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Healthy Cooking Made Easy with BBC Good Food

Ready to cook yourself healthy? Learn how to prepare nourishing and delicious meals with BBC Good Food’s brand-new course

9,198 enrolled on this course

Person chopping broccoli

Healthy Cooking Made Easy with BBC Good Food

9,198 enrolled on this course

  • 5 weeks

  • 3 hours per week

  • Digital certificate when eligible

  • Open level

Find out more about how to join this course

Learn how to create nutritious meals and master 5 healthy recipes in 5 weeks

Do you want to cook healthy and delicious meals from scratch that make you feel good too?

This course will take you on a food-first journey towards understanding what nutrition is, why it matters and how to apply its basic principles to your cooking.

Guided by our health and cooking experts at BBC Good Food, you’ll learn how to plan, devise, and master nutritious, everyday meals.

Explore the components of a balanced diet and discover how to apply these principles to your cooking

What you eat affects your mind, your body and your energy – but you shouldn’t need a degree in nutrition in order to eat well!

This course begins by introducing you to basic concepts such as nutrients, ingredient benefits and key equipment you might find useful in supporting your healthy cooking journey.

You’ll be empowered to make informed decisions about the type of meals and recipes you choose to support your long-term wellbeing.

Discover new flavours and cooking methods to support your healthy eating plans

Each week, you’ll master a new healthy dish to add to your recipe repertoire, learn how to identify food groups, plan your meals, and create healthy balanced meals in minutes.

You’ll also discover how to anticipate, eliminate and troubleshoot potential failure points like recipe mishaps, planning and food storage.

Step into healthy cooking with experts at BBC Good Food

BBC Good Food has over 30 years of culinary teaching experience and this course offers a wealth of knowledge to any aspiring healthy cook.

Developed in collaboration with our health and nutrition experts, you’ll be inspired to have fun with cooking while also discovering healthy dishes that make you feel great in the process.

What topics will you cover?

Healthy cooking made easy covers nutrition basics such as nutrients and calories, health benefits of key ingredients and equipment required to create simple healthy meals in just five weeks - including a stir-fry, curry, traybake, pasta and fish dish.

Each week, you’ll learn how to master a new healthy meal to add to your kitchen repertoire. The classes start with the very fundamentals of healthy eating, including understanding and identifying the key foods that support your health and why. As you work your way through the course, you’ll build on this knowledge, learning how to easily identify food groups, plan ahead and create delicious, balanced meals in minutes.

Each class involves an investigation into your ingredient benefits and their purpose in your meal; an exploration of what learners already know, kitchen equipment and ingredient know-how, as well as how to anticipate, eliminate and troubleshoot potential failure points i.e. food storage, equipment and leftovers. Each class ends with a new recipe to make and a supplemental recipe to experiment with further, plus links to a collection of recipes that might prove useful in the future.

This course also includes:

  • How to properly identify macronutrients i.e. protein, fats, carbs
  • Understanding micronutrients and their sources
  • Creative ways to achieve your 5-a-day
  • The benefits of colour and savvy seasonings in your meals
  • How to achieve balance in meals
  • The kitchen equipment basics
  • Our favourite cooking techniques for preparing healthy meals

When would you like to start?

Start straight away and join a global classroom of learners. If the course hasn’t started yet you’ll see the future date listed below.

  • Available now

Learning on this course

On every step of the course you can meet other learners, share your ideas and join in with active discussions in the comments.

What will you achieve?

By the end of the course, you‘ll be able to...

  • Discuss key nutrition terms such as calories and nutrient-density
  • Classify micro- and macronutrients
  • Explore how nourishing ingredients will help you to achieve nutritional balance in your meals
  • Identify useful kitchen equipment for easy meal preparation
  • Create five healthy recipes and attempt variations to suit your tastes

Who is the course for?

This course is for anyone who wants to learn how to regularly cook healthy meals.

This may include:

  • Healthy eating enthusiasts: you love healthy foods and cooking regular meals but want to achieve better balance in your eating habits.
  • Family cooks: you want to know how to nourish your family with balanced meals, and get tips for simplifying healthy cooking.
  • The nutrition-curious: you want a deeper understanding of how food impacts the body and our overall wellbeing. You’re excited by health trends, but want to better understand the fundamental elements of nutrition and diet.
  • Home cooks in training: you’ve mastered the basic cooking skills like boiling pasta and preparing meat and vegetables but you want to create new healthy and balanced meals.
  • Students: You want to go beyond pot noodles to support your health and energy. With tight budgets and limited equipment, you need simple techniques and fool-proof meals that you can turn to again and again.

Who will you learn with?

Tracey is the Health Editor at BBC Good Food. She is a registered nutritionist, holding an MSc in Personalised Nutrition and further qualifications in Psychology & Philosophy. Follow her @traceyraye

I am the group managing editor at BBC Good Food and olive. I have worked extensively in food media in London and Sydney and have taught food writing at City University and Leith's.

Anna is a recipe writer and food editor, and loves whipping up new creations with well-known ingredient to create easily accessible recipes that everyone can make.

Who developed the course?

BBC Good Food

BBC Good Food is the no 1. food media brand in the UK comprising the monthly food magazine launched in 1987, leading food website, and bi-annual BBC Good Food Shows.

Ways to learn

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$134/one-off payment

$27.99

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Ways to learn

Choose the best way to learn for you!

Subscribe & save

$27.99

For the first two months. Automatically renews

Develop skills to further your career

  • Access to this course
  • Access to 1,000+ courses
  • Learn at your own pace
  • Discuss your learning in comments
  • Tests to boost your learning
  • Digital certificate when you're eligible

Cancel for free anytime

Buy this course

$134/one-off payment

Fulfill your current learning need

  • Access to this course
  • Learn at your own pace
  • Discuss your learning in comments
  • Tests to boost your learning
  • Printed and digital certificate when you’re eligible

Limited access

Free

Sample the course materials

  • Access expires 2 May 2024

Find out more about certificates, Unlimited or buying a course (Upgrades)

T&Cs apply.

Learning on FutureLearn

Your learning, your rules

  • Courses are split into weeks, activities, and steps to help you keep track of your learning
  • Learn through a mix of bite-sized videos, long- and short-form articles, audio, and practical activities
  • Stay motivated by using the Progress page to keep track of your step completion and assessment scores

Join a global classroom

  • Experience the power of social learning, and get inspired by an international network of learners
  • Share ideas with your peers and course educators on every step of the course
  • Join the conversation by reading, @ing, liking, bookmarking, and replying to comments from others

Map your progress

  • As you work through the course, use notifications and the Progress page to guide your learning
  • Whenever you’re ready, mark each step as complete, you’re in control
  • Complete 90% of course steps and all of the assessments to earn your certificate

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