Page 11 - Cook with Ease: Tips and Recipes for Small Families - Serving 1-2

Chapter 1
Basic Knowledge

Cooking for family is a headache for those who need to go to work. The
most common difficulties they encounter include:
• Busy life and limited time to prepare meals;

• Lack of food variety resulting from small food portions;
• Difficulty with preparing and cooking due to small food portions;

• Monotonous dishes because of limited food variety; and
• Reduced freshness of ingredients or cooked food owing to prolonged
storage.

That said, if you can spend some thought on planning food combination,
it may not be as difficult as it seems to prepare a healthy, simple, quick and
diversified meal for 1 to 2 people. The following chapters will give you lots of
tips to prepare balanced and tasty meals galore.

2. Health Impacts of Poor Eating Habits

Poor eating habits common to families of 1 to 2 people include:
• Eating out frequently. It could be unhealthy if dishes chosen are high in
fat content and with insufficient vegetables provided;
• Irregular mealtimes and portions (e.g. skipping breakfast, replacing
dinner with afternoon tea or snacking instead of having proper meals).
Some afternoon tea sets contain little or no vegetables and some snacks
contain higher fat, sugar and sodium content (e.g. French toast, BBQ
wings, roasted duck vermincelli, salted nuts); and

• Monotonous meals or frequent consumption of preserved and processed
food (e.g. canned food, Chinese sausages).

These eating habits are commonly referred to as ‘3 High and 1 Low’- high
in fat, sodium, sugar and low in fibre.
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