In an ideal world we would all make freshly prepared meals every day. However sometimes we just need something quick, easy and straight from the freezer! Don’t beat yourself up about this – as long as it isn’t every day then there are plenty of more important things to be worrying about.
Frozen Meals
Wherever you shop you will find a variety of ready meals in the freezer aisles.
Most supermarkets have a healthier range so always choose one of these when possible. Some of these brands include healthy choices: Count on Us, Light Choices, Healthy Living, Weight Watchers, Slimming World and Good for You. Choose a lower calorie one where possible – less than 400 calories preferably.
Also aim to choose the crunchier more textured meals – a lot of frozen meals tend to be soft and sloppy so they wouldn’t be the best choices for the band. You could always just add a crunchy salad on the side of a softer meal to add a bit of a bite!!
Ready meals may contain some vegetables but you will be lucky for it to make one whole portion of veg. Add some extra veg to your meal to give you a bit of added goodness. For quickness do some frozen veg. Just boil the kettle, put the boiling water in a pan and throw in some mixed frozen veg and they will be ready by the time the microwave has “pinged” and your meal is ready. You know frozen veg can often have higher levels of vitamins and minerals than fresh veg because the goodness is frozen/ locked in on the farm!!
If you are adding veg and salad to a frozen ready meal, chances are the full meal will then be a little on the larger side. Split the meal in two and have the rest for lunch the next day if you can. Two meals in one makes a cheaper option!
Of course there is no substitute for fresh, home cooked meals but you could kill 2 birds with 1 stone and make your own “ready meals”. When cooking a meal suitable for freezing, cook a little extra and freeze some individual portions – all ready for the next time you have had a busy day and need a super quick meal.
