Cooking nutritious meals for your
family needn’t be hassle. With a bit of planning and preparation it’s easy for
you and your family to sit down and enjoy a meal time without you having to
slave away for hours beforehand. Here are five handy tips to make that happen:
Stock up on the basics
Staple foods such as potatoes, rice,
pasta, lentils and cous cous can be bought in bulk and stored for a long time. Using these staples with one type of meat and a couple of different vegetables
can give you fifteen different varieties of meal, reducing the chorus of ‘I’m
bored with this, we’ve already had it this week’ from your kids.
Use a slow cooker
One of the best means of preparing soups and casseroles, or even a
dessert, is with a slow cooker. Leave the food to tenderise on a long, low heat
and serve up when you get in. Practical and versatile, they’re money well spent
if you want tasty teatimes.
Experiment
Try out various sauces and spices to
add flavour to your dishes. Covering your meals in a white sauce or tasty tomato
sauce is a great way for your children to consume the dreaded greens without
them knowing!
Get the balance right
Try to balance the nutritional content of the
meals. They should be low in sugar, salt and fat and medium in protein and
carbohydrate. Check the labels of anything you buy to ensure they don’t have a
high content of the bad stuff. You may be surprised by the amount of sugar or
salt that some products such as soup or yogurt contain.
Make the most of your freezer
Although pre-packed frozen
convenience foods are expensive and not particularly good for you, your freezer can still be your family’s friend. Batch cook on a weekend and freeze portions
for later. Stews, chillies, curries, baked products and fruits can all be
frozen. Not only does this mean that your food will last longer, but having
cooked it in batches means you’ll have already done the hard work when you come
home. Simply defrost and heat up and you have a sumptuous meal in minutes.
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Follow these five simple tips and
you can expect to save a lot of time, money and trouble. Get the children
involved too to teach them valuable life skills, while having fun with food. Who knows, there might be a time when you come home from work to discover that
they’ve remembered everything you’ve shown them and prepared a nutritious and
delicious meal just for you!
* Collaborative post *
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