5 tips to make supper supremely healthy

Cooking proper meals often seems too time- and energy-consuming, especially after a long work day. These simple strategies will help you cut down on cooking time while keeping a balanced diet.

Then start each meal during the week with a cup. Studies show watery foods such as soup tend to fill up the stomach, making you feel full quicker, despite being relatively low in calories. This also makes cooking the rest of the meal a little less demanding.

• Imagine popping a few ingredients – chicken, a few vegetables, barley and stock – into a slow cooker before you leave the house in the morning and coming home to a satisfyingly healthy home-cooked meal.
• Or waking up to the delicious aroma of bread in the timed breadmaker. These gadgets can make life simpler and tastier.

No one expects you to come up with a new meal every night.

• Pick three low-fuss, nutritious recipes that you and the family enjoy and, most importantly, that you can almost cook in your sleep.
• You might designate Monday as pasta or casserole night, Tuesday as grilled fish night and Wednesday as roasted chicken night.
• Include similar vegetable and grain side dishes as well.
• This eases the headache of grocery shopping – you'll need many of the same groceries from one week to the next.

Rather than eating out whenever you lack the inspiration – or groceries – to cook at home, eat out on a designated night. This makes eating out what it should be – a treat. You'll enjoy the restaurant more and eat more healthily throughout the week.

You'll get more enjoyment from cooking if your mind feels rested and unfettered. Once you get the hang of a new recipe, you can incorporate it into your weeknight repertoire.