Gillian Beattie (38) has been a vegetarian for 21 years and enjoys cooking healthy food for both her daughter aged 7 and her son aged 3.
What Gillian says
Why is healthy eating important to you and your family?
"Healthy eating is very important to our family because I want my children to understand to importance of eating healthy food and how it fuels your body. Also after receiving a kidney transplant in January of this year, I need to be aware more of what I’m eating; it has given me even more reason to eat healthy. I think nowadays a lot of food is processed and I like that when I cook something from scratch I know what we are eating."
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Why did you want to become a healthy helper?
"I wanted to become a healthy helper for Eat Better Feel Better as I feel it’s really important to try and help others parents who might not know what’s healthy and what’s not. I hope I can help others by sharing some tips I’ve learned over the past few years including some healthy recipes which my family love."
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How have you dealt with fussy eaters in your family?
"My daughter will not eat certain vegetables when they are on her plate so I will blend them into things like homemade soup and casseroles and even though she’s not sure about them on their own, she enjoys eating them in these sorts of dishes."
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Do you have any tips for families trying to eat healthier and on budget?
"I like to stick to a budget, as most of my friend’s do, so what I tend to do is make homemade soup, pasta sauce and fish pie, all great for freezing and saves anything going to waste. I also find doing a weekly planner really helps and I always look out for offers in the supermarket as things that can be going out of date can often be frozen."
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Gillian's favourite recipe
"I absolutely love making the family veggie Bolognese. I make the sauce from scratch using lots of vegetables including tomatoes, peppers and mushrooms and use Quorn mince instead of meat. My kids absolutely love it; they always clear their plate!"
We also love the Eat Better Feel Better tomato pasta recipe - simple but very tasty!
Gillian's top tips
"Try and include a lot of bright colours in your recipes, it can make them look a lot more appetising for kids, for example yellow peppers, carrots etc."
"Plan your meals out every week using a meal planner, it saves time and also is a great way to get the kids involved in what you’re going to eat as a family."
"A lot of foods already have salt in them so don’t add anymore if you don’t have to."
