Reducing Fat in Your Foods

A great way to reduce the amount of fat in what you cook is to buy nonstick cookware. Regular pans require a lot of oil to saute food, but with nonstick pans, you can use a nonfat cooking spray or just a bit of oil. Think of all the fat calories you'll save by cutting down on vegetable oil, which has an average of 100 calories and 14 grams of fat per tablespoon!

Use whipped butter or margarine instead of butter sticks. Although you can't use it universally for cooking and baking, the whipped substitutes will spread better on bread and rolls, making it easier to use less.

When buying soft tub margarine, choose one that lists corn, sunflower, or soybean oil as the first ingredient. If the first ingredient is qualified as partially hydrogenated, or if palm or coconut oil is an ingredient, choose another brand.

To cut down on cholesterol, substitute virgin olive oil or polyunsaturated vegetable oils for saturated oils. Substitutes don't always work in baking, however; olive oil has a different flavor than vegetable oils.

Do you love to make homemade French fries but hate the grease and extra calories? After frying, put the French fries in a brown paper bag and shake. The bag will absorb much of the extra oil. If you like your fries salted, add a bit to the bag before shaking.

You can also use paper bags to reduce the amount of fat you're eating with your bacon. Just set the bacon strips on clean paper bags after you've fried them.

Make French fries in the oven by brushing potato slices with a little olive oil and baking them at 400 degrees Fahrenheit for about twenty to thirty minutes. Turn three times during cooking, brushing the potatoes each time with a little more oil. You can season them with salt or other herbs and spices as soon as they come out of the oven. These fries will have considerably fewer grams of fat than the deep-fried kind, and they'll taste great.