How To Eat Healthy At Home

When you are at home all day, it's still possible to make healthy, nutritious food that you can enjoy at meal times. Working with pantry staples and whatever you have in the fridge or freezer, you can create simple, delicious meals to keep your body healthy. 

Get creative by substituting the ingredients that you have into these healthy, nutritious dishes. 

Get recipes for: 

• Healthy breakfasts

• Lunches to make at home

• Simple dinners to cook

• Nutritious snacks

Healthy breakfasts

When you start your day with a healthy meal, it can make it easier to keep a clear head and stay focused on your daily tasks. 

If you are at home, you’re probably saving time on your commute, which means you might have a little extra time to spend preparing a nutritious breakfast that will satisfy you through the morning. 

Here are some delicious options that you can try to start your day in a healthy, positive way. 

Pancakes

If you love eating pancakes but you are looking for a healthy alternative to flour, try making these 3 ingredient protein pancakes! 

You can use different toppings like frozen berries and cashew cream or savoury toppings like sauteed mushrooms and chives to suit your taste, and provide variety to your breakfasts. 

Avocado toast

You might not think that this breakfast favourite requires a recipe, but here are five variatons of avocado toast that use different toppings to give this simple dish a mix of flavours and textures. 

Black bean, sweet potato and corn hash

This vegetable-packed breakfast is the ideal way to start a day at home — it would also make a delicious lunch! All you need is sweet potato and a few canned ingredients and spices. 

If you have a herb garden, select any fresh herb to go with it, otherwise dried or minced herbs make a good substitute. 

Lunches to make at home

Eating a nutritious lunch will help you to meet your macronutrient requirements and get through the afternoon with more energy. 

Sweet potato toast

Sweet potatoes are great because they keep well when stored in a dry, cool environment — you can also keep them in your fridge. When you need a quick and healthy meal, you can make sweet potato toast and top it with your favourite toppings. 

Try it with nut butter and cinnamon for something different, or add ricotta and your choice of sliced vegetables. 

Vegan red curry

This vegan curry recipe uses pantry staples that you might have on hand like chickpeas and coconut milk. You can substitute frozen vegetables if you don’t have fresh vegetables available. 

This dish stores well, so you can make a big batch and keep some in the fridge or freezer for another day. 

Roasted vegetable pizza

If you’re making a single serve of pizza for lunch, this recipe is just right! Substitute the vegetables for chargrilled or canned vegetables where needed. 

If you don’t have fresh vegetables, tinned mushroom, sundried tomato or chargrilled capsicum straight from the pantry can make delicious toppings.  

Simple dinners

The food that you eat can have a positive effect on how your body feels — it’s important that you have nutritionally balanced meals that include protein each day, even when you aren’t as active. 

Another way you can nourish your body and help your digestion is by ensuring you include prebiotic foods in your daily meals. Dinner is a great time to include these ingredients in your cooking — here are some recipes you can use to include prebiotics like leeks, garlic, beans, along with a variety of other vegetables.

Middle Eastern spiced chicken with turmeric

Chicken is such a versatile protein source — and this spiced chicken recipe is a new and delicious way to prepare it. Substitute celery, Chinese cabbage or Belgian endive if you don’t have fennel. 

Butternut squash and spinach lasagne 

This vegetarian lasagne is easy to make and you can freeze any unused portions. If you don’t have the ingredients listed, make some substitutions. 

For example, you can use canned lentils instead of the dry variety, and simply replace the three types of cheese with any grated cheese you have available.

Shrimp fajitas

These shrimp fajitas can be ready in half an hour, so they are a great meal when you don’t feel like spending a lot of time cooking. You can make it with frozen shrimp, or for a plant-based alternative, use black beans in place of the shrimp. 

Nutritious snacks

When you are home all day it can be much easier to snack because you are near the kitchen! Making healthy choices is easier with these nutritious snack ideas — they can keep you feeling energised during the day. 

Coffee smoothie

Sometimes a mid-morning pick-me-up is exactly what you need. This coffee smoothie can help to refresh your focus for the day — it requires a little bit of forward planning to make coffee ice cubes the night before, but it is definitely worth the effort!

Chocolate tahini banana nice cream

Sweetened with dates, this chocolate nice cream recipe is a healthy alternative for ice-cream lovers. 

Bliss balls

Protein balls or bliss balls are a simple snack that can satisfy your mid-morning cravings. You can use any type of nuts in place of almonds — get creative! Try using almond meal or an LSA mix to vary the flavour.   

These three recipes are just to inspire you — you can create your own variation and share it in the SWEAT forum!

Make your meals and snacks nutritious when you are at home

Setting aside time each day to eat healthy meals that nourish your body is so important! When your schedule is disrupted and you are at home more than usual, mealtimes can be one opportunity to provide a purposeful structure to your day. 

Try to use this time to eat mindfully, taking a break from your work, tasks and other daily activities.