Follow these cooking tips for nutritious,tasty, healthy meals.
Reduce the fat!
- Trim all visible fat from meat and drain excess fat from cooked meat. Skim fat from foods such as stock, soup and stews.
- Use egg whites in place of whole eggs and replace up to one third of the fat or oil in many recipes with mashed banana or stewed apple.
- Swap saturated fats with moderate amounts of unsaturated fats, for example, swap butter for olive oil spread, cream cheese with guacamole and chocolate spread for peanut butter.
- Don’t add extra fat when cooking and use healthy cooking methods – grill, steam or bake instead of roasting or frying, use non-stick pans which don’t need to be greased or add a little stock instead of oil when cooking. When adding fat, use the minimum amount possible.
Reduce the sodium!
- Try not to add salt to your food at the table and during cooking
- Limit your intake of ready-made processed foods and take-aways
- Choose lower salt options of packet foods - 0.6g of sodium or 1.5g salt is a high salt content. 0.1g of sodium and or 0.3g salt is a low salt content.
Read the labels!
Be sure to read ingredients and nutrition information labels on the backs of packs.
Use naturally low fat foods!
Fruit, vegetables, pulses, complex carbohydrates and lean protein sources are all naturally low in fat.
Try not to overcook!
When preparing vegetables and potatoes, be careful not to overcook them as this reduces their nutritional value. Steaming is the best method of cooking your vegetables to retain nutrients.
Leave the skins on!
Leaving the skins on your fruit and veg will boost your fibre intake and help you feel fuller for longer.
