Home made lasagne

Citygirl1

Just wondering if home made lasagne is healthy? I've started making my own but I've heard that its still not a healthy dish.

System

its healthy enough as long as you cook and drain the mince of the the fat that comes out when its cooked.

elsien

Seems healthy enough to me if you're making the sauces from scratch as well and not using jars. No preservatives, additives or E numbers. No extra sugar or silly amounts of salt. Chuck in lots of veg towards your 5 a day. Buy good quality mince and drain it if you're concerned about the fat content.
And you can cook twice as much and freeze it if you want a quick dinner another night.

Citygirl1

elsien wrote: »

Seems healthy enough to me if you're making the sauces from scratch as well and not using jars. No preservatives, additives or E numbers. No extra sugar or silly amounts of salt. Chuck in lots of veg towards your 5 a day. Buy good quality mince and drain it if you're concerned about the fat content.
And you can cook twice as much and freeze it if you want a quick dinner another night.

I use low fat mince but do use jars of lasagne sauce, on the jar is states there isn't much fat, sugar or salt in it.

elsien

If you've checked the sauce contents and you're happy with it, that's fine. I'm just less keen on the taste than with the full DIY job.
But you've got a meal with a balance of protein, carbs, veg, so what's unhealthy about it? Especially if you chuck a bit of salad on the side.

krlyr

Really depends on who's point of view you take.

In terms of carbs, it's not the lowest - pasta, white sauce, if you have garlic bread on the side..

Sauce, cheesy, fats in mince..so depends on your view on fat as a good or bad thing.

Red meat..some people feel it's not good to eat a lot of it.

Ready-made sauces full of sugar, a homemade sauce will be healthier. It's not too complicated either - a jar of passata (you can even get garlic/herb passatas), onion, I add a little sugar but no way near as much as a jar. Garlic and some Italian herbs, if I've used a plain passata. White sauce is just butter, flour and milk, with a little salt and pepper.

My view, carbs, fats and red meats are good in moderation. I'd happily eat lasagne once or twice a month, but generally I don't eat a whole lot of pasta as I'm try to eat less processed foods. If you wanted to make it a little healthier, you could take a clean eating twist - e.g. swap out lasagne sheets for courgette or butternut squash.

VfM4meplse

I make a mean veggie lasagne. It’s still not healthy, purely because of the amount of cheese that gets added to the sauce

Citygirl1

Thanks all, just to add I always thought pasta was healthy.

jackyann

There are very few foods that are intrinsically 'unhealthy' or completely 'healthy'. It's not really a very helpful way to think of food.
We all need a balanced diet. The point about home made food is that we know what goes into it. Personally I make my own pasta (not difficult, and freezes well) and I don't add cheese.
Lasagne with plenty of vegetables, no unnecessary fat and with some salad on the side, for a main meal seems quite balanced to me, but you must look at it in the light of what else you eat in general.

trailingspouse

It's no worse than any other dish that includes red meat, veggies and carbohydrate.

I wouldn't bother with the jars of sauces - a tin of tomatoes costs pennies, just added some herbs and a few others veggies to it.

If you think there's too much cheese, don't put it in the sauce (trust me, no-one will notice), just sprinkle a bit over the top.

And you can make the pasta slightly healthier by opting for the wholewheat variety.

Portion control is worth thinking about.

Mr_Singleton

Judi wrote: »

its healthy enough as long as you cook and drain the mince of the the fat that comes out when its cooked.

I've got a really mean relative that buys the cheapest cheapest mince they can find. Things is that they and up deep frying it as it renders so much fat. It's lost on them that by the time that's factored in the mince ain't that cheap!