Each week you will receive recipes for 5 meals which always include a seafood dish and a vegetarian dish.  The other three meals may include red meats, chicken or another vegetarian option.  The vast majority of meals are packed with vegetables – sometimes up to seven different vegetables in one meal!  This variety provides a healthy modern diet which is balanced.  Australian Healthy Eating guidelines recommend we eat 5 serves of vegetables and 2 of fruit each day.  I try to provide a minimum of 5 “vegetables” in each meal, providing a vast variety of nutrients in a meal.

It’s now recommended that we eat no more than 500gm of red meat (lamb, pork and beef) each week, both to ensure healthy hearts and reduce the risks of cancers like bowel cancer.

I use lots of garlic.  It’s an immune booster for families and I have often received annual school reports home showing “no absentee days” for the year.  Having healthy kids sure makes life easier for busy working parents!

My meals include many low fat substitutes as follows:

What my meal plans rarely include....

• You will find very little smoked and processed meats.  Usually these are high fat, contain additives and are low quality meat cuts.  In addition, there’s an increased heart disease and cancer risk from consuming these meats.  So ham, bacon, smoked fish, smoked salmon and salamis are very rarely included in these meals.
• Butter and full fat dairy products are rarely used.  I substitute low fat dairy products wherever possible in my meals and cooking.  I think this helps get the balance right and allows my family to occasionally enjoy a treat like camembert cheese.
• I very rarely fry foods in oil.  It just adds so much fat and really not much extra taste.

Now, after these “no-no”s, the exceptions to the rules:

• I occasionally break the rules and indulge in some bacon, ham or salami.  It’s OK to (very) occasionally treat ourselves.
• I sometimes lightly fry flour-coated fish in my recipes.  It’s one way to get my fish-haters to enjoy fish and I hope the disadvantage pays off in benefits in getting kids to enjoy fish and move eventually to more healthy ways of enjoying fish.

Other healthy meal preparation tips...

• I buy good quality meats and the best cuts I can afford.  They are leaner and more nutritious.  I trim fat from meat whenever possible and most of my recipes do not include chicken skin.
• Having a very active family (and teenage girls who require more iron than other members of the family), I try to make sure my vegetarian meals contain vegetable sources of iron – you’ll often find nuts, eggs, chick peas and other beans and tofu in my recipes.
• Take every opportunity to add vegetables – I’ve never ruined a dish by adding more vegies.
• I use garlic a lot, and I don’t have time to crush the cloves and clean the crusher.  I but jars of minced garlic, ginger and chilli and use it in all my recipes.  You need to use more, because it’s not as potent, and perhaps not as healthy as fresh either.  But it’s a good substitute.  If you want to use fresh garlic, ginger and chilli, go right ahead!
• Don’t automatically add oils and fats to sauté ingredients like onions.  The investment in a high quality heavy based non stick pan will pay you handsomely in good health! (More about that in the article on Top10 kitchen accessories).
• Finally, please read about my Top 10 Kitchen Accessories.  They are my favourite tools to save me time in preparing the meal plans and also to cook more healthy meals..

To read more about healthy eating choices, please check out my links page. 

Order your Meals Made Easy plans here!