Healthier Eating

leedsfan88

Hey all,

I'm soon to move out of home and I'm pretty useless in the kitchen being honest. So i'll looking for help in the shape of recipes and advance. I'm trying to eating healthier low fat, sodium foods as I'm trying to lose weight as well.

So if anyone can suggest good foods that i should focus on and any recipes, also i'm not a fussy eater i tend to eat everything to be honest.

So just nice easy enough stuff would suit for the first few weeks while i get used to the whole independent thing.

Thanks in advance for any help and advice you may be able to offer to me

KY

leedsfan88 wrote: »

Hey all,

I'm soon to move out of home and I'm pretty useless in the kitchen being honest. So i'll looking for help in the shape of recipes and advance. I'm trying to eating healthier low fat, sodium foods as I'm trying to lose weight as well.

So if anyone can suggest good foods that i should focus on and any recipes, also i'm not a fussy eater i tend to eat everything to be honest.

So just nice easy enough stuff would suit for the first few weeks while i get used to the whole independent thing.

Thanks in advance for any help and advice you may be able to offer to me

dont buy loads of fruit in the one go as it tends to go off... just buy enough for a few days... wholemeal bread is better than white... have your staples like wholemeal pasta, beans, etc......... try and stay away from take away as much as possible...check the saturate levels on the back of packs.... website such as www.littlesteps.ie will give you meal planners and lots of simple recipes and ideas like scrambled eggs on toast to casseroles.. i hope this helps some bit... im 36 and still cant cook to save my life.. dont like cooking.. my dinner this evening was a bowl of set natural yogurt with banana, granola, and hazelnuts. i eat more small meals than your 3 a day.

Mary-Ellen

Home made burgers are a handy one:
Mince beef/ turkey / lamb
breadcrumbs
an egg
Pepper/ herbs / spices

Mix in a bowl, divide into patty shapes and fry.
They freeze well, so after dividing into shapes you can put 1 or 2 in freezer bags and put them in the fridge to defrost the night before you need them.

Can be eaten in a bun with salad on the side or with boiled/steamed veg and maybe gravy.

I know it's not the healthiest but they don't have to be eaten with a pile of chips and are super easy

Or an omlette:
Fry some onions/peppers other veg untill tender in a little oil
add some beaten eggs and a dash of milk.
Heat on a low temperature until the bottom looks set.
Add some cheese on top and pop under the grill to set the top and melt the cheese.
Really versitile too, my favourite omlette at the moment is feta cheese, sundried tomatoes and spinach with side salad.


What kind of stuff do you like to eat? you might get better suggestions.

huskerdu

Buy the following book

Real fast Food by Nigel Slater


Lots of great recipes which can be cooked quickly.

He also recommends what to buy to have in our cupboards to be able
to put together good food at short notice.

You should get some good ideas, get to try some new foods, enjoy eating healthy food.

You will need to get used to thinking ahead a little, by thinking I will cook a
stir fry tomorrow, and a pasta dish the next night and maybe curry, and make a shopping list and buy onyl what you need and stick to your plan.

Think if it as an adventure in food and enjoy yourself.

leedsfan88

cheers all,

Just another question, if i were to make big portions of something is it ok to freeze them for use further down the road lilke things such as bolognese, or does the freezing remove nutritional value?

Sparks

leedsfan88 wrote: »

Just another question, if i were to make big portions of something is it ok to freeze them for use further down the road lilke things such as bolognese, or does the freezing remove nutritional value?

Freezing rarely removes nutritional value, mostly the problem is damage to cell walls from ice crystals. For example, freeze and thaw a strawberry and you get a very mushy strawberry. For things like sauces (like bolognese) where the cells were already damaged by cooking, that's not so much of an issue, and if stuff was commercially frozen (like, say, peas) where they can use blast chillers and other techniques to minimise crystal sizes, it's also less of an issue.

On your original point, if you want healthier food, the answer isn't so much any particular recipe as it is to just cook your food from raw ingredients. The less processing before it gets to your kitchen, the better it will be for you. Once you get above the level of processing that produces things like cheese and vinegar and that sort of ingredient, you start hitting the odd chemicals used for extending shelf life and allowing the use of cheaper raw materials.

The bonus is, virtually any dish tastes better if cooked from scratch at home than if bought as a ready-meal or take-out (about the only exception is eating out in good restaurants where the kitchen has things your kitchen does not, like fancy equipment or more highly trained chefs).

leedsfan88

Sparks wrote: »

Freezing rarely removes nutritional value, mostly the problem is damage to cell walls from ice crystals. For example, freeze and thaw a strawberry and you get a very mushy strawberry. For things like sauces (like bolognese) where the cells were already damaged by cooking, that's not so much of an issue, and if stuff was commercially frozen (like, say, peas) where they can use blast chillers and other techniques to minimise crystal sizes, it's also less of an issue.

On your original point, if you want healthier food, the answer isn't so much any particular recipe as it is to just cook your food from raw ingredients. The less processing before it gets to your kitchen, the better it will be for you. Once you get above the level of processing that produces things like cheese and vinegar and that sort of ingredient, you start hitting the odd chemicals used for extending shelf life and allowing the use of cheaper raw materials.

The bonus is, virtually any dish tastes better if cooked from scratch at home than if bought as a ready-meal or take-out (about the only exception is eating out in good restaurants where the kitchen has things your kitchen does not, like fancy equipment or more highly trained chefs).

Cheers mate