by Olwen Anderson

Created on: January 26, 2009

As I locked up my clinic last night, I got a surprise. Across the road is a famous (national brand) pizza take-away. Its often open when I head home; but what surprised me tonight was the number of customers. People were queued out to the street waiting to order their dinner. It made me wonder how often people eat takeaway as their evening meal. I know I prefer to eat at home - the food there is simpler, healthier, and often prepared just as quickly.

Although occasional fast food is not so harmful (by 'occasional' I mean once every three months or so), it occurred to me that some people might not know the strategies cooks use to put together a fast, nutritious meal at home that will boost their health. Qualified chefs seem to be able to put a glamorous meal together within minutes, but most of us do not have the same level of expertise!

I would like to offer you some alternatives to save you from yet another take away dinner, and suggest some of the home made, more delicious alternatives that can be prepared in around the same amount of time as it takes you to wait for your pizza order.

Most fast food is extremely processed, with a high proportion of salt, sugar, fat, preservatives and additives; low in fibre and nutrients. A natural, healthy diet, in comparison, contains a wide variety of unprocessed or raw foods, prepared as freshly as possible. But if you are a busy householder pressed for time, it may seem that there is just not enough time to prepare a spectacular feast from scratch every night. Here are some ideas to help you bridge the gap, and serve up some healthy meals for your family:

1. Obtain a slow cooker. These wonderful devices can cook your meat or chicken while you're at work, then all you have to do is steam accompanying vegetables when you get home.

2. Keep that barbeque on the verandah operational over winter. This is a fast way to cook chicken or fish, then serve with some salad or steamed vegetables. If you do not have a barbeque, then a stove top char grill will do.

3. If you own a wok, meals can be created in just a few minutes using meat, vegetables and a spicy sauce.

4. When you create a labour intensive dish for dinner like tuna mornay or lasagne, make double. Serve half, and freeze the other half to reheat on a busy night.

5. Preparing a simple home made soup from scratch only takes 30 minutes. You could serve it with wholemeal bread on a cold winter's night.

Taking a few minutes to prepare home cooked meals will give you and your family a better standard of nutrition. It will be easier on your wallet, and you will come to enjoy home cooking more too!

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