Change4Life Supermeal Challenge Day 1

In the most recent Welsh Health Survey, it was found that only 51% of children eat vegetables daily and only 60% of children eat fruit daily, while a third of Welsh children are classified as overweight or obese.

Wales’ Senior Medical Officer, Dr. Sara Hayes, said: “Parents have cited expensive ingredients and a lack of planning and knowledge of wholesome meals as barriers to being able to keep their families healthy”.

As part of the Welsh Government’s Change4Life campaign, thousands of free Supermeals recipe booklets are being sent out to help people in Wales achieve a healthier diet. The booklet provides a fortnight’s worth of family recipes that are easy to prepare and cost around £1.25 per head.

To obtain your free booklet, register with Change4Life online at www.wales.gov.uk/change4life before Friday 10 February 2012.

I will be cooking all 14 Change4Life recipes for my family, on consecutive nights, as they occur in the booklet.

I started my Supermeals Challenge with the first Monday recipe: tasty tuna and sweetcorn pasta.

We got off to a good start with this. Tuna is a favourite of our youngest daughter, and she left a clean plate. Our oldest daughter also gave it the thumbs up. It provided a fine and wholesome, if unspectacular, adult meal.

This solid family dinner provided us with leftovers. The ‘super tip’ on the booklet page: “This recipe can be served cold as a salad, making it perfect for packed lunches too.” This is what we often do with pasta, and our eldest particular likes taking it to school as a packed lunch. I will microwave what’s remaining for my lunch at home tomorrow (and maybe eat it with some sourdough bread).

If you wanted to spice this recipe up, a bit of Tabasco should do the trick.

The ingredients in the booklet have been selected for their cheapness and easy availability, while the meals are quick to prepare. I will stick with the spirit of this, often choosing value-line supermarket products and good value items from our local independent stores, to stay within the low budget. I have to say (given the general thrust of this blog) that although there is a widespread perception that supermarkets are cheaper (encouraged by clever marketing), this is not necessarily the case (shop around if your budget is tight; don’t assume supermarket products are cheaper).

During my Supermeals Challenge, I’ll keep you posted on how things progress recipe-by-recipe.

tasty tuna and sweetcorn pasta

The ingredients: Pasta shapes (300g), olive oil (1 tsp), red onion, garlic clove, tin tomatoes (400g), tomato puree (tbsp), tinned sweetcorn (150g), dried basil (2 tsp), and two 185g tins of tuna.

The method: pasta is boiled in water. Meanwhile, onion and garlic are fried for about 5 min, when the rest of the ingredients are added, and simmered for 5 min, except the tuna, which is stirred into the sauce just before serving over the drained pasta.

The meal is estimated to provide 406 kcals a portion.

Change4Life:
www.wales.gov.uk/change4life