Healthy kitchen hacks for meals in minutes

Think you’re too busy to create delicious, well-balanced food? Nutritionist Juliette Kellow shares her top time-saving tips and tricks to help keep you on track

With lockdown behind us, life has just got a lot busier. And for some this can mean less time to spend in the kitchen. In a recent study, young adults said they thought cooking healthily was complicated, elaborate and time-consuming.

But this doesn’t need to be the case.

There are plenty of simple tricks to help you prepare nutrient-packed ingredients quickly and easily.

Slice onions with ease

Onions are the flavour foundation for many dishes and good news for health.

They’re packed with heart-friendly flavonoids and enable the friendly bacteria in our gut to keep our digestive system healthy. But preparing them can be a chore.

Quick trick: For a thinly sliced onion, cut it in half from top to bottom.

Next, chop off the root and tip and peel off the skin. Now use a peeler to shave off thin slices.

Give garlic a shake

Garlic adds flavour to meals, which in turn can help us use less blood pressure-raising salt. Chopping or crushing it forms a natural compound called allicin, which gives garlic its unique smell, taste and health benefits, including lowering cholesterol and blood pressure. But there’s no denying that garlic is fiddly to peel. Quick trick: Chop both ends off the garlic cloves, pop them in a jam jar and shake hard. The skin will separate away leaving behind peeled cloves, ready to chop, slice or crush.

Juice it

Oranges, lemons and limes are packed with vitamin C, which boosts our immune system, nervous system, bones, teeth and skin. What’s more, adding vitamin C-rich juice to iron-rich foods such as beans, lentils, nuts, seeds and leafy veg also helps our body absorb more iron. But it’s not always easy to maximise the juice.

Quick trick: Roll citrus fruits on a hard surface for a few seconds or put the whole fruit into a microwave for 10-20 seconds to make them easier to juice (it also makes oranges easier to peel). Then squeeze over a sieve to catch the pips.

Excellent eggs

Eggs provide protein, B vitamins that are important for mental wellbeing, and bone-friendly vitamin D. Eating eggs for breakfast also keeps us fuller for longer, making it easier to lose weight. But tiny bits of shell can be a pain to remove. Quick trick: Use the main piece of cracked shell to scoop up any small broken bits, or wet your finger then dip it into the egg white – the shell should stick to your finger.

De-seed with speed

Butternut squash is packed with carotenoids such as betacarotene, which the body converts into skin and eye-friendly vitamin A. Studies also link carotenoids derived from food with a lower risk of heart disease and better lung function. But removing the seeds from squash is messy work.

Quick trick: Use an ice-cream scoop to remove the seeds (also works with pumpkins and melons). Then roast the seeds for an extra nutrient hit – pop them into a sieve, rinse, dry, toss with olive oil and spices, and roast until brown.

Skim off the fat

Dishes made with meat or meat juices (bolognese, soups, curries) often have an oily layer on their surface during cooking. This oil

is usually high in cholesterol-raising saturated fat. But using a spoon to scoop it up is time-consuming and messy.

Quick trick: Pop a paper plate on the surface of the dish and it will soak up the oil. Alternatively, put an ice cube in kitchen paper and move it over the surface of the dish – the coldness of the ice will harden the fat making it easier to remove.

Save your strawberries

Strawberries are rich in vitamin C and folate. Both these nutrients are important for immunity and psychological wellbeing, and can help reduce fatigue. They also contain flavonoids such as anthocyanins, which may help to slow down memory loss as we get older. Many of us simply slice off the tops of strawberries to remove the stalk, but this means we lose some of the

berry too.

Quick trick: Push a metal straw through the strawberry from the point to the leaf to hull them and remove the stalk.

Give your mushrooms a makeover

Studies show replacing meat with mushrooms can help us lose weight by creating a big calorie deficit. Plus, mushrooms contain naturally occurring plant chemicals that act as antioxidants and have been linked to better immunity and less inflammation. Slicing them can be time consuming though.

Quick trick: Invest in an egg slicer. Pop each mushroom into the cradle, press down the top and hey presto, you’ve got instant, speedy sliced mushrooms.

Avo to go

Keep your squash seeds, toss with oil and spices, then roast them

Avocados are packed with vitamin E and monounsaturated fat, which lowers cholesterol. They’re also a good source of antioxidants lutein and zeaxanthin, which help protect against age-related macular degeneration. But finding the perfectly ripe avocado and removing the stone isn’t always easy.

Quick trick: To remove the stone, cut in half lengthways, twist the two halves in opposite directions, then gently push the skin behind the half containing the stone and it should pop out. For speedy ripening, remove the stone, wrap each half in microwaveable wrap and microwave for two minutes. Place under cold water to stop the cooking process.