Quick healthy meals

The rule of 3 for quick and healthy meals

A balanced meal will feel more satisfying and will give you a better chance of having a healthy diet. Having more foods on your plate also provides a greater variety of nutrients. So, make sure you include at least three things, one from each group: a high-fibre starchy carbohydrate (like wholegrain bread and cereals), a healthy source of protein (which could be lean meat, beans, lentils, fish or nuts and seeds), and fruit or veg (either fresh, frozen, tinned in juice or water, or dried).

If you take this approach, you’ll often be getting healthy unsaturated fats at the same time, in foods like nuts, seeds, oily fish or avocado. Or you can add olive, sunflower or rapeseed oil during cooking, or as salad dressing, or as a spread based on one of these oils.

Fibre can make your food more satisfying. As well as starchy carbohydrates, you can build in fibre with beans and lentils, nuts and seeds, and fruit and vegetables.

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Three ideas for meals you can make in 5 minutes 

A quick and healthy meal can take five minutes. If your go-to is wholegrain toast, that’s your starchy carbohydrate, so you need to add some protein and some fruit or veg. Have it with baked beans and an apple for dessert. Or you could match it with hummus and carrot sticks, or a tin of sardines in tomato sauce and chopped tomato and cucumber.

If wholegrain cereal or porridge is your quick meal of choice, have it with some milk or low-fat Greek yogurt (or both) with a small handful of nuts or seeds. Then add some fruit like banana, frozen berries or dried apricots.

For a snack, have some crackers or oatcakes with hummus or low-fat cottage cheese and some tomatoes on the side.

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Planning healthy quick meals

A bit of planning ahead helps you prepare nutritious and balanced meals quickly. For example, you can cook extra portions of your meals and freeze them for another day. You can also keep ingredients ready in the fridge and use them in different combinations for different meals. This could be cooked chicken or lentils, homemade tomato sauce, cooked bulghur wheat or wholewheat pasta, and roasted vegetables.

For times when you don’t want to cook at all, stock up on baked beans, tinned fish, unsalted peanut butter, and tinned fruit and vegetables. With little planning and preparation, you’ll have the right things ready when you need them. Eggs are also a good standby for a quick meal. Keep sliced wholegrain bread in the freezer – a slice or two will defrost quickly, or you can toast it straight from frozen.

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Making convenience healthier

If you go for a convenience meal – whether a ready meal, instant noodles or something from a tin – use the front-of-pack labelling to help you make a healthier choice. Look for options where the traffic light colours on the front of a pack are green and orange rather than red (especially for saturated fat and salt).

A balanced meal should contain fruit or vegetables, high-fibre starchy carbohydrates and protein. Look for healthier protein sources like fish, chicken, beans or lentils rather than cheese or red meat (or processed meats like sausages or bacon). When buying sauces, opt for red, tomato-based sauces instead of the creamy ones, which are higher in saturated fat.

Don’t assume that vegetarian or vegan products are a healthier choice. Try to choose meals based on beans or lentils rather than cheese, and remember that meat and cheese substitutes are often high in saturated fat, so it’s important to check food labels.

If your meal doesn’t come with fruit or veg, add something that’s quick and easy, such as side salad or peas or sweetcorn from the freezer, and have some fruit as pudding.

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