Vegetables are nature’s superstars. Packed with goodness, vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, and fibre, they help us feel our best. Whilst many of us know the incredible health benefits of eating more veg, sometimes getting our 5-a-day can feel a little challenging. So, whether you’re a veggie-lover looking for new ideas or someone looking to add more greens into your diet, we’ve got you covered.
1. Start the day with a veggie boost
Smoothies are a great way to pack extra veg (and fruit) into your diet. Adding a large handful of fresh leafy greens – such as spinach or kale into your blender – will boost your daily nutrient intake without adding any strong flavours. The best thing about smoothies is that you can use either frozen or fresh vegetables – frozen are just as nutrient dense and can sometimes be more cost-effective.
2. Stock up on soups
Making veggie-based soups is a great way to get more nutrients into your day. Soups are great for batch cooking, meaning that you can make extra for easy weekday lunches or dinners. Some of our favourite nutrient-packed veggies to add into our soups include mushrooms, kale, spinach, red peppers and sweet potatoes.
3. Make veggie-centric stir-fries
A stir-fry is such a quick and easy way to get your five-a-day in one dish. Packing them with loads of different vegetables makes a vibrant and delicious meal – and a great speedy midweek dinner option too. Our top veggies to add into your stir-fry are broccoli, kale, carrots, peppers and courgettes.
4. Discover batch cooking
One of the biggest challenges with eating well is time, so start cooking once and eating twice. When you make one meal, double the quantities, and add the rest to your fridge or freezer. That way you’ve gone dinner in minutes when you’re tight on time.
5. Sneak veggies into your desserts
Courgette loaves, sweet potato brownies, pumpkin bread, beetroot brownies and chickpea blondies are all clever ways to get some veg into your diet.
Adding more veg to your diet can be a fun, creative, flavoursome journey. Start experimenting with new recipes and ideas and watch your health improve as you fall in love with delicious, plant-based cooking.
Looking for a novel way to eat more veg? Grated courgette gives this cake a lovely moist texture. Paired perfectly with a tangy lemon glaze, it makes a delicious teatime treat.
View RecipeOur adored sweet potato brownies from the original Deliciously Ella book were beloved by millions, but 10 years later we wanted to take it to the next level. We used our original recipe and took it to the next level with a few tweaks and changes to make it extra chocolatey.
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