Whether you have a chaotic work schedule or busy family life, we all understand the struggle of planning and preparing nutritious meals each day while juggling competing priorities. Although home cooked meals are ideal where possible, there is an ever-growing list of companies that strive to provide healthier ready-meal alternatives. Here’s how to choose a healthy microwave meal:
- Visually assess the ingredients in the meal and see how they compare to the Healthy Plate portion guide. Remember, a balanced meal should contain ½ low starch vegetables, 2/3 lean protein and <¼ low GI (complex) carbohydrate*
- Consider the overall meal size. For most people, 350g or less is a reasonable serve size. If you’ve had a weight loss procedure that limits your portion capacity, this may still be too large. Some brands make smaller serves of around 200-250g, or you can split meals and save the leftovers for another time.
- Check the label and ingredients list! Look for products that contain (per serve):
- ~400 calories or less
- 20g protein or more
- 30g carb or less (allow more carb if the meal is vegetarian/ vegan)
- 6g fibre or more
- 10g fat or less per 100g
For people who like to plan ahead for meals, you might like to explore online delivery services so you’ve got your week sorted in advance. Thankfully there’s also lots of options available in supermarkets so you can pick up meals as needed. Here’s a few of our favourite brands:
- My Muscle Chef
- Strength Meals Co
- YouFoodz
- Coles Perform Lean meals
- Fitness Outcomes
*Many ready-meals are packed with refined starchy carbs like white rice and pasta as ‘filler’ foods; these ingredients are a cost-effective way for companies to make their product. Favour meals that have a higher veg : carb ratio.