For the Forever Busy Parents: Healthy No-Brainer Recipes
Here are some healthy recipes parents can go for to ensure their family always has a good meal without a fuss
Healthy meals can feel like such a chore to make that we just buy takeout to solve the issues. But eating out can get pricy. Especially when we make the wrong dietary choices, it can leave us with irreversible lifestyle damage. Unfortunately, most healthy recipes need so much prep work. It can be hard to find the motivation and energy to make them.
So, we compiled and tested some recipes that can help make the family’s diet healthier—one meal at a time.
Bone Broth
If you have a slow cooker at home, all bone broth takes to make is a couple of vegetables, bones, some apple cider vinegar, and some aromatics.
A lot of the proportions depend on the size. But for most people who are absolutely in no mood to do math, just dump as many bones and vegetable remains as you can and fill it at least an inch below the brim. Add some apple cider vinegar (or even plain vinegar can do), black peppercorns, a garlic bulb, one whole onion, a bay leaf, a teaspoon of salt, and a knob of ginger. This is the most basic way; there’s no fast and hard rule as to what aromatics to put in. Some even put Ginseng for energy!
Digital slow cookers come with a timer and can cook for as long as 16 hours. Once it’s cooked, the broth can be used to cook anything! Steam rice with it, boil noodles, and even as a flavor enhancer for sauces!
Veggie Rice
All you have to do is chop the veggies small enough that they mix in the rice. Here’s another cooking hack: for the kids who hate carrots, just grate them into the rice. Shred up some pechay and cabbage too to add more fiber to white rice. Again, no strict guidelines as to what veggies, except potato and gabi—those will just make the rice starchier.
Feel free to add a teaspoon of flaxseed into the rice for some cholesterol-busting potential.
Bonus tip: if you have some bone broth, steam the rice in that too for extra collagen and minerals!
Air-Fried Batter-Less Fried Chicken
Flour and breading just add to the mess. For that extra crispy skin, either wipe the skin dry or rub some salt into the skin and refrigerate in an open container for 30 minutes. Fish sauce or patis does the trick, too! Don’t forget to add some spices. My typical go-to is granulated garlic, onion powder, black pepper, and Spanish paprika. Usually, the ratio for the spices is 2 teaspoons per 250 grams of meat.
Air fry at 170 degrees Celsius for 20 minutes and at 200 degrees Celsius for 5 minutes for extra crispy skin. Feel free to make a glaze also!
Air-Fried Burger Bombs
Inspired by 8 Cuts Burgers’ Burger Bomb, this one adds a bit more vegetables. Mix some grated carrot and garlic into the ground beef before tossing in the typical spices like onion powder, salt, pepper, Spanish paprika, and oregano. For that extra meaty taste, throw in some Worcestershire Sauce. While it’s marinating, dice up some Quick Melt cheese (or whatever cheese the kids want) and fold it into the burger mix.
Throw the patties into the air fryer and fry at 140 degrees Celsius for 25 minutes.
Chicken Binakol Rice
Using the rice cooker, steam the rice with chicken, buko juice (coconut water), grated garlic and ginger, malunggay leaves, patis, and bits of sayote. Since chicken takes 45 minutes to cook, having it cook with the rice reduces the pans to wash and the amount of time to worry. The best part is that, if your rice cooker is one of those advanced models, it’ll keep it warm for you too!
Healthy recipes don’t have to be complicated!
The problem with most healthy recipes we see online is that we see there’s a lot of prep work. And let’s be honest, that’s intimidating for most working moms. They don’t have time for that, so that reel just ends up in their “saved” playlist and collects dust.
Then, there’s the parent guilt. When the kids come home and talk about how their classmate had some fancy meal, parents feel that pang in their chest. Mom and Dad are working hard and have no time to master the kitchen. It hurts more especially knowing that food was one of their parents’ expressions of love.
That’s why sometimes, it’s okay to invest in those fancy kitchen appliances in making those healthy recipes. Sure, the old school would say they could do it in a pan or a gas stove. But let’s be honest: humans invented these appliances for the sake of convenience without compromising quality or health. Like they always say, “Health is wealth.”
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Not necessarily. While eating out can quickly add up, simple recipes like bone broth or veggie rice use affordable ingredients and basic pantry staples. Plus, appliances like slow cookers and air fryers cut down on prep and cooking time, saving both money and effort.
Sneak them in! Grating carrots into rice, shredding greens into soups, or mixing veggies into burger patties are easy ways to add nutrients without making the veggies obvious. It’s all about small, clever tweaks rather than big changes.
Not at all—but they help. Slow cookers, air fryers, and modern rice cookers are designed to save time and reduce the number of pans to wash. Think of them as tools to make healthy cooking easier, not mandatory investments.
The key is variety. Pair proteins like chicken or beef with fiber-rich vegetables and whole grains. Using bone broth as a base or steaming rice with coconut water adds extra nutrients without complicating the recipe.
Batch cooking is your best friend. Recipes like bone broth can be made in large quantities and stored for multiple uses—perfect for soups, rice, or sauces. Even small steps, like prepping veggies in advance, make healthy eating more sustainable.
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