Food preparation requires planning, and planning requires organisation. It all starts from shopping day, knowing what to get and in what quantities so that it lasts you the week. Then you need to consider cooking it, cooking method, and how you can manipulate things to make it healthy, and for it to last you longer!
Get a slow cooker
If you haven’t already, stick a slow cooker on your Christmas list this year. These constant heat kitchen utensils are known for their convenience, ability to cook large quantities in one go, and their nutrient preserving properties. You can rustle up a nutrient dense stew, slow cook some meat or boil up some ingredients for a delicious, hearty soup.
Bag it up and freeze it
This is a technique used by many top athletes because of it’s convenience. Tupperware is for the road, frozen meals are for at home. Once you have cooked your food off one evening, let it cool, bag it up and place in the freezer ready for when you get in from work or the gym. When it comes to defrosting it just place it straight in the microwave on defrost and then full heat, this is key to ensuring the food passes through the bacterial ‘danger zone’ and into a boiling state appropriately. The time required to fully heat will depend on the portion size, but 10-15mins see’s my portion through. Ensure it is piping hot before consumption! The time your food is heating up is time you can be spending sorting other things of importance. Go sort your gym gear, morning protein shake, creatine, multi-vitamin and beta- alanine…and/or prepping your ingredients for the next set of culinary delights to emerge from the slow cooker!
Slow cooker Recipes
Moroccan style lemon chicken with olives
Ingredients
- 2 large potatoes diced
- Seasoning to taste (salt and pepper)
- 1 sliced onion
- 2 large chicken breasts diced
- 1 tbsp coconut oil
- 4 slices of lemon
- 2 crushed garlic cloves
- 1 tbsp ras el hanout spice mix
- 400ml made up chicken stock
- 85g stoned green olives
- 2 tsp honey
- handful parsley (fresh)
Method (this is the easy bit)
Throw all ingredients into the slow cooker and turn on….DONE (don’t forget it or you’ll burn the bottom)!
Slow cooked beef hotpot
Ingredients
- 1 chopped onion
- 2 chopped carrots
- 1 tbsp coconut oil
- 800g brisket or stewing beef
- 5 crushed garlic cloves
- 2in stick fresh ginger
- 1 red chilli
- 6 tbsp light soy sauce
- 300ml beef stock
- 2 spring onions chopped
Method (you guessed it…easy)
Throw all ingredients into the slow cooker and turn on….DONE (and for goodness sake, please don’t forget about it)!
Granted there’s no substitute for freshly cooked food, but as I mentioned earlier, preparation will take off some pressure and enable you to indulge in a nourishing, protein packed meal at the turn of a knob…these will be the healthiest microwaveable meals you’ve ever had.
