MAGGI, the trusted ally of homecooks, encourages Filipinos to form healthy habits in the kitchen. By exercising better control over the household’s dietary intake, food budget and impact on the planet, moms can realize their goals when it comes to the overall well-being of their loved ones. Here are six simple habits that homecooks can start today.
HEALTHY HABIT 1: Cook with sarap and sustansya – Feeding your family tasty meals is a goal for most homecooks, but ensuring these dishes provide good nutrition is an even bigger priority. MAGGI believes that delicious and healthy are not mutually exclusive. Choosing healthy and fresh ingredients and bringing out the flavor of home-cooked dishes will help to give the family the essential nutrients they need. Cooking sarap sustansya meals is the best way for moms to keep their loved ones energized throughout the day, and builds the foundation for a healthy lifestyle.
HEALTHY HABIT 2: Eat and cook together – Eating in the company of family promotes more sensible eating habits and improves moods. Meal times may be a time to bond, but cooking together is also an opportunity to create new experiences and cheerful memories. Sharing kitchen duties can also bring families closer and enrich younger family members with essential life skills. This was the goal of the recently concluded MAGGI Sarap Sustansya Virtual Cooking Competition under the Nestlé Wellness Campus, the flagship nutrition education advocacy program of Nestlé Philippines. A family cooking activity is a great time to pass on cherished recipes, and explore the taste preferences of each family member.
HEALTHY HABIT 3: Manage portions – Controlling food intake can have a significant impact in preventing obesity and commonly known diseases such as diabetes, high blood pressure, and hypertension. To assist Filipinos in achieving a balanced diet, the Food Nutrition Research and Institute (FNRI) developed the Pinggang Pinoy model, a visual food guide that can be used for planning healthy meals and managing portions.
HEALTHY HABIT 4: Grow food at home – In a time when availability of food staples is becoming unpredictable, MAGGI is encouraging Filipinos to take up urban gardening as a means to achieve food security. MAGGI collaborated with the Department of Agriculture-Bureau of Plant Industry (DA-BPI) to establish the MAGGI Sarap Sustansya Garden, which puts forth best practices in planting vegetables at home to guide families in growing and harvesting fresh ingredients that they can cook with. Homecooks can opt to plant a wide variety of vegetables such as tomatoes, okra, and pechay, that can be easily grown in small spaces, are rich in nutrients, and commonly used in favorite Filipino dishes.
HEALTHY HABIT 5: Reduce food waste – As part of its advocacy to help drive food security, MAGGI also promotes sustainable practices in the kitchen, such as making use of food items that already on-hand. This means using or cooking ingredients before they spoil, and consuming leftovers by re-imagining them into news dishes. According to the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), each Filipino produces an average of close to half a kilo of solid waste daily 1 . To help minimize food waste, scraps such as vegetable peelings, eggshells, and overripe fruits can be reused to make compost, which can then be used as fertilizer for their edible garden. Certain vegetable scraps can even be re-grown, like kangkong stems, ginger roots, and the ends of Chinese cabbage.
HEALTHY HABIT 6: Maintain good hygiene – Keeping hands, cooking and eating utensils as well as the food preparation area clean is vital to the family’s health. Bacteria, viruses and other harmful microorganisms can spread easily in a dirty kitchen, which can compromise food safety. Using freshly washed tools, sanitized chopping boards and spotless countertops will help to ensure that food being prepared will not be contaminated.
MAGGI understands that adapting new habits may not happen overnight. Rosalyn Simba, Business Executive Officer – Food and Dairy Culinary Business Unit at Nestlé Philippines, urges homecooks to make these simple practices part of their daily routine. “As homecooks, nasa kamay natin ang sarap ng buhay para sa ating pamilya,” she said. “By helping educate our homecooks about proper nutrition and reminding them of these simple but effective heathy habits, we are working hard to give our families the sarap and sustansiya they need to fuel their every day.”
For more kitchen advice and cost-saving recipes, follow MAGGI on Facebook, or check out the MAGGI website as well as the Sarap Sustansya Kusinaskwela modules on YouTube.
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About MAGGI
In the Philippines, MAGGI has been Filipinos’ partner in promoting the goodness of homemade food. Our wide range of products makes cooking an enjoyable experience, inspiring cooks to make food that’s delicious and nutritious.
With MAGGI Magic Sarap, seasoning, sauces and sinigang mixes, simple dishes are transformed from good to great. And because of this, meals go beyond just taste. They create a huge impact on family’s lives through the nourishment they provide, and the special moments that revolve around them.
We join homecooks as their trusted partner in the place where good eating habits begin: the kitchen. Our
recipes are especially created to inspire, to promote the balance of taste and nutrition, and to encourage
all Filipinos to nurture good relationships.
