Eatwell at Home

Read our tips for how you can eat healthily when you're spending more time at home than you usually would. We have a range of resources and information on our website to help you work towards a healthy balanced diet.

Vitamin D

If you're spending more time indoors, you may not be getting enough vitamin D that you would usually get from being outdoors. To help with this, we recommend taking a daily supplement of 10 micrograms (µg) of vitamin D.

• Find out more about vitamin D and how much we should all be taking

Make a plan, feel prepared

Before going shopping, think about your meals for the week ahead, check what you have in the cupboards, and plan your list around the ingredients you need. If you group the items under categories on your shopping list, such as all fruit and vegetables together, this'll help you get around the supermarket quicker.

Eat with family

The extra time spent at home at the moment is a good opportunity to try new foods or recipes, and get other family members involved in preparing and cooking meals. This can be a fun way to try something new and, for some, learn a new skill.

Are you looking for healthy recipes? Visit our Eatwell Everyday resource to help you plan and prepare meals for you and your family, and Parent Club has lots of healthy recipes too. You can even batch cook in advance and freeze meals for use at a later date.

If you are missing meals that you’d normally have outside of the home, our simple beef curry recipe with all the usual sides is a great alternative option – you might save a bit of money by making it yourself too!

• Find out more about our Eatwell Everyday recipes
• Read our food safety tips, including advice on freezing and defrosting food

Eat to keep you going for longer

Starchy foods like bread, pasta, rice and potatoes are an important part of a healthy balanced diet. They are an important source of energy and a good source of a range of nutrients in our diet such as fibre, vitamins, calcium and iron.

You might find you’re snacking more than usual at the moment but meals based on starchy foods will help reduce the urge to snack.

• Visit the Eatwell Guide to find out more about what makes up a healthy balanced diet

Stay hydrated

To stay hydrated, you should try to drink at least 6-8 glasses of fluid every day.

Water is the healthiest choice for quenching your thirst as it has no calories or sugars that can damage your teeth.

Tips to drink more water:

• Try adding sliced fruit for flavour – frozen slices of lemon and lime do the same job as ice cubes, making for an extra refreshing drink
• Add a reminder to your smartphone calendar to keep your water consumption on track  
• Take a bottle of tap water with you as part of your daily walk, cycle or run

Remember, Scotland has great water fresh from the tap, it's free and tap water is better for the environment than bottled water.