Whole-food recipes and where to find more
The nutrition page makes one argument: whole, unprocessed food, in balance. These are four meals that fit it, each simple enough to cook after a long day. Below them are free collections from sources worth trusting.
Oats with fruit and nuts
Half a cup of rolled oats, one cup of milk or water, simmered five minutes. Top with a handful of berries, a spoon of nut butter or a scatter of chopped walnuts, and a pinch of salt. Cinnamon if you like it. Slow carbohydrate, some protein and fat, and it takes less time than a drive-through.
Eggs, greens, and sweet potato
Cube a sweet potato and roast at 220°C for twenty-five minutes with olive oil and salt. Wilt a big handful of spinach or kale in the same pan you then fry two or three eggs in. Plate it all together with hot sauce or lemon. Works for breakfast, lunch, or after training.
Salmon or trout with roasted vegetables
A fillet per person, skin on, salt and pepper, into a 200°C oven for twelve to fifteen minutes. Roast a tray of whatever vegetables are cheap that week alongside it: broccoli, carrots, onion, squash, tossed in olive oil. Finish the fish with lemon. Frozen fillets are fine and cheaper.
Big lentil and vegetable soup
A pot, an onion, two carrots, two celery stalks, softened in olive oil. Add a cup and a half of dried lentils, a can of tomatoes, six cups of stock or water, a bay leaf, and salt. Simmer forty minutes. Stir in a bunch of chopped greens at the end. Makes four or five meals and freezes well.
Where to find more
- Canada’s Food Guide recipes — Health Canada’s own collection, searchable, free.
- Cookspiration — from Dietitians of Canada, organised by time of day and situation.
- UnlockFood.ca recipes — also from Dietitians of Canada, with articles on nutrition questions.
- Heart & Stroke recipes — heart-healthy, tested, Canadian.
- Harvard Nutrition Source recipes — whole-food focused, with the evidence behind each choice.
- BBC Good Food healthy recipes — large, well tested, metric.