time to get things done. Wash your fruit and vegetables, as this will save you a few minutes when the time comes for you to cook. If you want to make things even easier then you can cut up some vegetables and store them in vacuum bags. The great thing about doing this is that it will save you time, and you can even repeat the same process to package meat later down the line.