Sometimes it’s difficult to keep track of the latest healthy eating trends. Microwave meals and frozen food are two topics that get raised time and time again, often with a lot of incorrect information. We’ve pulled together the six most common statements we hear about microwave and frozen food and the truth behind them.
1. Frozen Food is Less Healthy Than Fresh or Tinned Food. True or False?
False: Freezing is a modern and safe way of preserving, keeping the flavour and the freshness of vegetables whilst retaining nutrients. Freezing is a natural preservation process that doesn’t need chemicals. Some scientific studies have shown that frozen food can contain more nutrients than the food you buy fresh. This is because fresh vegetables might have been harvested days before arriving in the supermarket and then stood for a few more days on the shelf before being purchased and then sat in a fridge at home before being cooked.
Our new range of delicious meals and desserts is finally here and it’s full of hearty recipes that are sure to warm your cockles this season.
Classics made easy
Comforting winter classics like casseroles and pies often take time to prepare from scratch. Thanks to our easy to cook meals, you can enjoy your favourite recipes without spending hours slaving over a hot stove. From Roast Dinners to Cottage Pie and more, we’ve got all the usual suspects and this season we’ve added some great new flavours to the menu too. Why not try our delicious Hunter’s Pie made with rich venison for a tasty traditional recipe with a twist?
If you've thought about trying a diet with less meat there are plenty of benefits to going vegetarian or even just cutting out meat one day a week. Meat Free Mondays are a great way to incorporate vegetarian meals into your diet and make a difference to your health and to the environment.
Health benefits
There are many health benefits to eating less meat including having a lower risk of heart disease and type 2 diabetes. Vegetarians tend to have lower cholesterol and eat less saturated fat than those who eat meat every day and following a more plant based diet often makes it easier to maintain a healthy weight. Because of these health benefits, vegetarians and vegans also live longer on average than those who eat meat every day.
Watching the pennies
Eating veggie can be kinder to your pockets with lentils, pulses, fruit and veg often cheaper than buying meat. And there are plenty of tasty meat substitute products available these days, making it easier than ever to enjoy meat-free versions of your favourite meals.
As we age it is important to look after our bones and our joints, as we can be more prone to problems like osteoporosis and osteoarthritis. The most common type of arthritis in the UK, osteoarthritis affects
the cartilage between our joints and is most likely to occur in the knees, hips and small joints in the hand.
Your weight can have an impact on the osteoarthritis of the hips and knees as it increases the pressure on them. If you are watching your weight why not try smaller portions with our popular Mini Meals range? This range has some of our favourite dishes but in a smaller portion so you don't feel like you are missing out on your usual tasty meals from Oakhouse!
The best way to keep your heart healthy is through your diet and we have explained some of the easiest changes you can make. Heart-healthy lifestyle habits will also benefit your general wellbeing whilst reducing your risks of heart disease and lowering your cholesterol levels.
Fruit and vegetables should make up a third of our diets so you should be having at least 5 portions a day. This can be hard so why not try adding frozen vegetables to dishes? We have some great choices like Broccoli and our Baby Carrots. Always aim for a colourful plate; variety is the spice of life and with a larger variety means more of the good things like fibre, vitamins and minerals.
Eating more fibre will also help lower your risk of heart disease, aiming for 30 grams a day from a variety of sources like Wholemeal Bread, Oats, Wholegrain Cereals, Potatoes with their skins and of course fruit and vegetables.
Cutting down on your saturated fat is always a great way to lower your cholesterol levels - using leaner cuts of meat and lower fat dairy varieties will help so try using skimmed rather than whole milk.
Winter is here, the nights are drawing in and the heaters are on! Although it is comforting to settle down in front of the TV with a blanket and a cup of warming cocoa it is still important to keep fit and well in the winter months. Eating healthy will keep you alert, energised and help protect
We’ve all been in a position where the lure of fast food and sugary, salty snacks has been too strong to ignore. That could soon be a thing of a past, if a new study from the USA is to be believed.
Would you rather eat a juicy burger or a stick of celery as a treat? For most of us there’s no question! Most of us know that low-fat, low-salt and freshly cooked food is better for us, but we’ve all made bad food choices at one time or another. Scientists at Tufts University have recently published their findings into what makes us crave unhealthy food, and they appear to have discovered the secrets of over-indulgence!
There has been a large increase in demand for meals to be made without certain ingredients to cater for a wide variety of dietary requirements due to a heightened level of awareness of allergens. However, due to the increase in demand, manufacturers and re-sellers have cottoned on to this; in turn increasing prices for the customer.
Thanks to this almost unscrupulous move by the providers to wring more profit from this sector, the gross worth of this market has increased by almost £600 million in only 5 years; now worth an astonishing £806 million.
Do people with diabetes need a special diet? Not according to the Food Standards Agency. New guidance is revealing that following a healthy diet is now enough to help combat the effects of diabetes.
Essentially this means that all “suitable for diabetics” labelling and diabetic meal plans will be replaced with the same diet advice that applies to everyone, whether they have diabetes or not. Leading diabetes organisations say that having a balanced diet is the healthiest approach to managing the disease, and you should aim to eat a variety of food from the following groups:
If you enjoy flavours and ingredients from around the world but you don’t have the time or culinary skills to create exotic dishes from scratch, don’t worry: we have developed a range of global frozen meals that will appeal to all taste buds.
The great thing about our selection of ready meals is that different family members can choose exactly what they’d like on the dinner menu. So, if you have a craving for curry but someone else has been looking forward to Chinese food, no one will be disappointed – in fact, you could make it a truly global evening, with a dining table full of different dishes from around the world.
