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Work, business, stress, fatigue – sometimes we just have no time and laziness to cook. But homemade food is much healthier than convenience foods and fast food. And it only takes 10-20 minutes to prepare. How to do this, says nutritionist Marie-Laurence Greso.
How many times have you ordered pizza home instead of a healthy dinner, snacked on a sandwich you bought along the way, or satisfied your hunger with cookies? But if you have everything you need at hand, preparing a healthy dinner for the whole family does not take much time. You just need to follow our advice.
1. Buy foods that cook quickly.
Attention! We don’t mean fast food, semi-finished products and dishes from the Ready Lunch series. It’s just that in everyday life it’s wiser to give preference to products that reach readiness faster. For example, chicken fillet is fried faster than beef, broccoli, cauliflower and asparagus need to be cooked for a maximum of 10 minutes, fish fillet is baked in the oven for 15. All this is perfect for every day. And complex dishes such as meat stew are best left for weekends and special occasions.
2. Buy the right cookware
Many do not like to cook because then they have to wash a mountain of dishes. There are many life hacks that will allow you to avoid this. Buy disposable foil trays, silicone molds, bags, and baking parchment. And you don’t have to wash the dishes.
3. Master signature dishes
Spend one evening collecting 20-25 healthy recipes that take less than half an hour to prepare. For example, celebrity chef Jamie Oliver has a whole series of videos and TV shows about lunches and dinners in 15 and 30 minutes. Check them out for inspiration.
4. Store food properly
Clean your refrigerator regularly and throw away expired food to prevent mold and bad smells. Dairy products should be placed correctly on the top shelf (the coldest place there), cooked foods should be kept in glass or plastic containers on the middle shelves, and chilled meat, poultry and fish should be on the lowest.
Even rice boiled with saffron, cardamom and basil can be a work of culinary art.
Contrary to common practice, most vegetables and fruits do not need to be refrigerated. For example, tomatoes in the refrigerator lose all their usefulness and taste, while bananas and avocados quickly darken and deteriorate. Also at room temperature (but not in the heat of the battery) you can store onions, garlic, potatoes, beets, pumpkins and carrots.
5. Use groceries
It’s good if you always have rice, durum wheat spaghetti, bulgur, quinoa, buckwheat and other cereals in your kitchen cabinet. By adding some vegetables, seafood or meat to them, you can cook a full dinner. Stock up on healthy canned food without dyes, sugar, oil and chemical additives: tuna in its own juice, tomato paste, peas, beans and corn.
6. Prepare for the future
Daily cooking can get boring even for true enthusiasts. So prepare for a few days ahead. For example, meat, fish or chicken fillets can be marinated in vinegar with herbs for several days in advance. In the evening, you will only need to fry or bake the workpiece in the oven. Stewed meat with vegetables keeps well for several days in the refrigerator.
Contrary to common practice, most vegetables and fruits do not need to be refrigerated.
On the weekend, cook a large pot, and you won’t have to worry about dinner for several evenings. It is also convenient to have homemade lasagna frozen for a rainy day in the freezer.
7. Choose Healthy Foods
No matter how great the temptation is, do not use mayonnaise and ketchup in cooking (modified starch is added to them), semi-finished products, sauces with sugar, flavor enhancers and preservatives in the composition. This will reduce all your attempts to eat a balanced diet to zero.
Contrary to common practice, most vegetables and fruits do not need to be refrigerated.
8. Shop with a margin
When going to the store, make a shopping list, planning what you can cook tomorrow and the day after tomorrow. To save time, use delivery services from large supermarkets or online grocery stores. So you also reduce the risk of buying something sweet and unhealthy. However, make sure that the products that you plan to use in a couple of days are as fresh as possible.
9. Experiment with spices
Seasonings and spices can transform the taste of the most boring dish. Even rice boiled with saffron, cardamom and basil becomes a work of culinary art. To make homemade food taste no worse than restaurant food, stock up on a variety of spices. To begin with, in addition to salt and pepper, let your kitchen always have rosemary, oregano (oregano), mint, whole and ground coriander, hot red pepper, nutmeg, cumin, paprika, cinnamon and cloves.
About expert
Marie-Laurence Grezaud is a journalist, nutritionist, regular contributor to the French journal Psychologies, co-author of Ces aliments qui rendent heureux (Michel Lafon, 2016)