Preparing healthy meals for you and your family can be challenging at times particularly if you are time pressed and juggling lots of responsibilities! However,there are simple things we can all do to make life easier on ourselves whilst still getting healthy meals on the table. I’m no stranger to this challenge myself – juggling work and two small kiddies sometimes leaves me tired and uninspired to cook from scratch. However, the methods below help me save time & energy and I get the most out of each cooking session, they work for me, so I figure they may work for you too!:
Cook Smarter Not Harder – Time Saver Tips!
Cook Once Eat Twice – It isn’t always feasible too cook a dinner from scratch every night but who says you need to? A large proportion of the dinner recipes I give to my clients and course attendants are adaptable to make in double quantities. This way, you can eat some that day and save the rest for the following day (often tastes better!) Essentially you’ll get 2 dinners out of the one cooking session. Another option is to freeze the other half (once cooled) for another day. Check out the recipe section on my website for sample of meals that lend themselves well to double cooking e.g. smokey lentil ragu
Make two variations of the one meal – another option when double cooking a meal is to tweak it for the second night if you’re not a fan of eating the same thing twice. So, for example,
Left over Bolognese sauce can be turned into:
- Chilli con carne by adding chilli powder, tinned kidney beans & serve with rice & coriander
- Bolognese loaded onto Baked potato with grated cheese and a green salad.
- A chicken curry or stir fry can be varied the following evening by serving it with noodles instead of rice or perhaps try cauliflower rice as a low carb alternative.
One pot meals – I’m a big fan of one pot meals to reduce time and clean up. I’ve gotten great feedback from clients that have done my online courses and evening courses on my one pot meal recipes. Why not try out one for yourself and see if it works for you, this one pot spanish chicken & rice is a very tasty meal the whole family will enjoy, my kids love it! Although Full disclosure: I don’t put green beans on their plate! 🙂 I personally make the following one pot meals regularly: one pot Spanish chicken & rice, smokey lentil ragu, Red Lentil & coconut Dahl, Healthy Chicken Korma, Beef casserole, Spiced chickpeas with baby spinach, Vegetarian Chilli.
One Tray Oven Meal |
One tray oven meals – one tray oven dinners involve minimal prep and the oven does all the work while you can be getting on with other things. Try chicken breasts/thighs or cod baked in the oven with olive oil, seasoning, some herbs and Mediterranean veg e.g. onion, peppers, courgette, cherry tomatoes, asparagus, aubergine, and baby potatoes quartered.
If you’d like more tips on healthy eating, meal planning, weight management & recipes then consider one of my ONLINE PROGRAMS which you can start anytime anywhere OR sign up to my NUTRITION & WEIGHT MANAGEMENT EVENING COURSE in Dublin, starts Sept. 17th 2019, see poster & testimonials below.
Email info@elsajonesnutrition.ie to book your place! €50 booking deposit required to secure your place.