Cooking for one or two

Preparing food in small amounts can be challenging. If you are cooking just for yourself you could be tempted to skip meals or resort to just having ‘tea and toast’. Don’t give in! To be well nourished it is important not to skip meals.

Some tips that may help include

• Make extra and freeze in meal size amounts. Soups freeze well and are a good standby. Stews and casseroles are also good candidates for freezing

• Frozen vegetables are an excellent alternative to fresh. The flavour may not be quite the same as fresh but, in saying that, the taste of frozen peas and corn is almost the same as the fresh version. As they are snap frozen as soon as harvested, the food value of frozen vegetables is fine. As freezing softens vegetables, they cook quickly. A couple of minutes in the microwave is usually enough

• Convenience foods such as baked beans, canned soup, stews and desserts eg. creamed rice, are a good stand - by for those times when you don’t feel like cooking

• Frozen meals from the supermarket are fine. Avoid the low calorie meals if you have lost or are losing weight