Quick & Easy Meal Ideas with Tesco Vegetable Chilli

One of the main reasons why people struggle with the Slimming World plan is that they assume that everything has to be made from scratch. Trust me, my life does not allow me to make a lot from scratch so I rely on quick and easy meals which can be rustled up in minutes. I recently found out that a tin of Tesco Veg Chilli is only 1 syn for the whole thing so if you like veg and you like chilli, what's not to like?!

 Tesco Vegetable Chilli 400g can £1.49

It's packed with carrot, potato, onion, peppers, chopped tomatoes and red kidney beans with a mild to medium chilli sauce. It's really chunky rather than being mainly sauce and I think it's perfect as a jacket potato topping. I also added some extra super free on the side because I like to be on the safe side with my 1/3 super free and it was just nice to have something cool and crunchy to eat with the chilli. 

You could also do it with some rice or even with some potato wedges... chilli cheese wedges sounds amazing actually, I think I might try that next!! A can of this 1 syn chilli is ideal to have in your cupboard or for taking to work if you have access to a microwave!

So you want to go out & still lose weight?

One of the best things about Slimming World is that you can still carry on with your life as normal without your eating habits having to change what you do in terms of enjoyment. I have been on many a night out and eaten lots of meals in restaurants since I've been following the plan and I've always lost weight that week. One bad meal or even a bad day does not have to mean a gain at the end of the week. This is how I 'limit the damage'...

use 'flexible syns':- This is where you decide a set figure for the day/night and you count down from that to zero, when you get to zero you stop eating syns. If I'm on a night out I generally allow myself 40-50 syns, this sounds like a lot but if you follow SW you'll know alcohol isn't very syn friendly and one of my favourite tipples is white zinfandel which comes in at 9 syns per 250ml so for my syns I can have 4 large glasses of wine and have a few syns left over. Obviously it's upto you what you use your syns on but as long as you don't go over the amount you agreed with yourself, you are still maintaining a degree of control and therefore you should find it easier to stay on plan for the remainder of the week.

plan before you go:- If you're going out for a meal and you can get hold of a menu online then you need to be having a look at the different options available to you. My usual SW friendly choices include steak, jacket potato and salad & tomato based pasta dishes. There are of course lots of different things you could have within your usual daily 15 syns (or you could use flexible syns).

be good the rest of the week:- Might sound obvious but if I'm going out at the weekend I find it's a bit too close to weigh in day for comfort so I'll make sure I keep under 5 syns on all the other days and I also get straight back onto the regular plan afterwards. So many people think that a bad day has ruined their whole week so they'll continue to sabotage themselves for the days leading up till weigh day. There really is no need to do this, trust me I've been really naughty before and still managed a loss or a maintain on weigh day. 

Do you have any ways of coping with days/nights out?

What to buy on your first Slimming World shop

One of my friends from twitter (@what_a_twit) gave me a really good idea for a post on here the other day so I thought I'd get on and do it because I do think it'd be a massive help for anyone just starting SW, or even people who have been doing it a while. I think the first couple of weeks of Slimming World are the hardest because you struggle to know what to eat and it's the worst when you don't have enough in your fridge. Here are a few of my staple products that I ALWAYS have in without fail:

Salad items (lettuce, cucumber, tomatoes & peppers)

Eggs

Lean Meat (whatever takes your fancy)

Extra Lean Mince (less than 5% fat)

Fruit (not in a tin)

Frozen Peas

Veg (fresh or frozen)

Potatoes

Fat Free Yoghurts (my favourites are Muller Light and Weight Watchers... stay away from Yeo Valley)

Mug Shots (the ones with the black 1% triangle in the corner are free)

Bachelors Savoury Rice (these are all free)

Baked Beans

Alpen Light Bars (these count as a Healthy B)

60g Wholemeal Breadcakes (I buy Kingsmill)

Cottage Cheese

Semi Skimmed Milk

Babybel Cheese (great for grabbing as a healthy A)

Philidelphia Light or Lightest (great for spreading or cooking with)

Dried Pasta (white or brown)

Tinned chopped tomatoes (these are included in so many recipes)

Ready meals under 5 syns (for when you're in a rush)

Salt & Pepper

Dried Mixed Herbs (these can be used in lots of recipes)

And not forgetting some stock for your syn cupboard. This will obviously vary from person to person, if you're a savoury kind of person then you'll want low syn crisps which include Quavers and French Fries... I will be doing a full post about low syn savoury snacks so watch this space! If you're into sweet treats then you'll want to pick up things like treat size chocolate bars or a selection of chocolate bars under 10 syns.

As I said, this will vary from person to person, this is just an idea of what I always have in. Your first shop tends to be an expensive one but trust me, once you have got going it gets cheaper. You can buy frozen meat and veg if this is cheaper and easier for you, it doesn't change the fact that it's free/superfree.

What are your staple foods for living a healthy lifestyle?

Weekly Weigh in #35 - Yep you can gain this in one week!

It's been exactly 1 month since I posted on here, purely because May has been a hectic one for me. The pub was really busy at the beginning of the month then I trotted off to Florida on 8th May so I haven't really had too much to say on the weight loss front simply because I haven't lost any weight! After 3 weeks completely off plan I went back to group this week to face the scales (I already weighed at home so I knew roughly what to expect)

I gained 9lb 

Although I'm not bothered as such (well I am, nobody wants to gain weight when they're trying to lose), it does show how easy it can go back on when you're off plan. Over 3 weeks that averages out at 3lb per week which is a pretty big weight gain every week, but when you're eating nothing but *something* and fries every day you can't really expect anything less. I had zero intention of doing Slimming World while I was in Florida (don't get me wrong, it is doable) because I'd always wanted to go and I was just as excited to eat all the food as I was to go to Disney World! 

I'm not going to tell you what I ate because you all know how to put on weight and I don't want to get your mouths watering with all the wrong foods! What I will do though is show you what I had yesterday as it was my first day properly back on plan and believe me it feels so good to be back on it. Don't get me wrong I loved the food in America but behind every mouthful was me feeling just a little bit guilty, knowing it wasn't going to be good news on the scales when I got back. 

 Scrambled eggs (free) (no milk or cheese, just literally eggs) with mushrooms and plum tomatoes (both superfree) and beans on the side (free) - So nice and really filling, a perfect brunch kind of meal.

Spaghetti Bolognese cooked from scratch (usually I would use a jar which costs me 5.5 syns!)

Less than 5% fat mince, 2 tins of plum tomatoes, onion, green pepper, mushrooms, tomato puree, garlic salt, mixed herbs, oregano, salt. I just literally browned the mince off with the onion and mushrooms, then added everything else and let it simmer for about 20/30 minutes. Was the best spag bol I've ever made, packed with superfree and no need to count!

 I always have supper when I've come home from work at the pub, tonight was a side plate full of cucumber sticks, seafood sticks, 2 x Babybel cheese (HEXA) and 1 tbsp seafood sauce (2 syns)

Finished off with a 22g bag of Flamin' Hot Monster Munch (5.5 syns)

I've thoroughly enjoyed my first full day back on plan, I'm feeling full and a sight healthier. I'm so looking forward to having a good week this week, as long as I plan at the weekend with me being so busy I'm hoping for a really good loss on Tuesday!

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Ready Meals under 5 syns - Part One

Most of us haven't got the time or inclination to cook from the recipe books every single night, we all have lives and sometimes following a million and one instructions on a recipe just doesn't fit in! So I've been doing a bit of research and I've found 10 ready meals which you should be able to find in your local supermarket for under 5 syns. I think everyone thinks that ready meals are bad but there are some which you can easily fit within your daily syn allowance, just don't forget the super free on the side if it needs it!

WW Chilli with wedges 5

WW Chicken curry with rice 4.5

WW Shepherds pie 4

WW Sweet and sour 4

WW Beef hotpot 5

Tesco Healthy Living Moroccan chicken and rice 4.5

Tesco Healthy Living Szechuan chicken noodles  3.5

Tesco Healthy Living chicken and prawn paella 4.5

Tesco Healthy Living chicken with tomato and basil sauce (chilled) 0.5

Innocent Veg Pot Roasted Aubergine Moussaka (chilled) FREE

(Should be in the frozen section unless stated)

The only one of these I've tried is the Weight Watchers Chilli with wedges and I can say that it is very nice, the wedges are a really nice addition. As for the others I can't speak for them as I've not tasted them but I'm sure you lot will tell me what you think if you've tried them!

Weekly Weigh in #31 - Yep you can lose this in 1 week

So another week, another weigh in and it's getting very close to my holiday (next week, in fact), last week I said I wanted to lose 2lb over these next 2 weeks so I could get my 4 stone award for when I go to Florida. Well I kinda blew that completely out of the water because I lost 7lb this week giving my 4 stone award plus 3 more to put my nicely into it.

I've never lost this much in one week at Slimming World, even my first week was a 6lb weight loss so I have no idea how I've managed it this week other than being 100% on plan and also running around like a mad woman at work over the weekend. So I'm well and truly in the 4 stone mark and I'm definitely going to have a bit to play with when I go away.

Also in my 'news' this week is that today I went out, tried on and bought a pair of size 12 jeans from Next; honestly I think it was about 7 years ago the last time I could do that. It felt so nice today to be able to go into any shop of my choice and know that I will be able to pick my size of the hanger is such a good feeling. I'm not saying there's anything wrong with the clothes in places like Evans but when you're totally restricted to certain shops, shopping for holiday clothes can be pretty soul destroying especially if you hate looking at yourself in the mirror. What I did realise today though, is that I need to tone up on my stomach and probably on my legs but that will come in time and I'll do that when I feel good and ready!

I'm hoping for another 1 or 2 pounds this week just to keep it going right up until the last minute but I've already exceeded where I wanted to be for my holiday so I'm feeling totally chuffed with myself to be honest!

Weekly Weigh in #30 - The one after Easter weekend

**This is a late post, been so busy and not had a chance to write anything up**

I honestly didn't think that Easter weekend would bother me, usually I work the whole bank holiday so I don't even get chance to be tempted by food or drink but this weekend saw me venture out into my home town for a drink (an occasion which only happens twice a year), I didn't watch what I drank and then came the hangover on Monday. Anyway, the results on the scales weren't as bad as I thought they would be and I got away with a 0.5lb gain. 

I'm not gutted because I do know where it has come from and I probably deserved more and that 4 stone award is still within reach by the time I go to Florida. If I can lose 2lb each week for the next 2 weeks I'll get my 4 stone award the same week I fly out which will be a great way to start my holiday! This week is going to involve lots of planning and some cooking, I'm at my mums for tea tomorrow but I've already been informed that it's a chicken dinner which is absolutely perfect for Slimming World. Other than that I aren't out for any meals this week, the only thing I might struggle a little with is Saturday; we have a big stressful function on at the pub so fitting in any kind of food is going to be tricky (I'm hoping for left over veg!). So I've got 4 evening meals to plan for and lunches/snacks in between.

Planning is definitely the key to me succeeding and if I know what I want on the scales then I generally find it easier to stick to it. Here's what I'm hoping to have this week:

Chilli beef noodles or a stir fry - I always said I didn't like stir fry but you know what I think I would love to try one now, I think before I started Slimming World I just wanted to avoid potentially healthy foods but now the idea of chicken with veg and noodles really appeals to me.

Mince with Gravy, potatoes and veg - I do love 'no fuss' foods, truth be known I hate having to faff around in the kitchen and I have to be really in the mood to follow a complicated recipe so mince and gravy is perfect for when I can't be bothered.

Salmon - I love salmon, I honestly cannot get enough.

Here's to another week of Slimming World!