5 essential ingredients to buy in bulk  

Busy? Tired? Don't know what to cook at the end of a long day? Here are 5 ingredients to keep in the house so you can always produce a quick, easy and healthy meal for yourself and/or your family.

1. Eggs 
Eggs are nutritious, easy and versatile. Mix them with veggies and a little milk to create delicious scrambled eggs or omelettes. Poach, boil or fry (in a little vegetable oil) and serve on multigrain or rye bread with some salad. Or make a delicious frittata by mixing eggs, veggies (freshly grated or leftover steamed or roast veg), a dash of milk, some flour and low fat cheese. Prepare in 2 minutes, then bake for 45 minutes.

2. Frozen Veggies and canned tomatoes (preferably reduced salt)
One thing to improve any diet is to eat more fruits and veggies. Veggies are full of fibre, vitamins and minerals and they protect us from disease. They are low in calories so great for weight control.

If you don't have time to get anything fresh, don’t worry! Make sure the freezer is well stocked. Frozen veggies are still high in nutrients as they’re frozen straight from picking. To retain these nutrients make sure to steam or stir-fry rather than boiling your veggies.  

Canned tomatoes can be the base for many quick, delicious meals; minestrone soup, pasta sauces, ratatouille and stews.

Aim for half your plate to be veggies.

3. Canned fish
Fish contains omega 3 fatty acids, which have been linked to disease prevention and are great for your brain, heart and eyes.

Try salmon or tuna on top of salad or pasta, make it into patties, or toast some in a sandwich or wrap.  For sustainably caught fish look for the blue MSC fish symbol on the label.

4. Whole Grains 
Whole grains are the favourite energy for your brain and muscles.  This includes basmati or brown rice, pasta, polenta, quinoa, oats, polenta and wholemeal/multi-grain breads/wraps or crackers. These foods should fill about 1/4 of your dinner plate.  Keep a stock of whole grains in your cupboard. Team them with some lean meat, fish, eggs and veggies for a nutritious and easy meal. 

5. Legumes – canned or dried beans, peas, lentils and tofu
Legumes (any peas or beans that aren’t green) are considered both vegetables and meat alternative, making them perfect for easy dinners. Four bean mix with some balsamic vinegar is a tasty salad. Try a baked bean toasted sandwich. Firm tofu (found in the fridge section of the supermarket) is great in stir-fries with veggies. Lentils or red kidney beans are delicious in a quick sauce; just add some canned tomatoes and fresh or dried mixed herbs. Delicious with pasta, polenta or on top of rice.

What are your essential ingredients?

I've taught my kids about the different food groups and what's in it for them when they eat these foods. We have a nice magnet on the fridge that we often point too. "Look we've eaten lots of grains already today, so lets have some colours"

- Colours is the secret to success (whatever you want to be good at these are your super powers). We discuss how our bodies need over double the amount of vegies than fruit in a day
- Whole grains for energy and concentration
- Protein for strength (the lego for your body)
- Dairy for strong bones 

We also often talk about balance. If you ate nothing but whole grains for energy, you wouldn't have enough lego blocks to grow.  So how does this relate to meal times? 

At home we tend to save dairy and fruits for snacks, so we aim for our dinner plate to look something like this:

1/2 your plate filled with different coloured vegetables. Aim for at least a traffic light of vegetables on your plate. Steamed, roasted, salad, stir fry, frozen (and steamed), in curries, sauces, soups. Involve the kids when choosing veggies. What greens would you like today? How about choosing something red for your plate? 

1/ 4 whole grains. Try brown or basmati rice, wraps, pasta, potato,  couscous, quinoa, polenta 

1/4 protein. Include and rotate lean meat, chicken, eggs, fish, tofu, lentils and beans, nuts. 

I have to admit that I haven't been planning my meals lately. So at about 3pm, I search the fridge, raid the freezer or make a quick dash to the shops. This week I've decided that I need to reduce my 3pm stress and the time I spend shopping and start meal planning again. 

I aim for our dinner plates to be half veggies, a quarter meat/tofu/beans and a quarter wholegrains. I use my meal planning to get a balance between meat, fish and vegetarian meals. 

What better place to write my plans than here: 

Monday (we have leftover meat/eggplant sauce)
Make your own wraps: Home-made tortillas with leftover sauce, guacamole, grated cheese, spinach, tomatoes, red capsicum

Tuesday (our only night without after school activities)
Roast chicken, roasted veg (sweet potato, potato, carrots, cauliflower), mushroom sauce, steamed greens (peas and broccoli), zucchini fritters (if I have time)  

Wednesday (children's request - we are taking a small break from frittata Wednesday this term) 
Calamari, soy sausages and salad 

Thursday (out latest night home so need something I can prepare)
Tofu san choy bow (I saw a recipe I wanted to try - I'll post it if successful) 

Friday
Cashew chicken, veggie curry and brown rice

Saturday (I'm working late, so need a meal I can prepare in advance and my partner can hopefully manage to put it in the oven)
Tuna pasta bake (pasta, tuna, corn and tinned tomatoes or tomato soup) and salad

Sunday (I'm working and my partner is doing Ride Around The Bay) Cottage pie (made by my mum: finger's crossed. Surely my blog is an appropriate place to ask her?)

We are considering changing our name from Making Food Fun (any ideas?). Let me tell you the story of how we came to be Making Food Fun and why we are considering a change...

8 years ago I opened my private practice. A keen, enthusiastic young mum and dietitian.  We called it Food Forethought (think before you eat). 

I enjoyed the work we were doing in group sessions and learned so, so much from feeding my own children, and over time the business changed. Eventually I closed my private practice to focus entirely on kids, family and corporate cooking and nutrition activities, from an individual focus to group focus. 

When I was describing to someone what my new business did I described it as Making Healthy Food Fun.  We dropped the word healthy as we felt it could alienate some people (especially kids). We wanted everyone to join in and to enjoy making and eating a veggie filled wrap as much as decorating a cupcake. We soon created The Colourful Chef and the fun expanded. 

So what's the problem with our name? Well, some people think that Making Food Fun is about making fruit and vegetables into the shapes of dogs, rocket ships and flowers to get their kids to eat - - it's not! 

Healthy eating shouldn't be time consuming or difficult. It should be an enjoyable, everyday lifestyle. Making Food Fun doesn't immediately tell our audience that what we do is simply based on getting Australians to eat more colours (fruits and vegetables). This is both good and bad. 

Making Food Fun is about inspiring all people to eat more fruit and veggies, taking away the barriers and giving practical ideas and tips on how to easily feed your family. Taking family meal times back, making them less stressful and more fun. 

I'd love to hear your thoughts on our name.  Read the blog, see our Facebook page. Are we Making Food Fun?