A cookbook for the way I eat.

This collection starts with chicken, eggs, potatoes, broccoli, skyr and fruit. It adds more fish, skyr smoothies and weekend pizza. The aim is to cook regularly and take lunch from home. Main meals are designed around at least 30 g protein and 50 g carbs, with no more than 10 g fat per reference portion, based on ingredient estimates.

The kitchen

Recipes use the Ninja Air Fryer, Thermomix, Bread Maker, NutriBullet, Ninja Creami and Ooni. Where two machines can do the same job, the method gives you a choice. Ooni recipes are weekend cooking.

Start at Lidl

Lidl UK is the first stop for the regular shop. Buy elsewhere when a suitable ingredient is unavailable, including whey and xanthan gum. Recipe shopping notes distinguish listed Lidl products from items to check in store or buy separately.

Choose frozen vegetables and prepared frozen potatoes where they save chopping and peeling. Prefer plain vegetables and potato cubes; chips and wedges may contain oil, coatings or seasoning. Their nutrition estimates use a named frozen-product reference, so check your packet when tracking.

Quantities are recipe weights, not pack sizes. Weigh frozen ingredients before cooking and cooked ingredients after cooking where stated. Shopping suggestions do not change the nutrition reference: skyr uses the published Arla estimate, which may differ from a Milbona tub.

Make the freezer do more

Cook the frozen vegetables, chips and wedges from frozen using the recipe and packet instructions. Plain potato cubes suit steaming and egg bakes; coated chips and wedges have their own air-fryer methods.

Fish and chicken can be bought frozen, but these methods start with fresh or fully thawed pieces. Defrost in the fridge for the packet time. For smoothies and cold bowls, use berries labelled ready to eat after defrosting and thaw them in the fridge first. A packet that requires cooking is not a ready-to-eat substitute.

About the recipe images

The serving images are AI-generated illustrations made for this cookbook. They show the intended dish, not a photographed kitchen test, and do not establish exact portion size or doneness.

What one portion means

A meal portion is a starting serving for an active adult. It has explicit quantities, rather than being inferred from age or body weight. Try it, then choose the quantity that suits your appetite and day.

The portion control changes ingredients and the list you copy into Notes. Bread has a minimum batch. Extra batches add time; a larger ingredient list does not mean everything fits in one drawer.

Where the numbers come from

Nutrition is calculated from ingredient weights and divided by the recipe yield. Most reference values come from the UK Composition of Foods Integrated Dataset, 2021. Each ingredient record retains its food code and reference name. Chicken breast uses the dataset’s raw light-meat entry as a proxy.

These are estimates, not laboratory results for the cooked dish. Plain frozen vegetables currently use their raw CoFID counterpart as a provisional estimate. Packet values take precedence, especially for prepared potato products. Water loss, drained liquid and different brands can change the result. Liquid ingredients use an approximate density of 1 g/ml. Optional extras are excluded. Trace values in the source are treated as zero at the displayed precision.

Nutrition totals scale with the selected portions; the per-portion values stay the same. Calories are summed from the ingredient references, then rounded to whole kcal. Grams are rounded to one decimal place after adding the ingredients, so rounded per-portion figures may not multiply exactly to the displayed total.

Gaps in CoFID use published food-table or supplier references. Plain skyr uses Arla Skyr Natural as a reference estimate, not a claim about the exact Milbona packet. Each recipe lists its assumptions and sources. Missing values remain unavailable, never zero; recipes with missing values cannot pass that nutrition filter.

Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Reference values were imported on 17 September 2026.

Cooking and packing lunch

Keep raw poultry separate from ready-to-eat food and utensils. For chicken, check the centre reaches 75°C for at least 30 seconds with a suitable food thermometer. Fish should be opaque and flake easily; follow the food’s packaging guidance too.

Cool cooked food and refrigerate it within one to two hours. Keep the fridge at 5°C or below. Use chilled leftovers within 48 hours, or freeze them. Keep packed lunches cold during transport, using an insulated bag and ice pack when needed. If reheating, heat until steaming hot throughout and reheat only once.

These notes follow the Food Standards Agency’s cooking guidance. Recipe-specific or packet instructions can be more restrictive. A food thermometer, suitable containers and cold storage are part of the basic preparation kit.

Keep it useful

Recipes should get better with use: clearer instructions, a portion that works, and timings checked against the appliance. Find something to cook.