‘I always have it in the freezer’: The nutrient-packed meals Angela Rippon cooks to stay energised at 81

At 81, the much-loved journalist, newsreader and presenter Angela Rippon is in incredible health. She continues to work lengthy days without ever having a visible drop in energy, can still do the splits and in 2023 delivered an amazing performance on Strictly Come Dancing despite being the show’s oldest ever contestant. So when Angela shares any wisdom on health and wellbeing, we sit up and listen.

In an exclusive interview with Good Housekeeping, Angela shared that when it comes to her diet, she doesn’t stick to any restrictive rules or ban specific items. Instead, for the last 20 years or so her diet has simply been absolutely packed with vegetables. ‘I’m not a vegetarian, but I do eat a lot of vegetables,’ Angela tells us. ‘I have difficulties with gluten and dairy, so that decides a great deal of what I eat. I tend to eat quite a lot of vegetables and a lot of fish and chicken. I’m not opposed to red meat – I love liver and onions, for instance – but it’s not something I eat very often.’

Angela lives alone and does all her own cooking, so while she’ll go to the effort of making a leg of lamb if she has guests over for dinner, she typically sticks to easier batch cooks… with plenty of veg. ‘I love getting a load of red and yellow peppers and doing them in a Mediterranean bake with courgettes, aubergine and onion,’ she says.

She’s on to a winner there. Peppers are an underrated nutritional powerhouse, loaded with vitamins A and C. Just one red pepper provides all the vitamin C you need for the day, which aids everything from collagen production (no wonder Angela has such great skin) to heart health. There’s even evidence to suggest eating red peppers can boost cognitive function thanks to their anthocyanins, which have been linked to slowing down memory loss. Aubergines and courgettes and are fantastic choices too, providing fibre and antioxidants, which improve eye health and regulate blood pressure.

Beyond set meals, Angela also likes to prep and cook separate vegetables for easy meals whenever she needs them. ‘I have loads of vegetables in the freezer all the time,’ she shared. ‘Roasted sweet potato is always in the freezer, so it’s easy if I’ve been working all day; I come back, take out a couple of packs of vegetables and have a plate piled high with them, which is wonderful.’

When Angela cooks up her veg, she uses a £2.49 bit of kit that she absolutely adores: soup and sauce bags from Lakeland, which make batch cooking a breeze. ‘They’re wonderful,’ said Angela. ‘You lay them flat in the freezer.’

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Another favourite for Angela is a stew – ‘I make huge pots of wonderful thick stew with vegetables like parsnips, carrots, onions, mushrooms and sweet potato, and either lamb, chicken or rabbit.’

For breakfast, Angela keeps things simple, but prioritises items that will give her energy long into the day. ‘I always have something in the morning,’ she shares. ‘Usually an egg and an avocado, or maybe yogurt with blueberries.’ It goes without saying that both options are solid choices for a morning meal – eggs and yogurt both have protein, which is great for a steady flow of energy to keep you going until lunch, while avocados are loaded with nutrients including folate, vitamin B6, vitamin C, manganese, potassium and magnesium.

Unlike many celebrities, Angela isn’t a fan of intermittent fasting or any strict ‘rules’ around nutrition. ‘My meals tend to be a bit haphazard,’ she admits. ‘But I don’t like eating late at night – I wouldn’t go to bed on a heavily full tummy.’ Her work requires some early starts, late finishes and travelling, so nourishing meals that give her energy, eaten whenever she’s hungry, are key.

‘I’ve been doing this job now for 60 years,’ Angela adds. ‘In that time, I’ve learned how to pace myself. But when I film a show, the audience needs the energy levels to be the same at the end of a programme as they were at the beginning. I’ve discovered that being fit is an essential part of what I do for a living. It’s no good saying “I’m really tired”; the audience doesn’t want to see that. You’ve got to maintain those energy levels throughout the day.’

Angela has a great perspective on nutrition and other wellness commitments and is keen to encourage other women to look after themselves. ‘I always say: it’s never too late,’ she shares. ‘It’s really important as we get older to think in terms of making an investment in your wellbeing pension plan. I recognise the importance of looking after my body. I’ve only got one and if I don’t look after it, it’s going to fail me at some point.’

If you’ve seen Angela’s energy levels on screen, you might be surprised to learn that she’s not super-caffeinated. Due to her lactose intolerance, she stopped drinking black tea years ago and instead opts for herbal cuppas. She’ll sometimes have one or two cups of black coffee, but her main drink of choice is a touch unconventional: just hot water. ‘I drink a lot of hot water,’ Angela says. ‘If there’s lemon around, that’s good. If there’s a peppermint teabag around, that’s good. But when I’m out, it’s hot water all the time.’

The hot water – with or without lemon – has a benefit for someone like Angela, who needs to do a lot of talking. She explains: ‘It does keep your throat nice and humid. It stops you getting a dry throat and a dry mouth. But I actually just quite like the taste. I’m very happy to drink hot water.’

Alcohol-wise, Angela doesn’t drink much. But when she does fancy a tipple, her go-to is a glass of Champagne or ‘a really decent Chablis’. Lots of veg, herbal teas and an occasional glass of wine? Sounds great to us.