Delicious Ready Meals for a Healthy Family

As I mentioned earlier in the week, I’m now following a different eating plan courtesy of FitChef.

It has been an awesome learning experience by trying new meals and also being introduced to the Paleo-style eating regime. It has gotten me thinking about new meals I can introduce to the rest of my family.

The convenience of having these meals has been great. It has reduced one element of my day and that is: feeding myself. I am freed up to focus on my children’s eating more and to spend a little more time with them in the evenings rather than running around like a blue-ass fly looking for what to make everyone for dinner!

Other than convenience, the meals have been extremely enjoyable. I definitely have identified my favourites, so will be giving you a quick run down on each below.

The key with the eating plan is definitely to reduce carbs like breads, sugars, etc. The meals I received were made up of 3 types of meals: Health+Plus, Active-Diet and Smoothies.

Health+Plus Meals

The Health+Plus meals are served with carbs like rice or potato. The meals I received from this range, I eat for lunch and I eat the low-carb meals (Active-Diet) at dinner time.

I received the following meals for Health+Plus:

Beef Stroganoff & Wild Rice (Dairy Free)
Vegetarian Fresh Pesto, Roasted Veg Penne Pasta (Wholewheat Pasta)
Fresh Pesto, Chicken with Penne Pasta (Wholewheat Pasta)
Mediterranean Chicken
Chicken Thai Curry Butternut & Veg
Vegetarian Thai Curry Butternut & Veg
Chicken Green Thai Curry Brown/wild Rice
Vegetarian Green Thai Curry Brown/wild Rice
Rolled Oats with Cranberry, Nuts, Apple Cinnamon

My favourites are definitely the Thai curry meals – they are totally my favourite along with the Rolled Oats for breakfast. The Fresh Pesto, Chicken and Penne Pasta was divine – I used my entire supply of that in my first week, so that should give you a fair idea how good it was!

Active-Diet Meals

The Active-Diet meals are the meals I eat at dinner time. They are low carb and Low GI – perfect for the end of the day when we are all winding down towards bedtime.

The Active-Diet meals I received included:

Xtra-lean beef ‘cautage’ pie (Low GI cauli-mash)
Chicken roasted veg & Cauli-mash (Low GI cauliflower-mash)
Chicken Roll ups, French Peas & Carrot Mash
Vegetarian Sweet Potato, French Peas & Carrot Mash

If you are wondering about the Cauli-mash, at first I was a bit sceptical, but it tastes GREAT! My 2 year old tries to grab some when I’m eating because he’s caught onto it! It has a lemon taste and it’s pretty much like having mash potato – without the heavy carbohydrate aspect!

Smoothies

I have to admit, I’ve never been a huge smoothie drinker, but now it’s become a daily routine for me. I drink 2 per day and they are great for when you have a sugar craving or energy slump. The smoothies I received included the following:

Fruity Green Smoothies (FGS)
Carrot, Orange, Butternut, Apple Smoothie (COBA)
Xtra Fruity Green Smoothy (XFGS)
Grape, Apple, Beetroot & Pear (GAP)

The Green smoothies take a bit of getting used to, but after a few days, they taste great. The Carrot, Orange, Butternut, Apple Smoothie is really nice. It’s sweet and I never actually realised there was butternut in it until I read the label the other day after having had one before.

There are 2 types of green smoothies – the Xtra Fruity Green Smoothie is the sweeter one, so if you battle with green smoothies, this may be a good introduction to the green smoothie. Also, Xtra Fruity Green Smoothie is definitely worth trying to give to your kids for good supplementation!

More Information

If you would like more information on FitChef, make sure to check out their website. They have an incredibly supportive and active Facebook channel as well AND they do giveaways regularly, so make sure to keep an eye out. Here’s their info:

Website: http://www.fitchef.co.za
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/fitcheffood

Gallery of Meals

Below, you will find photos of the actual meals served on a plate. Sometimes, meals in photos don’t always look like that in “real life” – these are real life shots and meals I have eaten! Be warned: You may feel hungry after looking at these! Healthy looks pretty good, don’t you think!?