What are your top tips for lower calorie cooking?

[BlueEyeshadow]

I'm trying to reduce my calorie intake by eating more healthily, rather than going on a diet as such. Most things I cook start of with frying an onion, and are heavy on cheese and white sauces. I also like to make some kind of pudding for after Sunday dinner (yoghurt the rest of the week).

Anyone got any suggestions for sneaky ways to cut the fat/sugar etc?

Thanks!

• When frying, use non-stick pans and an oil spray rather than using oil out of a bottle.
• Replace white sauces with tomato-based sauces.
• Halve the amount of meat in a dish and replace the bulk lost with vegetables or pulses
• Use very strongly-flavoured half-fat cheese so that a little goes along way
• Grill rather than fry
• Fill half your plate with vegetables and salads before adding anything else to it.
• Swap refined starches for wholegrains e.g. brown instead of white rice, wholemeal pasta rather than white, and serve in smaller portions. Fibrous foods are just as calorific but are more filling.
• Make your favourite pudding for Sunday lunch, serve a very small portion and savour every mouthful. A small amount of something deliciously full-fat and full-sugar is more satisfying than a big plateful of something tasteless or dry.

Thanks CES. Unfortunately the boys won't eat tomato sauce which makes family meals tricky. The rest sounds good, though.

More Veg less bread (and potato)

some of these suggestions change the taste slightly (can't beat fried onions)! but you get used to it....

cook chopped onions/mushrooms/peppers etc in microwave, rather than frying

make white sauce using cornflour & milk rather than a roux (make it in the same way you would custard using custard powder).

use a finer grater edge for grating cheese, and as already said use mature... goes further

I sometimes put half fat creme fraiche or low fat Greek yoghurt into recipes instead of making a white sauce (eg fish pie)

Use low fat butters such as lurpak light if you do want to make a roux

I use granulated sweetener in baking instead of sugar

Reducing portion sizes of meat and carbs is probably the key though, I think it should be 1/2 plate vege/salad, 1/4 meat and 1/4 carbs

Eat food slowly so your brain gets the full signal!

when starting with a chopped onion, I usually soften it in water instead of oil but I am a fatty so no one should take diet tips from me

One teaspoon of oil is enough to fry a large onion in a non-stick pan. I make sure I use olive oil.

Watch out for low fat stuff as they often replace the fat with sugar. Total 0% greek yoghurt is the only yoghurt I've found that doesn't so far.

For cream based sauces you can replace half with stock (for savoury dishes anyway). Have a look on www.bbcgoodfood.com/content/recipes/healthy/ especially the ultimate makeover section which does healthier versions of popular dishes - the potato dauphinoise was really good.

Bulk out meals with veg - frozen spinach is a good one as not particularly noticeable for fussy eaters. As are grated carrot and grated courgettes. Make sure you're having 3-4 portions of veg with a main meal. If you want a pudding have fruit. For a treat I do banana splits - with banana, then something like raspberries, 1 scoop of a good quality ice cream and some flaked almonds. A drizzle of chocolate sauce or maple syrup (1 tablespoon max). But I limit that kind of thing to once a week. Fruit based puddings e.g. grilled peaches with berries and low fat yoghurt are a good way to get something sweet but without the calorie count.

Reduce carbs and up lean protein and veg. Have one slice of bread and make sure its wholemeal. 125g of cooked rice (about 4 heaped tablespoons) is a portion.

Strong tasting cheeses are good because you need a lot less of them. My favourite is parmesan (get a block not the pre grated stuff as it loses flavour). 10 grams of parmesan shavings are plenty for a really cheesy flavour. I also love feta or camembert, though have a full 30g portion of them. Grated or crumbled cheese makes it look a much bigger amount than it is.

Measure everything, especially oil to control how much you use. Portion sizes creep up when you're not paying attention.

Not for everyone but instead of proper buttery floury milky cheesy white sauce ( god I miss buttery floury milky cheesy white sauce) I find the best substitute is atbsp of Philly and splash of skimmed milk or stock. The children have all declared it delicious- I find it nice but prefer the good stuff.

In bologbaise chilli shepherds pie I use quorn or turkey mince. Meatballs and burgers are good with turkey mince too, bit of lemon pepper and fennel seeds mixed in the mince roll into balls and jobsa good un.

Turkey breast instead of chicken, cheaper and lower cal.

The dislike of tomato sauce- my children will eat it if its paler- a spoon of Philly again does the trick. It needs to be smooth though.

Frozen grapes as a snack

I've also stopped drinking tea as the temptation for biscuit is too strong- might just be ne though.

Brush teeth after meals- you never want to snack with a minty mouth!

Sorry went a far with unrelated tips there. Works for me though

Brilliant tips above. The non-stick pan is essential with cooking spray. Also the pre-frying of onions and garlic I now skip for all meals. My family barely noticed the difference.

Would also suggest cooking your low fat version then removing your portion before adding cheese sauce etc. For instance, I would when making lasagne I remove my portion of bolognese sauce and have with with spaghetti while the remaining sauce made up the lasagne. Can be hard watching the rest of the family having full fat version. But you can always reintroduce the odd full fat version when you have established good habits.

Good luck

Thanks all! Keep them coming! :) There are some brilliant ideas here.

Replace several meals with freshly made vegetable soup :) Smaller, hungrier people can load up on bread. Overweight older people can skip the bread.

• Buy the spray olive oil rather than pouring - much less but pan fully coated. Add a couple of teaspoons of water to sweat the onion once it has got going, this stops it sticking.

• Use quark instead of cream

• Stop making cheese sauce! If your kids love it, make pasta and then do a quick tomato sauce for you and cheese sauce for them.

• Always measure cheese and other fattening ingredients - use no more than 25g at a meal per person (your kids can add more if they like)

• Add a tin of green lentils to any mince dish, this makes it go twice as far and really cuts fat content

• Use potato mixed with swede/carrots/squash for pie topping rather than just mash

• Veg lasagne - use tonato sauce only for the layers then top with low fat creme fraiche and a small bit of cheese.

• Grill everything where possible

• Ditch bread