Tag: meal planning

Posted by Christine Pope on in Gluten Free, Health Care, Healthy Ageing, Meal Plans and Recipes, Nutrition, Recipes, vegetables

Too busy to shop and cook healthy meals ? Have you considered a meal delivery service?

Cooking at home is often the best way to improve your underlying health, however for many people it can be a challenge particularly when they are time poor. Food companies have identified this gap in the market and there are now a number of companies providing ingredients and recipes for meals that can be prepared quickly and easily. Meal planning services such as HelloFresh, Marley Spoon and Dinnerly provide delicious recipes with all the ingredients you need to prepare them. All you have to do is follow the instructions – easy!

Dinnerly is considered very cost effective per serve, however Marley Spoon servings are more generous. Hello Fresh has a wide range of meal options and seems to work out around $10 per meal, which is better priced than most takeaway. The meal planning services send only enough for the individual meals which also reduces waste. Most of the meals in these services are designed to be prepared in under half an hour.

What do you do when you don’t have time for cooking but still don’t really want to be ordering takeaway every night ? Add food intolerances or allergies and it can be harder still .

My top list of options which is a little Sydney centric is as follows;

  1. Nourish’d offers vegetarian and gluten free options and has the added advantage of having meals designed by a nutritionist. The range offers keto friendly, nut free and dairy free. There is a reasonable range of options which include beef cheek ragu with cauliflower mash, beef brisket and a sweet potato spaghetti.Sides to increase the vegetables include roasted broccoli, cauliflower mash and potato mash. Meals have a nutritional breakdown and are generally a good level of protein. The menu’s change weekly and upcoming options include a beef stroganoff with beetroot salad and sweet potato mash and a chicken masala, which shows some good variety. Nourish’d also appears have NDIS approval.
  2. Chefgood offers a range of no added gluten or dairy meals. Whilst not offering a gluten free kitchen this option may be suitable for those with intolerances but is not recommended for those who are celiac. The meal plans offer a number of meals between 5 to 14 meals a week with options which include low carb, high protein, vegan and vegetarian as well as a range of weight loss optins. Chefgood also has a range of add-ons which include additional sides and juices. The sides are not particularly inspired and include soup, mashed potato, greek salad and an avocado salad. Reviews on google are generally positive although there appear to be recent complaints about delivery issues. The company delivers to the eastern states and South Australia.
  3. Dinner ladies deliver frozen meals which have been cooked from scratch. There is a wide range of options although they do not seem to cover food intolerances particularly well they do provide a statement of allergens. The major issue seems to be the possiblity of cross contamination risk. The menu includes some good main course options including burgers, fritters, snitzels, stir frys, casseroles and pastas. This is a popular option with families.

For those who are looking for meal inspiration there are a number of blogs that may be helpful with recipes and meal plans. Have a look at Meal Plan Week One , Meal Plan Week Two , Four easy ways to add brassica vegetables to your meals and Spring Reset Meal Plan .

Posted by Christine Pope on in Health Care, Nutrition, Recipes

Dinner for the next 2 weeks

shutterstock_295983977.jpg

Imagine how much better we would all eat if we had a chef shopping and cooking for us. If we didn’t need to think about what to cook and whether we had the ingredients but simply show up and eat. It sounds ideal doesn’t it ? This isn’t really a solution for most of us so I would recommend a few ways to reduce the mental load and make it a little easier to shop and cook without having to waste too much time and energy in the process.

Setting up a two week menu that you rotate with a few seasonal adjustments can be a good tool. The menu below if what I am currently working around. Ideally one night’s meal becomes a second meal reheating leftovers or reusing some of the ingredients. Here is a sample 2 week menu you can then adjust based on your own preferences (you get one night off a week for a meal out or takeaway).

Week One

Monday Easy Carve leg of lamb with roast vegetables (potatoes, pumpkin, parsnip or carrots depending on the season) and greens (steamed beans or blackened asparagus).

Tuesday Leftover lamb from roast as Lamb Biriyani or Shepherd’s Pie. Click here for an easy recipe from the Fuss Free Foodie with a couple of easy cheats.

Wednesday Turkey with Sweet Potato and Snow Peas served with rice

Thursday Vegetable Curry with Sausages or Lentils

Friday Grilled Salmon with Stir Fry Greens (see recipe below)

Saturday Asparagus and Mushroom risotto (or Spring Vegetables or Cauliflower and Peas) Leftovers make good risotto cakes for Sunday lunch with a green salad.

Week Two

Monday Easy Roast Chicken with roast vegetables (use thigh cutlets and layer on the roast vegetables with lemon juice, rosemary, olive oil and rock salt – 50 minutes for the cutlets to cook and then crisp off the vegetables for a further 10 at 180C.

Tuesday Spaghetti Bolognaise

Wednesday Leftover Lasagne Bake with a Cos salad

Thursday Cauliflower and Chicken Curry with Steamed Rice (or better yet a bed of steamed spinach).

Friday San Choy Bow with Stir Fried Greens (scroll down for the recipe)

Saturday  Grilled Steak with bay seasoned potatoes and roasted broccoli and cauliflower.

Stir Fry Greens

2 bunches of broccolini or 400g of broccoli cut into florets

2 bunches of bok choy

1/2 cup of bone broth or stock

1/2 cup soy sauce

1-2 Tablespoons of sweet chilli sauce

Combine liquid ingredients in a jug. Heat a small amount of oil in a wok and then add broccolini and stir fry for 1-2 minutes. Add liquid ingredients and bok choy and heat through and stir fry on a low heat for 10 minutes. Serve.

Turkey mince bolognaise

750g turkey mince (other mince works well too)
1 brown onion finely chopped
2 carrots peeled and diced
1 jar of passata (chopped tomatoes)
1 glass of red wine or beef stock
1 tsp chili (optional)
2 cloves garlic crushed

In a little olive oil saute onions and carrots on a low heat for a few minutes until onions are soft. Add mince, continue cooking until mince is browned and then add remaining ingredients and simmer for twenty to thirty minutes. Serve with pasta and a little grated Parmesan cheese.

Lasagne Bake

Add eggplant: 1-2 eggplants approx 500g.  Pierce the skin with a fork in a couple of places or it will explode in the oven and roast for 40-45 minutes at 180c. Scoop out the flesh and combine with the sauce about 5-10 minutes before serving.

Layer the sauce with lasagne sheets and bake in the oven covered for 30-40 minutes at 180C.

Christine Pope is an experienced naturopath and nutritionist but she frequently gets bored trying to think about what to cook for dinner too! Please add further menu suggestions in the comments below and share your inspiration.

Serves 6-8

Posted by Christine Pope on in Nutrition, stress

What’s for dinner? Save time with meal planning

One of the hardest things to deal with every night is what’s for dinner? Its worse if you are getting home after work and don’t have everything to ready to prepare. Each week I usually prepare a list for weekday meals and then make sure when I order online or shop that I have the basics for those meals – it reduces stress dramatically as whoever gets home first can start cooking.

curry

My usual meal plan for a week looks something like this;

Monday : Gluten and Dairy Free turkey and eggplant lasagne with Cos salad (often make the lasagne Sunday afternoon when I have more time)

Tuesday: Roast Lamb and Vegetables with steamed snow peas OR Easy Roast Chicken and vegetables

Wednesday: Sausages (usually organic gluten free chicken and leek) and Potato Curry

Thursday :Honey Soy Chicken Drumsticks and Wombok salad

Friday : Leftovers with some cold meats, humuus, olives and crudites.

Saturday :Cauliflower and Chicken Curry with rice.

I really like doing a roast early in the week as the leftovers are great for school lunches or even a lamb salad (cos, lebanese cucumber and olives with lamb and aoili mayonnaise). The easy roast chicken is basically the same as roasting a chicken except you use thigh cutlets and roast two per person on top of your choice of roast vegetables and just sprinkle the chicken with rosemary and rock salt plus the juice of a lemon and some olive oil. The vegetables that work well include parsnips, sweet potato, carrots and pumpkin. Usually takes about 50 minutes at 180c for the chicken which I then take out and keep warm and just crisp off the vegetables. Best part is that it all cooks together in one roasting dish.

The recipes for the Wombok salad, cauliflower and chicken curry and potato curry can be found under my page gluten and diary free dinners on my blog and the recipes for the lasagne and chicken drumsticks I will detail below as they are really quite easy.

Honey and Soy Chicken Drumsticks
Mix half cup each of caster sugar and soy sauce (Fountain for gluten free soy sauce) and pour over chicken drumsticks which have been scored (cut in two places) to help absorb the marinade. Cook for 40-50 minutes at 180C and then serve with Wombok salad. Always make up extras allowing 2-3 drumsticks per adult as they are a favourite in the lunchbox.

Lasagne – Turkey and Eggplant

Orgran Lasagne (or similar gluten free lasagne)
2 jars of tomato sauce or 2 cans of chopped tomatoes
One onion and one carrot diced
2 cloves of crushed garlic
600g turkey mince (chicken, pork or beef all work well too)
1 large or 2 small eggplant

Pierce eggplant with a fork in several places and roast in oven at 180c for 40-50 minutes. Allow to cool and then remove skin and add soft eggplant chopped in small pieces to simmering lasagne sauce. Once eggplant is soft you can often just spoon it out of the skin.

Saute onion in carrot in olive oil until onion is soft. Add turkey mince and brown and then add crushed garlic and tomato sauce. Simmer on low for a further 20 minutes. Add eggplant and cook for a further 5 minutes.

Layer lasagne sheets and mince in a large casserole dish. Start with a thin layer of the sauce and then place a layer of lasagne sheets,cover the lasagne sheets with the sauce and then add another layer – you usually have three or four layers.

Cook in a warm oven at 180C for 40 minutes with the lid on – then serve with a cos salad.