Cooking and preparing vegetables in new way
The Basics
“Buying in-season vegetables is better for your pocket, better for the environment and, because it won’t have had to travel as far as imported produce, it will be fresher – with more vitamins”, says Todd, a registered nutritionist.
“Different vegetables contain different vitamins, minerals and phytochemicals – the best way to make sure you get the full range of nutrients is to eat a selection of vegetables – pick different colours and types. Dicing them and adding to your regular meals is an easy way to introduce more to your daily diet”.
“Even grating them, for example carrots, and putting on the top of spaghettis and pasta is a simple way to prepare vegetables. Even just washing them, popping them in a bowl and putting in the microwave will speed up cooking time – and they can then be added to a dish or served on the side”.
Evidence suggests that eating at least 5 portions of fruit and vegetables a day can help lower high blood pressure.
Common Myths & Misconceptions
- “Some vegetables are better than others” – Different vegetables contain different vitamins, mineral and phytochemcials – the best way to make sure you get the full range of all these beneficial compounds is to eat a variety of vegetables
- “Chargrilled Vegetables are acidic and harm you teeth so you shouldn’t eat them”. This has just recently just been doing the rounds in the media. Yes some types of vegetables do become slightly more acidic (aubergines, green peppers, courgettes) – but so marginally that it can be ignored – you have to also remember how often you actually eat them! The benefits of eating them, regardless of how they’re cooked should easily out weigh this!
Tips and Tricks
- Buy a food magazine (such as BBC Good Food, Olive, Delicious) to look for new ideas for ways to prepare or cook vegetables.
- Ask friends or family if they have any good recipes/ideas that they can share with you.
- Use the internet to look for new recipe ideas.
- When you go shopping look out for fact sheets or recipe cards explaining how to prepare and cook exotic or unusual vegetables.
- If you buy your fruit from a greengrocer or a market ask the person who is selling to give you tips on preparing and cooking the vegetables.
- Whenever they are available make the most of home-grown seasonal vegetables.
- Try roasting or stir-frying vegetables or make them into main meals such as vegetable curry or vegetable lasagne – add flavourings such as fresh herbs and spices and lemon zest to pep up the flavour.
- When you’re planning meals aim to fill your plate with colour – think of the colours in a rainbow and try to eat at least one serving of fruit or vegetables from each of the colour bands each and every day.
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