Lasagne
Garfield isn’t the only one who loves lasagne! We eat loads of it in the UK, and despite its reputation, it doesn’t have to be difficult to make, depending on what shortcuts you take. We have some simple, affordable steps to tweak your lasagne to help it become healthier, cheaper and higher in veg!
Why is lasagne so great?
Lasagne is creamy, tomato-ey, and filling.
It contains protein, carbs and veg all in one dish making it a balanced meal.
Lasagne has a reputation for being hard work and using up a lot of pans, but in reality it can be as hard or easy as you choose to make it. Whether you are at the “heat through a ready meal” stage or making your own sauces or anywhere in between, we have some simple steps to make it better while keeping it simple and affordable.
With all its layers and depth of flavour, lasagne is an easy vehicle for veg – it’s a really simple recipe to add more veg and pulses, and less meat, to without compromising on cost and flavour. This makes it a great recipe to gently tweak for a family who want to eat more veg but are struggling with the process.
So find where you stand with your current favourite lasagne and see if our simple steps and tips can help you make it even better with little effort!
How are your lasagne skills?
Getting
started
I’m just starting out.
Next
Level
I’m ready to take it to the next level.
Engaging
Kids
How can I get my kids involved and interested?
Getting Started
Lasagne is creamy, tomato-ey, and filling. It contains protein, carbs and veg all in one dish making it a balanced meal.
Here is a simple recipe for lasagne which you can use as a base and build on over time…
Lasagne
Claire Wright
Ingredients:
Jar of tomato sauce
Mince or veggie alternative (fresh or frozen)
Jar of white sauce
Lasagne sheets
Optional grated cheese
Method:
-
Cook the mince according to package instructions (usually with a little oil in a pan for 5-10 mins until browned and cooked through).
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Layer in a casserole dish (⅓ to ½ of each layer to make 2-3 layers): a layer of meat with tomato sauce, then a layer of pasta sheets, then a layer of white sauce. Keep layering until out of ingredients. Top with a little grated cheese if you like.
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Bake in a hot oven (200C/gas 6) for 30-45 mins, until the top is golden and bubbling around the sides.
There is no need to go any further with this recipe until you are confident with it and feel up for the next step.
Feeling ready? Let’s see how you can get your next small victory without battles…
Engaging Kids
Kids who engage regularly with veg through veg-themed activities, such as arts and crafts, sensory experiences, growing and cooking are shown to be more likely to eat the veg they engage with. Encouraging kids to engage and play with veg is the handy first step to them developing a good relationship with veg and life-long healthy eating.
Kids in the kitchen
The eventual aim, if possible, is to get kids in the kitchen. Don’t worry, this doesn’t have to mean they are with you from start-to-end creating mess and rising stress levels! It can be as simple as giving them one small job (stirring, measuring, pouring, grating, chopping…) ideally involving veg. They can come in to do their little bit, and have fun with you for a few minutes. Getting them involved, making it playful and praising them plenty for their involvement, perhaps even serving it as dinner they “made”, makes it much more likely they will eat the food offered, not to mention teaching them important life skills. Find ideas, safety tips, videos and even a free chart in our Kids in the Kitchen section here.
Activities
While getting kids to interact with veggies for real and using their senses to explore them is best, encouraging hands off activities like arts & crafts, puzzles & games or at-home science experiments can be a great start, particularly for those who are fussier eaters or struggle with anything too sensory. Use these veg-themed activities as a stepping stone to interacting with the veg themselves. We have loads of crafty downloads here, puzzles here, and quirky science with veg here.
Sensory
Once you feel your child is ready to engage a little more, you can show them how to explore the veg you have on hand with their senses, coming up with playful silly descriptions of how a veg smells, feels, looks, sounds and perhaps even tastes. Find ideas, videos and some simple sensory education session ideas to get you started here.
Serving
The moments before food is offered can be a perfect opportunity for engagement that can help make it more likely a child will eat it! Giving children a sense of ownership in the meal can make a big difference to their feelings going into it and the pride they take in it. You know your child best, but if you aren’t sure where to start, we have some fun and simple ideas for easy roles you can give them in the serving process over here.
NEXT LEVEL
I Want To Improve My Lasagne
If you are feeling confident with your favourite lasagne recipe, but you’re wondering if there are some small tweaks you could make for the better, this is for you.
We’ve outlined some simple stages for continually improving on a basic lasagne recipe to get you from good to great. Find where you feel your current recipe sits and see if the next step is something you could aim for. You don’t have to go any further, but if you choose to, make sure you are feeling confident with this new stage before you try the next one.
And remember, the MOST important thing is that the family enjoys the meal! These changes and swaps can take as long as is needed if your family isn’t ready for big changes all in one go. Small simple improvements over time may not even be noticed.
Better Sauce
Read the labels on jars of sauces and make changes as slowly as needed for your family, gently moving them towards lower sugar, salt and fat options and ingredients you recognise.
Swapping a ready-made pasta sauce for a homemade sauce can often help the budget as well as the salt and sugar content. If making your own sauce is 20 mins you can’t spare, using a tin of chopped tomatoes or passata is an easy, cheaper, instant way to a healthier sauce. It won’t have as much flavour, but adding a pinch of seasoning, sugar and dried mixed herbs can add extra flavour for no time if you feel it needs it.
If you don’t want the faff of making your own white sauce, but want a cheaper and healthier alternative to a jar of ready made, there are quick healthy swaps you can find online, like using cream cheese or a mix of ricotta and egg.
If you have a little time to make and store a big batch of homemade sauce for a few meals, why not try our rainbow veg sauce? Rainbow veg sauce is perfect for when you’re busy, as it’s a super quick way to get an excellent mix of veg into your kids and helps to produce tasty meals in a flash!
Making meals go further
With food budgets being stretched, meat can be expensive. Using veg and pulses can help a meal go further without noticeably altering the taste and texture. This not only saves you money, it also helps you get a little closer to 5-a-day! Go at your pace and work through the stages to build up to 50% meat and 50% pulses/veg over time if you can.
For lasagne, try adding red lentils to the sauce and cooking until softened and melting into the sauce, or add a tin of cooked lentils or haricot beans, drained, rinsed and added for the last couple of mins of cooking of the sauce for a quicker option. If you think it will be turned down, try starting with just half a tin and perhaps even blending it into the sauce and just reduce the meat while adding more lentils and/or beans slowly each time you make the meal.
Add veg
Adding veg means adding bulk, vitamins and fibre, so you can fill up hungry bellies while making a favourite meal cheaper, more filling and healthier! For the best chance of success, start small (with a veg you know the family like if possible), add a little more each time, don’t try to hide it, and build up over time.
Aim for 2 handfuls of veg per person in the long-run, but it’s better to go slowly and get there eventually than to rush to the finish line and find no one is ready to get there with you.
- Start with frozen veg – there is less waste, it’s cheaper and easier to add a little more each time. Try chopped carrots, peas, mixed veg, chargrilled veg, squash/sweet potato, mushrooms, peppers.
- If using fresh veg, make sure it is added at the start and allow time for it to soften in a little oil before adding the protein, and sauce. Try finely diced fresh carrots, onions and celery, sliced peppers or mushrooms.
- Alternatively, you could use some fresh veg as an extra layer when you add the pasta. Try handfuls of fresh spinach, very thinly sliced courgettes or aubergines, very thinly sliced squash or carrot (these do best if pre-cooked), or sliced mushrooms.
- While most veg will work here, ones that may not do quite so well are: cauliflower, broccoli, sprouts, parsnips, swede/turnips, beetroot, asparagus, sugar snap peas, salad leaves. Although a peppery or sweet side salad like rocket/watercress or iceberg, or some raw or roasted veg on the side is always an option of course!
Don’t forget that the MOST important thing is that the family enjoys the meal! There’s no rush, and no pressure in not getting to 2 portions per serve.
Batch cooking
Once you are happy with your recipe, why not batch cook and freeze extra to save you future time, effort and money? Lasagne batches really well, just double everything, make an extra lasagne and freeze (well covered) in a freezer and oven-proof dish for up to 3 months and heat through to piping hot, or keep in the fridge for a few days.
Not sure if batch cooking is for you? People often think batch cooking means you have to have a big freezer and a slow cooker. But while those things can be helpful, they’re definitely not essential. Find out more about how to start small with batch cooking in our guide.
engaging kids
Play is essential!
Think of children helping in the kitchen as a role play game with plenty of fun for maximum effect. One of the best ways to develop a love of veg in kids is to get them involved in the prep of the veg. Not only is cooking an essential life skill for kids to learn, but it’s a great, fun way to get them engaging with healthy foods!
Cooking with kids
One of the best ways to develop a love of veg in kids is to get them involved in the prep of the veg. Not only is cooking an essential life skill for kids to learn, but it’s a great, fun way to get them engaging with healthy foods! They don’t have to be involved in the whole process especially when they are very young (let’s keep the mess to a minimum!), just give them 1-2 smaller jobs they can own with some supervision.
If you are making lasagne, why not get younger kids stirring sauces with some help, layering up the sauces and pasta (they love this bit!), and chucking a couple of handfuls of your chosen veg into the pan of sauce, or adding veg layers along with the pasta.
Older kids might be ready to learn how to chop some fresh veg to add at the start of the meal, stir everything together in the pan, and layering with a lot less help!
See if they can tick off our Kitchen Ninja skills over time as you all get used to the recipe.
Arts & crafts
While getting kids to interact with veggies for real and using their senses to explore them is best, encouraging veg-based arts & crafts can be a great start, particularly for those who are fussier eaters or struggle with anything too sensory.
Use these arts & crafts as a stepping stone to interacting with the veg themselves. While you make your lasagne, why not set them up with our cut out and colour carrot page?
Games & puzzles
Like arts & crafts, games & puzzles are a very safe way to get veggies to become more familiar and takes any pressure off eating or engaging their senses around veg for now.
A great place to start with lasagna might be our Get Over It carrot game!
Sensory
Sensory engagement with veg is possibly the best way to get children to slowly become more familiar with a veg. Take away the pressure to taste for now (and remember that ‘tasting’ could be expanded to include sniffing, licking and smelling) and instead encourage exploring a veg with a sense of smell, hearing, touch or sight.
Why not start with a raw carrot and a cooked one and get them to describe what they hear – if they break them both in half, do they make the same sound? If they bite down on them, do they sound soft, crunchy, hard, loud, quiet? See if they want to chuck some into the lasagne after having engaged with them (frozen sliced ones are great in the tomato sauce).
Serving
If your kids aren’t ready to be in the kitchen helping with part of the prep or cooking process, why not give them a job around the serving that could help them feel involved in the meal?
A crafty kid may like to design a beautiful menu, one who likes to help can lay the table. One may like to help you plate up the food, another may love to give the meal a theme! If you can (and we know it’s not always possible), try to eat with the kids, as they are much more likely to eat healthier food if they see it being eaten (and enjoyed!) by their families.
Why not let your child come up with a theme for the meal? Perhaps it’s a journey to the centre of the earth where everyone has to dig through their slice of lasagne to see if they can find the carrot slices at the bottom, or maybe they helped you layer the lasagne and set the table with layers, too – napkins, two plates each, a placecard with everyone’s name that hides a second piece of paper with a picture or poem! Make sure to praise them for their creativity and imagination and to play along!
DO you have a question you’d like one of our experts to help you with?
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