Low Fat Cooking Tips

Here are some low fat cooking tips to help with your weight loss diet planning:

Low Fat Cooking Supplies - Keep these on hand. Butter-flavored low-fat vegetable cooking sprays are out there. So is apple sauce in place of some oil in recipes. Also keep the following handy: lemons, limes, your favorite fresh herbs and spices, evaporated skim milk, cornstarch, plain non-fat yogurt, flavored vinegar, and onions.

Substitute – Check recipes and ingredients and where applicable, cut fat and calories by using:

• Fat-free or reduced-calorie versions
• Skim milk, 1 percent or 2 percent milk for whole milk

Cooking Skills - - Hone in on or learn how to:

• Sauté, as with vegetables in water or broths.
• Use cooking sprays or nonstick cookware.
• Cook in foil or parchment paper to seal in juicy flavors
• Trim fat from meats
• Stir-fry, bake, roast, poach, microwave, steam and broil
• Experiment with seasonings (herbs, spices)

As a basis for meals and menu planning, refer to the food pyramid information that is available to make sure you have the basic food requirements met for all family members. Then cross check and plan by looking over basic food categories to target healthy foods to fit the lifestyles and health of everyone.

Meal planning also depends upon several factors like the number of people eating, meal times, special dietary concerns, budget, available foods, recipes on hand and likes and dislikes of everyone who will be eating. Begin by choosing foods and recipes that you like and know how to prepare well and that fit into everyone’s dietary plans. If one or more people have special needs, like diabetics, plan ahead for substitutions either in the food preparation or food substitution for that individual or for those individuals.

There are a few things to note when making meal choices and menu planning. First, some foods may be advertised a certain way, but that doesn’t mean you can’t experiment. For instance, eggs and sausage can be served for dinner, not just breakfast. And waffles can be made from healthy wheat grains and eaten for lunch with fresh fruits instead of sugary syrup and heavy butter for breakfast.

Add variety, too. Have other family members jump in and prepare meals some nights and on weekends. Kids enjoy making macaroni and cheese, so host mac-n-cheese night on Wednesdays, for example. Then alternate different vegetable combinations, colors and textures to vary the menu on a weekly basis (no need to let boredom take over on Wednesdays with the same routine).