A mother I know who works full time mentioned to me how difficult it is to cook for her family during the week. She typically leaves home at 6.30am and gets home at 7pm. The kids are often crabby and hungry by then, and the last thing she wants to do is to start cooking.

Indeed, a recent study commissioned by insurance company Aviva found that increasingly, young people are relying on fast food. Pizza is the most popular, with the Under 35 ordering it a whopping TEN TIMES A MONTH!  Parents with young children and those who work full time are more likely to order takeaway food than other segments of society, giving business to foods delivery companies such as UberEat, Deliveroo and Amazon. The reliance on takeaway food is set to rise, as recent predictions that spending on hot takeaway food in Britain is expected to treble by 2020. You can read the article here.

This is a short clip about the hazards of eating junk food, which is often high in additives, preservatives, artificial flavourings, salt, sugar and fats.  The source is ETH Zurich, one of the highly respected institutions so I watched it:

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To watch, please click https://www.facebook.com/plugins/video.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Fworldeconomicforum%2Fvideos%2F10153957531601479%2F&show_text=0&width=400” target=”_blank”>here.

My partner, who had been cavalier about organic, home-cooked food, admitted grudgingly that he feels better after a few days of home-cooked food. So please browse the Soul Food section of this blog for ideas for healthy, home-cooked fast food.

My suggestions for the busy working person:

  1. Always have stock ready in the freezer. This can be converted into soups, stews, casseroles, congee, instant ‘noodles’ (substituting with spaghetti).
  2. Always have bags of chopped fruits and vegetables in the freezer. You can easily empty a bag into the blender for a healthy smoothie or into a soup pot for soups.
  3. You might want to invest in a crockpot or slow cooker so that you can put the raw ingredients into the pot before you leave home in the morning.
  4. Prepare meals-in-a-bag at the weekend (e.g. stir fry).
  5. Make a big jar of salad dressing to jazz up boring weekday salad. Try pomegranate vinaigrette (link below).
  6. Buy bags of salad (readymade if necessary) to supplement your diet.
  7. Your family might object to the change in regime, but if you introduce the change slowly (2 days’ a week perhaps?), it will become your new healthier and happier lifestyle ❤

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Pomegranate vinaigrette

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