How to cook ACE healthy meals at home

Want to cook healthily, but always thought it took too much effort and was expensive too?

Then we have created the solution just for you. We call it our ACE meal plans, because every dish is Affordable, Convenient, and Easy to make. They are also deliciously healthy.

And, most importantly, we have created a short video on how to make these dishes taste wonderful straight from your own kitchen. All without any fancy gadgets or a long, complicated ingredients list. If you are looking to live more healthily, lose weight, or even reverse your type 2 diabetes, these ACE recipes are the perfect solution for you. What’s more, you don’t even need any previous cooking knowledge to get started, as our cooking presenters Steve and Emma will talk you through each and every simple step.

Here are just some of the healthy simple meals we are going to show you how to effortlessly cook at home:

Eating healthily has never been so affordable, convenient, and easy.

What’s more, we have used common ingredients across the dishes, so you don’t end up with hundreds of different oils, spices, and herbs that hardly get used and just end up getting thrown away.

Then, to help you make the perfect dish full of healthy flavour, we have a short video for each meal, too.

Best of all, if you follow the ACE Healthy Meal Plan, the meals on average currently cost around £1.82 per serving. Yes healthy, low-carbohydrate, natural foods, bursting full of flavour, simple to prepare and cook, for less than £2!

We are launching with 30 meal ideas (all with instructional videos) and will be adding several more each week. Very shortly all the above recipes will be on the website, followed by even more. All with educational videos full of cooking tips, ideas, and health information too.

Best of all, because we are not linked with any shop or store, we can give you advice on how to best source your ingredients.

How it works

First of all, to really enjoy the awesome flavours, there are some pantry staples we recommend you buy. The average shelf-life from the suggested list is around two months. Yes, it might sound expensive upfront, but on average you will use less than 20 pence worth in each meal. Oh, and by the way, the £1.82 per meal includes this upfront cost. Obviously, if there are any ingredients you know you don’t like, or you have already, then just leave them out.

Why not print off the below staples list? Download and print

Buying Tips

If you have the time, we recommend shopping around your local supermarkets, as they all often have special offers on. Just don’t get enticed to buy anything you don’t need! Tesco and Sainsburys tend to try and price match with Aldi.

Eggs

The best deals tend to be the mixed size trays, as they are more efficient for the farmers and producers. If your budget allows for it, then organic, free-range eggs will be of the best quality. It’s worth noting that in the UK organic chickens are fed a GM-free diet, but that isn’t always the case with free-range chickens. If you see ‘Omega-3’ on the pack, it normally means they included flaxseeds in the food mix for the chickens. Don’t forget to check out any local farms or small holdings near you: as well as being competitively priced, it also means you are eating extremely sustainably.

Minced Pork

It’s often cheaper to buy the higher fat percentage, as lean meat costs more. The bigger weights are also normally cheaper and as they freeze well. You may find your local butchers have deals specifically created for freezing meat in bulk.

Labelling explanations:

‘Organic’ – all pigs must be fed organic food without any antibiotics.

‘Free-range’ – these pigs are born outdoors and remain outdoors for their entire life.

‘Outdoor Bred’ – these pigs are born outdoors but tend to be moved back inside at around four weeks old or once they are weaned.

‘Outdoor Reared’ – Similar to outdoor bred, but here the piglets get to stay out for around half their lives.

Cheese

We advise against buying pre-grated cheese, as they normally use the likes of flour or chemicals to prevent them binding while on the shelf of the store. In most dishes, you can substitute one cheese for several other types of cheese and there often tends to be at least one type of cheese on offer.

Did you know you can freeze cheese? Especially hard cheeses. So, we recommend buying a big block of cheddar, grating it, popping it into sandwich bags and freezing until required. The only cheeses we avoid freezing are the soft / creamier ones like cream cheese, ricotta and cottage cheese: the texture will change considerably once they have been frozen and defrosted.

There are great alternatives to more costly cheeses: instead of feta, look for ‘salad cheese’ or Italian cheese’ instead of Parmesan.

Vegetables and Berries

If possible, try and buy organic and local. And, believe it or not, frozen is often better. Why? Because it is often frozen straight after picking and this tends to lock in more of the nutrition. It also means a lot less food wastage and is often cheaper too.

If you have berries in the freezer, you can thaw them before using or add them straight into some boiling water to thaw more quickly. It’s worth noting, however, that by doing this you will change the structure of the berry making it very soft. When you thaw the berries you will be left with a delicious thick juice. Add a little powdered erythritol, pop it in a jar, keep in fridge and you then have your own cordial to use whenever you want! Full of antioxidants and very good for you. Win-win!

PLAN YOUR MEALS:

We can’t stress how important this is. If you know what you are going to have on a daily / weekly basis then you can look forward to the meals, prep in advance, and budget accordingly.

Write a shopping list and stick to it. You can prepare what you need to buy from the supermarkets in advance and stick to your plan. If you can do online shopping, you will be able to avoid the brightly coloured BOGOF offers. If you don’t plan then you are inevitably more likely to spend more, buy unnecessary ingredients with fewer nutrients or reach for something that’s not good for you at all, simply out of convenience. All our recipes use easy-to-source ingredients, which makes creating nutritious meals as simple as possible.

Snacks:

If you are looking for snacks, we would suggest avoiding packet / processed foods and instead opt for what you probably already have in your fridge / cupboards. We always recommend making sensible snack choices that work for you and fall in the bracket of ACE, food items such as: nuts, seeds, boiled eggs, kale crisps, dark chocolate, cured / dried meats, cooked chicken pieces, full fat cheese, Greek yoghurt, blueberries, nut butters, avocado with sea salt.

There are lots of snack recipes / ideas here on the site so just have a look if you want to make something for the week ahead.

HOW TO FREEZE HERBS:

Here are some of our top tips for storing herbs in the freezer, which we love to do because it helps retain their goodness. You can freeze in portions, ready to pop straight into your cooking.

Frozen herbs can be used in the same quantity as fresh herbs. Although they might seem a little wilted once defrosted, by comparison to fresh herbs, their flavour and nutritional profile will still be strong.

There are few different approaches to freezing herbs, but they should all be washed and allowed to dry before you put them in the freezer. Make sure you label the freezable bag or container with what they each are, too!

If you just require the leaf of the herb then you can remove the stalks and discard. For parsley, basil, coriander, and dill, leave the stems intact.

If you are dividing your herbs into portions, you can chop them up with a sharp knife on a cutting board. Or alternatively pop them in a food processor and pulse them.

You may find it easy to keep your herbs in portions by freezing them in ice cube trays. Simply freeze your prepped herbs in olive oil or water, or you can purée them and then freeze so they are ready to add straight into a dish. We recommend silicone ice cube trays as it makes them a little more accessible.

Another popular idea is to roll the herbs into a block of butter and then chop the butter into portions, packaged in greaseproof paper and freeze – herby butter ready to go!

How long do frozen herbs last?

So long as they are stored and prepared in the right way, herbs will last for up to a year in the freezer.