healthy ready meals

With the cold nip of winter already in the air, now’s the perfect time to keep warm and toasty indoors and look through our latest brochure. It’s packed with a variety of wholesome and delicious home delivered ready meals – which makes stocking up on easy-to-prepare dinners simple and convenient. Along with all the classic favourites such as stews and casseroles, hearty soups and comforting hot desserts, the Oakhouse Foods chefs have been busy creating some tempting new recipes that are perfect for the chilly nights ahead. You’ll find some of these in our new Winters Wonders Pack, which offers a wonderful choice of recipes for this season including: Steak Diane, Mediterranean Chicken, Luxury Roast Pork, Fish & Potato Gratin and Four Cheese Ravioli.

With temperatures set to soar this week, we’re picturing sparkling blue seas, olive groves and a table set with delicious Mediterranean food. Renowned as one of the healthiest diets in the world, there couldn’t be a better time to give it a try. From juicy, sun ripened tomatoes and salad drizzled in olive oil to succulent seafood, traditional dishes enjoyed in southern France, Spain, Italy and Greece are full of the nutrients needed for healthy ageing. In fact, people who follow a Mediterranean diet tend to have a lower risk of developing age-related health problems including heart disease, stroke, diabetes and even Alzheimer’s. We take a look at the common ingredients in Mediterranean meals and some simple ways to include them in your day-to-day diet.

It’s Carers Week, and we’re sharing our top tips for making sure you and the person you care for enjoy a balanced diet. Being a carer for a loved one comes with a whole host of challenges – particularly when it comes to mealtimes. Whether because of illness, disability or becoming less active, many people can find it difficult to eat or find that their dietary needs or appetite have changed. Here a few ways to make mealtimes easier, and help the person you care for get the nutrients they need:

As the weather gets warmer, we take a look at some refreshing, flavour-packed smoothies to help you keep cool.  If you find getting your 5 a day can sometimes be a chore, try drinking, rather than eating them. Digging out the blender and making a juice or smoothie is a simple, tasty way to pack loads of fruit (and even vegetables) into your daily diet. And because smoothies are thicker than other liquids, they’re also a great refreshment option for people with difficulties swallowing.

Spicy food can be just the thing in the warmer weather but there’s another great reason to try something new and exotic. From soothing joint pain to easing indigestion, we look at the surprising health benefits thought to be behind some of our favourite spices. They are the secret behind some of our most popular ready meals, from curries and Mediterranean classics to warming desserts. But far from simply adding mouth-watering flavours, these small yet powerful seasonings are believed to be good for us, too.

We’re all used to hearing about how exercise and a balanced diet help keep our hearts healthy. But a healthy lifestyle is also essential for looking after your brain. Here we explore some tips that could reduce your chances of developing Alzheimer’s in later life. Alzheimer’s disease affects the brain, causing a range of symptoms such as memory loss, difficulty concentrating and becoming confused and disorientated. Although no main cause has been found, people who keep their blood pressure, cholesterol and weight in check are less likely to develop Alzheimer’s as they get older.

For those who follow a diet without gluten – whether because of Coeliac disease or a wheat intolerance – finding quick and easy dinners can be a challenge. But with Oakhouse, there’s no need to spend hours in the kitchen each day, thanks to our selection of delicious, gluten-free ready meals. Many people who have to avoid ingredients containing gluten – such as wheat, barley and rye – choose to prepare meals from scratch. However, for anyone who finds it difficult to cook each day, it isn’t always easy to find simple-to-make, gluten free dishes. That’s because gluten can crop up where you least expect it, in anything from soups and sauces to some supermarket ready meals.

Along with a balanced diet, regular exercise is really important for staying happy and healthy as we age. Here we look at some popular ways to stay fit – ranging from outdoor hobbies to group classes. Getting older can sometimes make it difficult to exercise regularly. But staying active can have so many benefits. From simple things like getting out of your chair more easily, to staying steady on your feet and avoiding falls. This doesn’t mean we all need to take up jogging round the park. There are plenty of gentle forms of exercise that make a real difference to your health – and provide great reasons for leaving the house and meeting new people.

Cholesterol is a word that we hear an increasing amount as we age, but many people are still unaware of what cholesterol is and the dangers it can pose. Cholesterol is an essential fatty substance that is carried around the body in your bloodstream. When cholesterol combines with proteins they become lipoproteins. There are two main types, which have very different effects on the body:

Veganism is a much misunderstood lifestyle. Often seen as just a more extreme version of vegetarianism, there are a lot of misconceptions about choosing to live a life free of animal products. Read on to learn more about World Vegan Month and the delicious vegan ready meals Oakhouse Foods has to offer. World Vegan Month runs throughout November and celebrates the founding of the world’s first vegan movement, which began back in 1944. The word vegan was picked by the founder, Donald Watson, which, unsurprisingly, took inspiration from the word Vegetarian.