Tips for cooking healthily

Healthy cooking doesn't mean that you have to become a gourmet chef or invest in expensive pots and pans. You can use basic cooking techniques to prepare food in healthy ways. Home prepared meals are not only much more tasty than pre–prepared food but are often much more healthy too (and at least you know exactly what's in them).

For less fat in your food

• Try microwaving, steaming, poaching or boiling. These methods need no fat or oil
   
• Use as little oil as you can get away with. Measure it out with a tablespoon rather than just pouring it out of the bottle and even better, use a spray oil.
   
• If you're frying or roasting, use a non-stick pan so you need less oil. You can always dry roast without any oil at all
   
• Use oven chips rather than deep–frying. Or oven–bake your own by chopping potatoes into thick wedges and spraying with a bit of oil .
   
• Make salad dressings with natural yoghurt, herbs, spices, tomato juice, vinegar or lemon juice rather than using mayonnaise or salad cream
   
• Use a trivet when cooking meat and poultry so the fat can drain off ratehr than swimming in it.

To get more fruit and vegetables in your diet

• In casseroles, use less meat than normal and bulk out the casserole with more vegetables
   
• When cooking a stir-fry, use a steep sided round-bottomed pan (like a Wok) so theres plenty of room for lots of vegetables
   
• Add extra vegetable into dishes you wouldn’t normally – try adding tinned tomatoes, peppers, mushrooms or corgettes to a Spagetti Bolognase.

For less salt in your food

• ook ingredients from scratch and use onions, garlic, herbs, spices and lemon juice for flavour instead of salt and stock cubes
   
• Don’t add salt in cooking, let people add if necessary at the table.