Question:

I am a busy working mum and tend to but quite a lot of my children‛s meals in ready made. I am a little worried though that they may be too high in fat, salt or sugar. Is there any easy way to tell at a glance how healthy (or not) a food is without spending valuable time scouring the ingredients lists and trying to decipher the information based on whether it is given per serving or per packet?

Poor labelling and marketing hype can make it almost impossible for a parent to decipher whether a product actually is healthy or not. The table below is an easy to use, handy guide to whether a food contains unhealthy amounts of fat, sugar and salt. If you are looking at a food where your child is likely to eat the whole pack like a ready meal or sandwiches compare the figure per serving given on the packet with the guide. For other foods such as snacks or foods eaten in relatively small amounts look at the nutrition information per 100 grams.

a lot a little

Total fat 20g 3g

Saturated fat5g 1g

Sugar 10g 3g

Sodium 0.5g0.1g

Fibre3g 0.5g

Kids Cooking Academy

TV chef, Phil Vickery, Children‛s Secretary, Ed Balls and Aldi stores have teamed up to launch a brand new on-line cooking academy designed to get kids and young adults excited about creating delicious meals from scratch. The website encourages young, aspiring cooks to download Phil‛s step-by-step recipe podcasts and learn how to prepare tasty recipes from scratch - straight from their own classroom or kitchen. Young visitors to the site are also being invited to get creative with their cookery skills and upload their very own recipes onto the website for Phil to judge. He will then make a personal appearance at the school of the student that creates the best dish. To learn more visit http://www.philscookingacademy.co.uk

For more of Rachael's delicious recipes, click here