Healthy Cooking For The Whole Family

You probably had a few weeks during the summer where you hit the gym and ate more salad in preparation for your holidays, but being healthy, happy and confident doesn't have to be a seasonal thing.

Making small, easy changes to your diet can result in a huge difference, not only on the scales but in your confidence. And getting the whole family on board will teach your children how to make healthy choices in a fun and informative way.

When you're on the go constantly, and with a family of fussy eaters to please, it can be difficult to make meals from scratch. So we've put together a few tips that will get your family eating and enjoying healthier foods...

1) Choose What To Eat Together

If you get your children involved in planning meals, they will be more interested in the food that they will be eating. They also have the opportunity to raise any issues they have with ingredients before it is placed in front of them at the dinner table and is too late.

If their meal idea is chosen, you can use this as a great way to get them on board with the meal preparation and washing up!

Teaching children to cook from a young age is a fantastic life skill, so teach them about where their food comes from and how to prepare different parts of a meal.

2) Do The Weekly Shop Together

For kids, the weekly shop can actually be quite exciting! They will love helping you grab everything you need and choosing food they will look forward to eating throughout the week.

When you've made a list of the meals you're going to prepare, break it down into a list of all the ingredients that you're going to need.

Try to vary the menu for the week, but don't be afraid to have something twice to keep the cost down.

Two pasta meals in one week is fine if you make it with different ingredients, and larger joints of meat can be cut up and frozen in portions, or cooked and saved to use for salads and snacks.

3) Stock Up On Healthy Snacks

Have a fruit bowl full of apples, bananas, grapes and strawberries on the side, and prepare bowls of cucumber, carrot and celery sticks so everyone can grab a handful from the fridge when they're peckish and on the go.

You and your kids will then be much less tempted to reach for bags of crisps and chocolate bars, especially if you don't fill the cupboards with them and healthy options are your only choice.

Don't restrict children from snacking, but let them know that if they choose fruit, they can have as much as they like, whereas if they have crisps, they can only have the one bag and no other snacks for the rest of the day. This will help them make healthier choices.

4) Experiment With Meals

Make meals that you've also not tried before so you can share the new flavours for the first time alongside your children. Knowing that you've not eaten it before either will encourage your child to try new things.

Create meals from scratch using ingredients that you know you all already like, and let your children see exactly what is going in. That way, they will know that everything on their plate is food that they enjoy, just in a different form.

5) Create Healthier Versions Of Your Favourite Foods

If you and your kids love chips, there are ways to create a healthier version. A Tefal Actifry is a revolutionary way of frying chips using just one spoonful of oil per 1kg of potatoes. The appliance was designed to decrease the amount of fat needed to cook chips and other dishes without compromising on the taste – and people say they taste even better without the greasy oil!

With standard deep fat fryers, the oil and burnt bits of food can cause unpleasant smells that seem to stick to every surface and fabric in the house. In an Actifry, the fat and oil smells are reduced and the oil is only used once.

Having a versatile appliance such as an Actifry in your kitchen is extremely handy as it can also be used to cook casseroles, curries, meat, fish, stir fry, risotto and vegetables. There are even ways of making desserts in them.

Another family favourite is pizza. Making your own from scratch is much healthier and a great way to get children in the kitchen and excited about food. Cut up vegetables such as peppers, tomatoes and mushrooms and let them decorate their own bases in the vibrant colours. It's a great way to get them eating vegetables which they probably wouldn't touch in other foods.

6) Use Your Free Time Wisely

If you have a day when you don't have much on, batch cook things like bolognaise, lasagne, stew and soup to freeze. Put them in plastic boxes with stickers on the lid telling you when they were made and what it is, then stock the freezer.

These meals will come in so handy when you've had a hectic day and are tempted to reach for a takeaway menu to fill everyone's rumbling tummies.

Make sure you use them within about a month, just to ensure that the ingredients are still fresh, and defrost them well, especially if it is a chicken dish.

As everything is all done, you only need to boil some vegetables or throw some chips in the Actifry to have alongside it, and you have a healthy meal in no time at all with minimal effort.

British Food Fortnight

British Food Fortnight runs from September 19th-October 4th and is the biggest annual and national celebration of British food and drink. It is a celebration of the food bred and grown by British farmers, who deliver huge amounts of high quality produce to our shops and into our kitchens.

It's easy for everyone to take part in British Food Fortnight and even the smallest thing makes a huge different to the British food economy.

Here's a few things you could do this year:

1) Seek out British food when you do your food shop. British food has the red tractor logo on the packaging.

2) Try food that is in season. When food is in season, it tastes amazing and is the best quality you can get. During British Food Fortnight, apples, venison, blackberries, oysters, crab, parsnips and runner beans are all in season, so try and use them in meals for all the family.

3) Shop in local butchers, greengrocers, farm shops and markets that source locally. Not only will you be supporting small local businesses, but the food is usually cheaper and better quality.

4) Pick and grow your own food. Going blackberry picking in hedgerows or picking fruit and veg at a local farm is a great day out with the kids, and you'll have a tasty array of treats to eat when you're home. Children are much more likely to eat their vegetables if they have picked them themselves.

Meal Times Made Easy

Food should be enjoyed, so ensure you make meal times a big deal. Get everyone sat around the table to discuss their day and if any arguments or tantrums start up, try to defuse the situation.

Making meals that can be placed in bowls in the middle of the table for everyone to help themselves to can also be a good idea if there are certain things that your children won't eat, but try to encourage them to try as much as possible.

Do you have any tips and tricks to share with parents to get their children eating new things?

Let us know in the comments below!