Learning to cook healthily

[rainbowzebra05]

As the title says, I'm trying to learn to cook healthily. I've found that a lot of recipes don't actually use any veg, and I was brought up with cheese and sugar as a main food group so while my mum cooked, I didn't learn healthy cooking at home...

My problem being that I'm autistic, as are my kids, and with sensory issues and my inability to cook without instructions it's proving VERY difficult. DH doesn't help as he'll only cook things that he can throw in the oven and be done with, no recipes or prep involved and never a vegetable in sight.

Our diets are relatively restricted, the only beef I eat is 5% mince, besides that we eat chicken, and I can't do things like quinoa or couscous for texture reasons. Veg wise it's mostly basic root veg that we eat (carrots, cauliflower and similar, most veg we'll try tbf but we struggle with the "trendier" stuff and I can't stand things like avocado!), along with basics like peppers, and it either needs blending or be easy to pick out of a meal else my eldest won't even try. So all in it isn't easy and the stuff aimed at vegans doesn't help because it's always on the adventurous side for our diets!

Can anyone recommend any resources to learn how to get started please? Any recipe sites that actually acknowledge that there's more veg than white onions and that every recipe doesn't need double cream would also be appreciated...

Tips for batch cooking with low freezer space would be amazing too. With DH's refusal to cook properly I'm aware that to see change it's going to be me cooking the bulk of meals, but I know I'm going to need options for days when I'm done and don't have the available spoons left at the end of the day to start prepping and cooking. Can I bulk prep ingredients to cook later in the week? It's the prep that I struggle to remain consistent with :)

I think your DH's traybakes are a good place to start - plenty of scope for added veg.

Have a look at the "Roasting Tin" books by Rukmini Iyer.

She cooks complete, healthy meals on an oven tray, & there are plenty of options to vary the veg.

I agree that Tray Bake meals are the way to go. Today, we had chicken thighs with dry bbq rub on them with a bag of frozen ratatouille and sweet potato.
Tomorrow is lemon chicken cooked in the air fryer (salt pepper and chopped lemon put into the chicken) with corn and wedges ( the oldest DC is in charge of dinner tomorrow)
Bologaise cooked in the slow cooker with pasta on Tuesday I bulk cook pasta, cool it quickly, and freeze so I just need to add it to the bolognaise for 30 to 45 min while I do salad.
Wed will also be a slow cooker dinner of shepards pie using frozen mash, but filled with veggies.
Left overs on Thursday and pizza on Friday.
All are minimum prep and one pot or tray.
I plan and shop according to the week ahead and assign prep or partial prep to others in the house

I like Nathan Anthony bored with lunch and his other books for quick ideas I think he is on Facebook etc

The roasting tin series are a good shout.

River cottage did two veg centric books, you probably want the older one - everyday veg/veg everyday for more basic less trendy vegan options.

What sort of food do you enjoy? Do you like salad/raw veg? As summer is finally here you could easily add a salad course or plate of roast veg to your main meal.

Thank you for the suggestions! I was a bit worried I'd get lynched for the restricted diets

We don't really "do" tray bakes so I hadn't thought to explore those, thank you! I'll have a good look at the recommended books. He's more a chicken nuggets level of bunging in the oven but doesn't even think to do anything healthy as a side dish.

I've got the bored of lunch series but don't find that he uses much by way of veg - it's very meat and carb heavy besides the odd pepper or very occasional carrot! We like his honey mustard chicken though and the honey sesame stuff.

Salad wise we're limited to iceberg lettuce, grated carrot, cucumber, and grapes. With no dressing. It's about as boring as it gets sadly.

We eat a lot of stuff in sauce when I cook, a lot of pasta too. Not fans of the texture of chicken thigh so I tend to stick to breast or drumsticks. I've got a full stock of herbs and spices and shamefully very little idea how to actually use them short of following full recipes! I get bored easily which doesn't help because I then skip joining the kids for meals, so I try to make things with a decent amount of flavour without being too much to scare the kids off!

How about a chicken curry with a shit ton of veg blended in to make a smooth sauce?
Do you eat fish? Eggs?

I haven't any idea how to do that, though learned how to make katsu recently! The only curry we really eat is korma but I'd welcome any info/links/books on how to get veg into that!

We don't eat fish, I eat eggs as does one child, DH and the other child don't. It's an absolute nightmare meal planning 🙈

Do a plate of crudités then. Carrots, cucumber, grapes, cauliflower (raw or roasted), peppers. Fruit too if you like. I’d have a dip of some sort but it’s not obligatory.

Bolognaise or chilli can be made with 5% mince and you can add lots of veg to the sauce (blend it if you like). It’s easy to batch cook and freeze portions too.

Tray bake fajitas is easy and you could pre prep. Chicken, peppers, onion (leave it out if you don’t like it) fajita/taco seasoning and wack in the frying pan or oven when you’re ready. Serve with wraps and whatever extras you like

Genuinely never thought to do raw stuff on the side. Pretty sure I'm the only one who'd eat it but I'm presuming I could do a couple of days worth in one go and keep it in the fridge?

I've never managed a chilli successfully because of the beans - the texture's one that nobody can hack. Bolognaise is one of our few successful meals though - I tend to make the sauce separately and puree it then add in with the mince.

I've never thought to do fajitas in the oven! It's one DH sometimes cooks, but literally chicken with a sachet, cheese and a wrap so it's one I'm planning to take over and do veg with separately so that the change isn't too much of a shock for the kids. That sounds like it might work well with something like taco shells though so that they don't clock that it's the same but different, thank you. Presumably traybakes mean I can prep earlier in the day too and store until ready to throw them in which sounds loads easier.

Tray bake options are endless because you can switch your meat or proteins around (put the meat or protein in either first if its going to take a long time or last if its quicker cooking like fish)

Nothing wrong with basic root veg but experiment with other stuff that you can fling in, chopped cabbage, spinach which will wilt gently, olives, beetroot (buy this ready done in packets), tomatoes, sweet potatoes, squashes, aubergine, courgettes, mini corn, big corn, peas if thrown in last minute, green beans, radishes, brocolli, cauliflower, swede, turnip, chard.

Then you switch up your spices and seasoning, perhaps some coconut milk to make it more of a stewy curry thing.

You can have a different meal every single night just from swapping round the flavours and the meat even if you stick to the same sort of veg and introdcue something different now and then

Also soup to get in the things that are a bit more tricky, blend it up, serve with a nice chunk of bread or cheese sandwich.