You don’t need a professional kitchen or any particular skill to cook food that’s a bit better for you. Most of the difference comes from method rather than ingredients — and some of the methods that make the biggest impact are the ones you’re probably already using without thinking about it.
I’ve tried most of these over the years, some with more success than others. The en papillote fish was brilliant. The pressure cooker sat in a cupboard for two years before I figured out what to actually do with it. Anyway.
Here’s what the research says and, more usefully, what actually works in practice.
May 2026
Steaming: the one that actually matters most
If you’re boiling your vegetables, you’re losing a lot of what makes them worth eating. Studies consistently show that boiling can destroy up to 50% of the water-soluble vitamins in vegetables — vitamin C and B vitamins especially. Steaming keeps far more of that intact because the food isn’t sitting in water.
It also makes vegetables taste better, which matters. Properly steamed broccoli with a bit of seasoning is genuinely nice. Boiled-to-oblivion broccoli is why people say they don’t like vegetables.
A basic steamer basket costs about £8-10 from most supermarkets or Amazon and sits over any saucepan you already own. It’s probably the single cheapest change you can make to how you cook.
Worth doing: Yes, absolutely. Especially for vegetables.
Air frying: genuinely useful, not just a trend
Air fryers are everywhere now, and for once the hype is mostly deserved. They use significantly less oil than conventional frying — often just a spray or a teaspoon — and cook most things faster and crispier than an oven. They also use less energy than a full-size oven, which at current UK energy prices is actually relevant.
The health benefit isn’t magic: you’re just using less fat. A handful of chips made in an air fryer with a teaspoon of oil is obviously better for you than chips made in a litre of bubbling vegetable oil. But the results are good enough that you’re not making a sacrifice — that’s the part that actually matters for sustainability.
What they’re less good for: anything wet (soups, stews, poached food), very large items, and things that benefit from slow cooking.
Worth buying: If you cook a lot of things that would otherwise go in the oven or frying pan, yes. They start at around £30-40 for a decent basic model.
En papillote: fancy name, simple technique
“En papillote” is French for “in parchment.” All it means is wrapping your food in baking paper or foil before cooking it in the oven, which creates a sealed pocket of steam. The food essentially self-bastes.
It works especially well for fish, which can dry out in a regular oven. A salmon fillet with some lemon, herbs, and a splash of white wine, wrapped up in baking paper and baked for 15 minutes, is genuinely one of the easiest things I cook. The packet traps all the flavour and moisture, you use no oil, and there’s barely any washing up.
You can do this with chicken, vegetables, and most seafood too. The technique works for Caribbean and Asian dishes using banana leaves as the wrapper, which adds its own flavour.
Worth doing: Yes, particularly for fish. The “equipment” is just baking paper.
Poaching: underrated
Poaching means cooking food in barely-simmering liquid (water, stock, or sometimes wine) rather than using fat. It keeps the food moist, preserves nutrients reasonably well, and works for things you wouldn’t expect — not just eggs.
Poached chicken breast is genuinely tender and much better for you than the same chicken pan-fried in butter. Poached salmon is beautiful. You can poach duck legs, which sounds alarming but works brilliantly. The liquid becomes a light stock once you’re done, which you can use for something else.
Worth doing: Yes. No special equipment needed — just a saucepan and attention.
Pressure cookers: efficient but not magic
Pressure cookers cook food significantly faster by increasing the pressure inside the pot, which raises the boiling point of water. They do preserve nutrients better than slow boiling because the cooking time is shorter.
In practice, they’re most useful for: pulses and beans (much faster than conventional cooking), tougher cuts of meat that need long slow cooking (you can braise a shoulder of pork in an hour instead of four), and stocks. Less useful for: vegetables (you don’t need a pressure cooker for this), fish, or anything delicate.
Worth buying: Depends on how you cook. If you eat a lot of beans, pulses, or cheap cuts of meat, yes. Otherwise they can gather dust.
The microwave: fine, actually
The “microwaves are dangerous” concern is outdated — there’s no evidence they’re harmful. They work by stimulating water molecules to generate heat, not by radiation in any concerning sense.
What they’re actually good for: preserving vitamins in vegetables, because the cooking time is short. Microwaved broccoli keeps more of its vitamin C than boiled broccoli. They’re also useful for reheating food without drying it out too much.
What they’re bad for: anything that needs browning or crispiness, large pieces of meat, or things that benefit from slow or even cooking.
Verdict: Already own one? Use it more for vegetables. Not a reason to go buy one if you haven’t got one.
Grilling: simple, effective
Grilling — the overhead grill in your oven, or a griddle pan, or a barbecue — actively drains fat from food as it cooks. For meat with natural fat content (sausages, chicken thighs, burgers), this makes a measurable difference to the final fat content compared to frying in a pan.
It also adds flavour through the Maillard reaction (the browning), which means you’re getting more taste for less added fat.
Worth doing: Yes, and you already have a grill. Use it more.
What I wouldn’t bother with
Dehydrators: Unless you specifically want to make your own dried fruit or jerky, these are specialist equipment for a narrow use case. Not worth it for general healthy cooking.
Sous vide at home: Brilliant technique, fiddly setup. The results are excellent for very specific things (steak, eggs) but the equipment cost and faff aren’t worth it unless you’re really into cooking.
Special “healthy cooking” gadgets: Any gadget marketed specifically as a “healthy” version of something (healthy pizza oven, healthy sandwich toaster) is usually a normal appliance with better marketing. Just use a regular oven.
The summary
The three changes most worth making: steam your vegetables instead of boiling them, use an air fryer if you fry things regularly, and try en papillote for fish. Everything else is useful if it suits how you cook, but those three will make the most consistent difference.
How do you cook at home? Do you have an air fryer? Worth it or overrated? Drop a comment — I’m genuinely curious. x