While the busy woman in you would want to cut fruits and vegtables ahead and freeze them in the freezer, this increases oxidation and important nutrients are lost in the meantime.

Preparing them ahead can also result in dryness and changes the texture of vegetables

If your tomatoes are under ripe when you buy them, keep them at room temperature until they’re fully ripened.

Once they’re ripe, then you can move them to a cooler spot for storage. 

While the meat may be tempting, constantly pressing, flipping and squeezing the meat can interfere with the searing in the case of steak.

It can also result in a loss of breading from pork chops and chicken.

Overcooking foods like meat, poultry and fish is acceptable (in some cases), vegetables are not supposed to be overcooked. Not only does this make them unappealing in texture and taste, it also decreases the nutrient content.

Most vegetables only need to be cooked three to five minutes, seven to 10 at the most. Once they start losing colour, they are already overcooked.

Vegetables are rich sources of B complex vitamins and loads of other nutrients, which are soluble in water. When vegetables get boiled, these nutrients get absorbed into the water.

While steaming vegetables can be a healthier alternative, preserving water in which vegetables are boiled can be used in curries or to make dough.

This might not come as a surprise, but the skin and the part beneath are the healthiest parts of any vegetable.

Vegetables like beetroot, sweet potatoes and carrot can easily be cooked in their skin and chopped before finishing. 

Both salt and sugar tend to destroy nutrients because they interfere with absorption and availability of proteins.

This is especially for deep frying lean protein foods such as chicken or fish. Keep it minimal with both the salt and the sugar.

Using too much water for poaching or boiling removes water-soluble nutrients from fruits and vegetables.

Use as little water when cooking vegetables to retain nutrients as best as you can!

Using baking soda when cooking vegetables results in a loss of Vitamin C.

Nutrients are lost in an alkaline environment produced by baking soda, despite the soda keeping the colour of vegetables.

When cooking poultry and fish, it is essential to use the shortest cooking time needed for safe consumption.

Fish, especially, absorbs marinade quickly. So, no worries about fish not absorbing the taste properly.