Finally, we’re coming out of the winter gloom - the days are getting longer, the sun is shining (most of the time!), plants and trees are flowering, and there’s a whole new crop of delicious, nutritious seasonal fruit and vegetables in the Prep Kitchen meal plan menu.

When you have a busy lifestyle, it can be difficult to find time to peel, chop, and cook your daily veggies, especially when you want to get outside and make the most of the warmer weather. Don’t worry, we make it easy for you! All of our main meals contain at least two of your ‘five-a-day’ vegetable portions, because life’s too short to chop veg - let us take the strain, while you make the gains!

Meet just some of the superfood vegetables which will feature in our spring and summer menu options, and find out more about their individual superpowers.

Carrots

The humble carrot is a very common family staple so its many attributes are often overlooked, but carrots are so versatile - you can eat them raw, roasted, steamed, boiled, stir-fried, or even barbecued! They’re also a great low-carb option to replace potatoes and are so packed with nutrients, they have been given superfood status. One of their primary nutritional superpowers is as a brilliant source of beta carotene. Beta carotene is converted to vitamin A in the body, which is an important nutrient for brain function, immune support, growth of hair and nails, and eye health(1). 100g can provide over 90% of your daily vitamin A(2)  vitamin K1, immune-boosting antioxidant vitamin C(3), B vitamins, fibre, heart-healthy potassium which supports blood pressure and cardiovascular health(4,5), and anti-inflammatory, immune-boosting antioxidants(6). Although they make a delicious, healthy raw snack, the nutritional value of carrots actually increases when they’re cooked, the antioxidants they contain become more bio-available.(7)

You can find these colourful veggies in our Slow-Cooked Beef Bolognese, Succulent Steak Fettucine, Lasagne al Forno, Veggie Chow Mein with Satay Sauce, Naked Veggie Katsu Curry, Authentic Thai Drunken Noodles, Naked Chicken Katsu Curry, Shredded Hoisin Chicken Chow Mein, Fiery Sweet Chilli Chicken, and Chicken Chow Mein with Satay Sauce.

Tomatoes

The rich tang of tomatoes always feels like the quintessential taste of summer - whether they’re eaten raw, giving a boost of flavour to your salad,; cooked in Mediterranean-style dishes that remind you of sun-drenched beaches, or enlivened with spices in Mexican cuisine. Although we use them in savoury dishes, tomatoes are actually a fruit. They’re as packed full of nutrients as they are flavour, with about 30% of your daily immune-boosting(3) vitamin C in a medium-sized tomato. They are also a good source of vitamin K1, which supports blood and bone health(8); minerals like heart-healthy potassium(4,5), and B vitamins, especially vitamin B9, known as folate, which is important for healthy cell formation. Tomatoes have a particular superpower, however, in the form of the antioxidant lycopene, which gives tomatoes their lovely bright red colour. Lycopene is believed to have anticancer and cardiovascular benefits(8), and levels actually increase when tomatoes are cooked(9).

You can enjoy the flavours and benefits of tomatoes in many of our delicious menu options, such as Breakfast Bacon & Scrambled Eggs with Roasted Tomato, Slow-Cooked Beef Bolognese, Mama’s Meatball Marinara, Succulent Steak Fettuccine, Chicken and Chorizo Paella, Lasagne al Forno, Tender Mexican Birria Beef, Blackened Cajun Chicken with Creamy Tomato Pasta, Superfood Falafel with Grilled Halloumi, Bangin' Beef Chilli with Chipotle Sour Cream, Sicilian-Style Chicken, Mediterranean Baked Fish, and Tex-Mex Chicken Burrito Bowl.

Onions and garlic

Onions and garlic are both part of the allium family, which also includes leeks, shallots, and chives. Not only are they full of flavour, but they’re really versatile and super-healthy. They can be eaten braised, stir-fried, boiled, roasted, or raw (though your friends might complain if you eat too much raw garlic!). Alliums are full of prebiotic fibres which your good gut bacteria love to feast on, helping to support your gut health and overall digestion. They also contain B vitamins, vitamin C, and minerals including zinc, copper, manganese, potassium, calcium, and phosphorus(11,12).Their hidden superpower is a type of antioxidant called flavonoids - these are present in all onions and garlic, but particularly abundant in red and yellow onions, giving them their rich colours. As well as being powerful antioxidants, these substances have been shown to have anticancer, anti-diabetic, cardio-protective, neuro-protective, and antimicrobial properties(13). Wow!

We’re huge fans of these incredibly nutritious vegetables so you’ll find garlic or onions (or both!) lending their wonderful flavour to almost all of our dishes - try slow-braised onions in our Slow-Cooked Beef Bolognese; crunchy fresh young spring onions in our Shredded Hoisin Chicken Chow Mein, or colourful red onions in Spring Shepherd's Pie with Sweet Potato. Our special signature garlic sauce can be found in Mediterranean Baked Fish, Superfood Falafel with Grilled Halloumi and Sicilian-Style Chicken.

Rhubarb

Although it’s often used like a fruit in desserts, rhubarb is actually a vegetable. It is very hardy and was a popular homegrown vegetable in the UK, but it was originally imported here from China, where rhubarb had been used as a medicinal plant for thousands of years. It’s very nutritious, containing good amounts of immune-boosting vitamin C(3), vitamin K1 for blood and bone health(8) and folate, as well as fibre for gut and heart health(14). It also contains malic acid, which is believed to increase energy levels(15). That makes it a great choice to start your day.

You can get a dose of rhubarb in our Apple Crumble Overnight Oats.

Celery

Celery often gets a bad rep, being associated with limp salads and boring diet food. It is certainly low in calories and high in fibre, which makes it a good choice for a healthy snack on a weight loss diet; however, there’s much more to this enigmatic vegetable. The whole plant, including the seeds, can be used in cooking, and it can be eaten raw or cooked in a variety of ways. It adds a delicious flavour and lots of nutrients(16), including immune-boosting(3) vitamin C, and beta carotene which converts to vitamin A, an all-important nutrient for immune function and vision(1). Celery also contains a number of minerals including potassium, magnesium, which helps boost energy and supports cardiovascular, bone, and metabolic health(17),and manganese which helps support bone and tissue health(18).

This pale but interesting veggie packs a powerful array of antioxidants and phytonutrients, and this impressive nutritional profile is believed to bestow celery with anti-inflammatory, anti-cancer, antiviral and and antifungal properties, as well as benefits for blood glucose balance.(19)

You can enjoy the flavour and nutrients of celery in a variety of our dishes, including our Slow-Cooked Beef Bolognese, Mama’s Meatball Marinara, Succulent Steak Fettucine, Lasagne al Forno, Loaded Sweet Potato Fries with Buffalo Chicken, Spring Shepherd's Pie with Sweet Potato, and Mediterranean Baked Fish.

Green and Runner Beans

Green beans are also known as French beans, snap beans, or string beans. They’re a cook’s favourite, being equally at home in stir fries, Thai curries, Mediterranean classics, or next to a Sunday roast. These little veggies are low in carbohydrates but high in nutrients!(20) They’re a really good source of both soluble and insoluble fibre - read our related article to find out more about the benefits of fibre. A generous 100g portion will provide around 8% of your daily vitamin C intake to help support your immune system(3), and help absorb iron, which you will also find in beans along with other minerals such as potassium, phosphorus and calcium to support bone health(21). They’re also a great source of B vitamins, especially vitamin B9 (folate) - 100g will provide 12% of your recommended daily intake to help maintain body cells. Notable levels of copper, manganese, and zinc complete the impressive nutritional profile of green beans and, as an added bonus, there’s also a couple of grams of protein in every 100g.

You can get your fix of juicy green beans cooked to perfection in our Butter Chicken, Thai Red Curry, Four Cheese Chicken Pasta, Naked Veggie Katsu Curry, Naked Chicken Katsu Curry and Spanish Chicken

Peppers

If you want to put some colour into your food, then vibrant peppers are a great choice! Like tomatoes, bell peppers are really a fruit, though we use them as vegetables. They have a wonderful, sweet flavour and can be eaten raw, roasted, stir fried, steamed or any way you want! They come in a variety of bright colours: green, yellow, red, and orange. Green peppers are actually unripe, but are still edible and just as nutritious.

What you may not know is that the pigments which give bell peppers their vivid colours are also powerful antioxidants, such as capsanthin which is in red peppers and violaxanthin in yellow bell peppers. Lutein and zeaxanthin are orange and yellow pigments in peppers and other coloured fruit and vegetables, which have been shown to offer benefits for eye health(22). In addition to these super-nutrients, bell peppers also contain fibre, iron, potassium, and some calcium and phosphorus, but their vitamin C content is another hidden superpower - it’s off the charts! One small 100g red pepper contains a whopping 190% of your daily vitamin C!(23)

We’ve used tasty, nutritious peppers in a number of our dishes, including Slow-Cooked Beef Bolognese, Lasagne Al Forno, Blackened Cajun Chicken with Creamy Tomato Pasta, Superfood Falafel with Grilled Halloumi, King Prawn & Basa Penang Curry, and Sizzlin' Chicken Fajita Pasta.

These are just a few of the delicious veggies that our chefs have included in our sensational spring and summer menu. Our meals are all bursting with flavour and goodness - check out the full range of our current menu options here.

If you enjoyed this article, read these other related articles on our blog:

How to get enough protein as a vegetarian

Our Autumn Winter Veg Selection

How to lose, gain, and maintain with Prep Kitchen

References:

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2. Nutrition facts for raw carrot https://tools.myfooddata.com/nutrition-facts/170393/100g/1
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8. Bolton-Smith C, McMurdo ME, Paterson CR, Mole PA, Harvey JM, Fenton ST, Prynne CJ, Mishra GD, Shearer MJ. (2007) Two-year randomized controlled trial of vitamin K1 (phylloquinone) and vitamin D3 plus calcium on the bone health of older women. J Bone Miner Res. Apr;22(4):509-19. doi: 10.1359/jbmr.070116. PMID: 17243866.
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11. Nutrition facts for cooked onions https://tools.myfooddata.com/nutrition-facts/170001/100g/1
12. Nutrition facts for cooked garlic https://tools.myfooddata.com/nutrition-facts/788278/wt1/1
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14. Nutrition facts for cooked rhubarb https://tools.myfooddata.com/nutrition-facts/78674...
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16. Nutrition facts for cooked celery https://tools.myfooddata.com/nutrition-facts/16998...
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23. Nutrition facts for cooked red pepper. https://tools.myfooddata.com/nutrition-facts/17010...