If you want to live a healthier lifestyle, then it is often a good idea to start with what is on your plate. The more healthy foods you eat and the less junk you consume, the fitter, healthier and happier you are likely to be.
Of course, cooking healthy homemade food can be tricky if you are not a good cook, don’t have much time, or are not used to cooking for your family.
That’s why I’ve put together some top tips for making healthy homemade food as simply as possible…
Use a slow cooker
Investing in a slow cooker is a really good idea if you sent to start making more healthy home-cooked meals. Why? Because you can throw all of the ingredients into the pot in the morning, set the timer and when you get home, you will have a healthy meal waiting for you. If you’re short on time, it can enable you to actually do more home cooking in the first place and it can make even the simplest meat and veg recipe taste amazing such is the power of slow cooking.
Switch from beef to turkey
If you like to eat a lot of chilies, stewed beef, and burgers, then one simple thing you can do to make your home cooking healthier is to switch to ground turkey, which is lower in fat and calories, instead. Most recipes, that you use ground beef in can be adapted to use turkey instead, and as this recipe for turkey chili in the slow cooker shows, they can be every bit as, if not more delicious too, for a fraction of the calories.
Replace half of your carbs with veggies
If you eat a lot of carb-based meals like meat and potatoes or rice and chili, then an easy way to make your home cooking healthier is to remove half of your usual carb potion and replace it with veg. This will mean that around half of your plate is now made up of healthy veggies, but you will still have just enough creamy potatoes or fluffy rice to satisfy the family’s carb cravings.
Switch to whole grains
Whole grains like brown rice and brown bread are much healthier than their white alternatives because they have been minimal processes which means they contain more fiber and more important vitamins and minerals. They will keep you full for longer while also helping you to be as healthy as you can be, and they’re a really easy switch to make.
Make your own sauces
Yes, jars of spaghetti sauce and bottles of tomato ketchup are more convenient, but they are often loaded with sugar or corn syrup and other unhealthy ingredients, and actually, it’s pretty easy to make your own in the slow cooker using healthier sweeteners like apple juice instead.
As you can see, cooking healthy homemade meals for all the family is not as difficult as you might have imagined and it will do your family’s health the world of good!