Healthy food doesn’t need to be boring and there’s no reason your meals can’t still pack a punch, whatever your fitness goal.

These starter tips will turn you from a cautious cook into a kitchen superstar in no time.

Key Takeaways

• Start simple and build on your repertoire once you’re more confident with the plan.
• To keep things easy, think in building blocks: one protein source, one fat source and one (starchy/non-starchy) carbohydrate source.
• Baking, stir-frying, steaming and boiling are all useful methods to help you get started.
• Having a few simple go-to favourites that are quick to prepare for busy days is important.
• Weekends are an opportunity to experiment with new flavours and recipes.
• Recipes in the app are designed for one person but you can multiply the ingredients to match your requirements if you are preparing two or more servings.

Start with the basics

Unless you are an experienced cook, we recommend starting with a simple approach to cooking. Familiarise yourself with the different options in the transformation food tables and practice combining them into simple meals.

Select a protein source, a fat source and a carbohydrate source and use basic cooking methods like baking, stir-frying, steaming and boiling. Once you have learned how to prepare meals that meet your nutrition targets, you can start to be more adventurous and experiment with different ingredients and flavour combinations.

Even if you are a competent cook, it helps to have some convenient go-to meals for when you are short on time, for example, busy weekdays. If you do see a recipe that you would like to try, perhaps the best time to attempt it is on the weekend when you will have more time to prepare and enjoy the meal.

You do not have to use the transformation recipes. Some of our clients prefer to keep their meals plain and simple. If you meet your nutrition targets and stick to the recommended foods, you will get the same results regardless of whether you follow the recipes or not.

How to follow the recipes

On days where you want to include a recipe in your meal plan, start by selecting the recipe in advance and then work out how much of your daily food intake this takes up. You can then plan how to spread the remainder of your calories over the rest of the day.

Nearly all of these recipes have been formulated to serve one person, provide 20-50g of protein and total no more than 500 kCal. If you are cooking for multiple people or batch cooking for yourself, multiply the serving sizes to match your requirements.

All ingredient weights refer to the uncooked weight unless stated otherwise.

Each recipe has a nutrition overview that details the macronutrient and calorie content per serving. Use this as an indicator only and always use the values listed on your product’s nutrition label.

You do not have to follow the recipes rigidly and can make certain changes without affecting the outcome.

For example:

1. Changing serving sizes for protein, fat and carbohydrate sources to meet your nutrition targets.

2. Swapping out ingredients to match personal taste preferences.