What are the biggest barriers to producing healthy meals for your family each and every day? Is it not knowing how many grams of carbohydrate are in one sweet potato? Or is it not owning a kitchen aid food processor? Maybe its not having access to fresh goji berries at your local supermarket?
No, the answer is none of these. Healthy meals can be super simple, require no special equipment and no weird and wonderful expensive ingredients. The answer is, I believe, lack of inspiration.
How many times have I opened the fridge, looked at the array of food and thought " What the heck am I going to make out of that little lot?"
The result is often a very 'same-y' menu based on my go-to dishes and definitely lacking in sparkle. They are healthy (usually) but not necessarily do they tantalise our taste buds or convince the younger set (or the reluctantly healthy husband) that this is the way to go.
So, what do we need? Inspiration. I have no problem with cooking, I just want someone to tell me what to cook so I don't have to decide! This explains the popularity of delivery companies such as "Hello Fresh" where all the ingredients and recipes are delivered to your house and you don't have to decide a thing, just cook it!
Now if you can afford Hello Fresh, or you are super busy then thats an excellent way to ensure varied, healthy meals - and you don't even have to brave the shops! For the rest of us however, we need a better way.
Here are a few thoughts that I have had:
Be organised:
* Read through a magazine, cookbook or website the day before your main shop. Identify two or three things that look tasty and make a shopping list.
* Buy extra of the ingredients if the recipe is suitable for freezing- that will make for an easy dinner next week!
* Encourage the kids to choose a recipe and cook once a week. Woolworths /Coles free recipe magazines are quite good for easy recipes and inspiration.
* If you go to a local farmers market, whilst shopping try to buy two or three ingredients which will inspire a certain dish eg Fresh fish and then google a recipe for it at home, or a bunch of parsley to make tabbouli, which will mean a Middle Eastern dinner- maybe falafel wraps or lamb skewers...you get the idea.
* If you can be super organised you could write a meal plan for the week. This means you'll get all the ingredients you need, and will cut down on waste (no eggplant languishing in the fridge that you have never used...)
* Every week endeavour to have fish twice and vegetarian at least once.
* Lastly, check out my recipe pages! They are all tried and tested completely do-able.
Here are my latest recipe additions to give you some inspiration for the week!