It’s an easy past-time whiling away hours on the internet googling information or downloading apps in relation to anything about food if you are concerned about your diet and GM factors, weighing up varying statistics and getting bamboozled with conflicting information from countless sites to do with food and nutrition. The Internet is now a place where anyone can post their opinions about food, and basically say anything about anything whether it is substantiated or not. There are of course some reputable sites with backed-up research by qualified food-nutritionists, dietitians and scientists and I have narrowed it down to a few I subscribe to, everyone has their favourites. Not to mention the Mt Everest of products, marketed and available in supermarkets claiming to counteract gluten, fat, sugar and declaring to be the be all and end all of healthy eating. Rather than banging your head against the fridge, I believe it can be a bit easier to decipher and get your thoughts around.
However you look at it, the philosophy is quite simple. Get back to the basics, the way our Mothers, Grandmothers and their Grandmothers approached food. The very simple Meat and Three Veg approach. Or for the Vegetarians, the Egg and Four Veg approach. Even the Vegans, The Veg and More Veg approach. Here are a few of my own rules when it comes to food choice:
Number 1 – Don’t buy food that comes in a box or a packet
Generally speaking, food sold in boxes has at some point been processed in one way or another. Food is put into plastic packaging or wraps and boxes for a reason, to preserve it and lengthen its shelf-life. In order to preserve food, it needs preservatives which are something our bodies really could do without in the long run. If you see the number 220 or higher on the ingredients list, put it back on the supermarket shelf. You don’t need it. (Unless it is completely organic and preservative-free, 220 is also present in most wines as it protects against oxidation and bacterial spoilage. Everything in moderation). 🙂
Number 2 – Eat Fresh
Don’t know about you, but I don’t plan all following week-night meals at the beginning of the week or do one huge grocery shop with each nights meal planned already. I’m not that organised, preferring to give it a bit of thought in the morning and decide what I want to cook for dinner that night, then shop locally for the freshest ingredients that can be sourced on the day. In todays fast-paced world it’s easy to come up with a bunch of reasons not allowing you to do this. Long working hours, dead-lines and two or more kids for example (and this is a legitimate excuse for a lot of people) but really if you dedicate some time of each day to fresh-food shopping, even if you have to diarise it, it will eventually just become part of your daily routine. Nor am I a fan of freezing meat, fish or chicken, preferring to purchase fresh organic if possible, on the day. I know it can all be frozen for convenience and will be cheaper, but I think fresh tastes much better. (An exception can be made for bought frozen fish as it is usually fresher than the non-frozen fish bought at the sea-food shop because it’s been cleaned, filleted and snap-frozen on the boat preserving it’s freshness).
Number 3 – Keep it Simple:
Meat and Three Veg means exactly that. Whether it be a juicy grass-fed rib-eye-fillet (sorry vegetarians), a Tasmanian salmon fillet or a lovely organic chicken, any of these can be easily prepared to cook with a simple marinade OR just thrown directly in the oven, on a grill pan, BBQ or whatever cooking medium on their own. Of course you can go all gourmet and exotic with marinades but you can always just simply use Lemon, Garlic, Salt and Pepper and GOOD QUALITY Olive Oil. Plus a green herb or two – parsley will always get you out of trouble, as will a lemon.
With the Three Veg, just think in terms of ‘tri-colour’ during selection process:
Pumpkin, Broccoli and Red Capsicum.
Sweet Potato, Eggplant and Asparagus.
Carrot, Leek and Cauliflower.
Fennel, Red Onions and Snow Peas.
Bok Choy, Radish and Cabbage.
Artichokes, Tomatoes and Kale – starting to get fancy there but it’s the three different colours of veg am trying to envision in Green, Red (or Orange) and White.
It’s as simple as that!
CLARE O'MEARA 
3 responses to “Meat and Three Veg”
A couple of points Claire. It has been shown that frozen vegetables can in fact be fresher than from your local supermarket as they are snap frozen at the time of picking. For singles a bag of frozen broccoli is probably better and fresher than having an old tired Broc in the fridge. Apparently none of the nutritional aspects are lost in the freezing process.
The meat and 3 veg is fine provided you don’t just take away the meat to be a vegetarian. In a discussion I had with the head of the Triad Health centre back in the 70s I asked “who are the majority of your customers?” and she said it was 7th Day adventists who had taken a typical meat and three veg diet but removed the meat. You must supply yourself with protein from pulses and legumes and beans if you are to take away the meat.
The carpenters building my studio here in Dubai and Indian vegetarians but they really know how to cook dahl, chick peas, beans of all types etc. Breakfast at a major Pakistani restaurant is Channa, a delicious chick pea curry, with a large Paratha bread or two and maybe an omelette occasionally. It was strange having a chili buzz for breakfast. 🙂
Love your blog – keep it up.
Thanks for the comments John.
I’m sure you are right about the frozen vegetables, like snap frozen fish it makes total sense. I pretty much consume all my vegetables on the day I buy them, so never have to look at a tired old broc in the crisper luckily (sad sight, hey?) plus my local IGA has a great range of fresh, seasonal vegetables plus am looking into joining the community garden at the Waverton Coal Loader which has just been revamped, then I will know exactly what I am getting!
Sounds like you are being spoiled well with all those great ccoks (carpenters) in Dubai, what a treat that food sounds delicious and I LOVE a chilli buzz for breakfast too, or any time of the day being a bit of a chilli freak.
Good luck with your studio and glad you like the blog. Send me through a recipe of your own you want to share and I’ll post it. 🙂
BTW – I should have added – don’t be surprised at the amount a bunch of silverbeet is – it blends into the dish nicely.