Healthy eating tips

YvonneH

Hi fellow members,

I noticed this when browsing around the website and thought it might be tempting - and maybe encourage some tips and tricks to make cooking easy or a favourite recipe you can put together easily so you still have a tasty healthy meal when you are tired or struggling.

https://www.versusarthritis.org/news/2021/june/five-easy-ways-to-eat-well-with-arthritis/

Take care

Yvonne x

stickywicket

Good ideas, Yvonne. I smiles as I read the first bit. All my shopping is delivered so I have to make a - flexible - plan each week when ordering. A friend and I constantly joke about how almost our first thoughts each day are "What shall I cook?" "What do I need from the freezer?" whereas, when our husbands are cooking, they decide last minute and the meal is often late.

Frozen veg? I'm a recent convert to frozen chopped onions. Not for everything but they save so much time and effort for stews, lasagnes, fish pies etc.

As for using 1/4 avocado - the rest soon deteriorates but also chopped frozen avocado is now available. Enough for a sandwich quickly defrosts and can be mashed. Wonderful with smoked salmon but also with tomato, cucumber, celery etc.

Mike1

It's all very well if you are able to peel veg, chop meat and so forth. Most of my meals are ready prepared, I only have frozen veg and then they are usually peas. If I don't put something in the microwave then the best I can do is to put things on the same tray and whack it in the oven for 30 minutes. Standing is an issue, I even have to sit on a perch stool to make a brew, make a sandwich, wash the dishes etc.

stickywicket

Mike, when you're chucking a tray in the oven, try chucking in a few cherry tomatoes or, better still, frozen Mediterranean veg. I sometimes bung a couple of jacket potatoes in for us then, a bit later, a couple of chicken legs and, a bit later still, the Med veg.

Some prepared veg aren't too expensive now. I always buy my spring greens ready chopped and an occasional treat (because it IS expensive) is red cabbage prepped for the microwwave. Actually, there are quite a lot of microwaveable veg about now. I prefer to prep my own but they have their place. 

I'm big ón veg. I, too, am rubbish at cutting meat but I don't like it much so I sometimes stick a chop in the oven for Mr SW and a salmon fillet for me. Mince doesn't need cutting and, with a tin of tomatoes, a stock pot and some frozen veg, makes a fairly quick meal. At a pinch, instead of boiled potatoes or pasta with i t, we've just microwaved some naan bread or rice. I also do what my family laughingly call my 'oven stir fry' ie instead of standing over a wok forages, I just chuck veg and chopped chicken (yo can buy it chopped) into an oven-proof dish, throw a sauce over it, cover it in foil and wait for it to cook. If you don't feel up to prepping rice the microwaveable type will do.

All of which reminds me, I must switch the oven on!

Mike1

Thanks for the ideas Stickywicket, don't like cooked tomatoes unless they are tinned and cannot stand peppers. Have actually ordered some ready prepped fresh veg for Friday and have been a bit more adventurous with my frozen food purchases!

stickywicket

👍️ Have fun, Mike.

Mike1

Well I tried! I have just had an email to say that my Morrisons order is on its way but NONE of the fresh food I ordered (ready prepped veg and salads) is available. I alternate between Asda and Morrisons as there are some items that cannot be obtained in one but are in the other and vice-versa. Asda have frequently not provided the fresh items I have ordered in the past and when I queried it I was told that they do not get their deliveries of fresh fruit and veg until 6am and as the orders are made up overnight you only get it if it is left over from the day before. I would rather they made the orders up in the morning and delivered in the afternoon but that would obviously be too sensible, anyway being disabled and living alone I am used to being ignored and not worth being counted.

stickywicket

Mike, just a thought or two.

I wonder if Sainsburys would be an option for you. I know they deliver far and wide. Usually mine comes from a store about 20-30 mins away but I've had deliveries from Edinburgh which is an hour away and also drivers have mentioned their next stop is in Northumberland, another hour in the opposite direction. I think their site has a bit where you can check if they deliver to you.

Sainsburys always send me an email on the morning of delivery and let me know if there are any substitutions or 'near use by date' items. I accept all substitutes (except the ones I've marked on my order as not to be substituted - my Chenin Blanc and his Yorkshire Bitter! - (!) on the grounds that I can't get to shops for anything else. But their substitutes are usually similar or, in some cases, better. When I first took out a contract with them I asked friends who used them or Asda (M'sons didn't deliver then) and they certainly seemed better.

I wonder, if you ordered a late afternoon delivery, would your groceries be packed in the morning rather than the night before.

I also remember someone, on the 'official' thread about supermarkets, mentioning getting Morrisons (I think) via Amazon. Might that make a difference?

Mike1

Thanks will subject your comments to some cogitation!