Slim-Savvy Suggestions: Meal Planning

Meal planning has completely revolutionised my Slimming World experience. It allows me to make amazingly food-optimised meals that I’m excited to make/eat and even keeps the Mr interested in meal times. I've found it a time-saver in general and it really helps keep me focused on what I'm eating.

But most of all, it helps me kick my top 5 excuses to the curb:

1. “I don’t know what to make” - meal planning allows you to be prepared. I put aside an hour of my time on a Saturday/Sunday to put my meal plan together and then I don’t have to think about what I’m going to cook all week. Pencilling in that time means I’m able to look up recipe ideas online or in my recipe books to decide what I really want to make that week, and then I don’t have to think about it during the week.

2. “I haven’t got what I need to make a slimming recipe” - Once I’ve made my meal plan, I put together a shopping list of everything I need to make the recipes that I’ve chosen and head down to the supermarket. Then I know that mid-week I only need to restock on fresh fruit/veg and bread. It saves time doing multiple smaller shops and means I’m always prepared.

3. “I don’t have time” - If you know you’re going to be too busy to cook one night, you can plan that in. For example I try to go to the gym after work a couple of times a week, and I know that when I’m done I don’t want to come home and have to start cooking. So i’ll plan a meal for that night that I can throw into my slow cooker in the morning and eat straight away when I get home. It’s also a good idea to have stuff in the freezer thats ready to go, just incase something unexpected comes up and you’re home later than you’d planned to be.

4. “I’m not cooking that night and so I have no control over my meal” - meal plan together! My partner isn’t following Slimming World and so, on nights where he’s cooking, I ask what ingredients are being used and make sure that my Slimming World substitutions are made. As long as you know what’s in the food you’re eating and you syn it accordingly you’ll be right on plan and I can’t imagine anyone minding you asking if you tell them you’re trying to watch your weight.

5. “I have an event to attend so I can’t stick to plan this week” - plan ahead. Everyone I’ve spoken to about Slimming World has said I must be mad to weigh in on a Monday night but I think it’s perfect. You start your week with your weigh in and then if you have an event on the weekend you can save your syns all week for it, rather than having to pull it back when you’ve already gone overboard.

Syn-Free Hash Browns

Breakfast is always my favourite meal of the day and that doesn't need to change when you're food optimising. These home-made hash browns are tasty and relatively straight-forward to make, albeit they do take a little longer than warming up the pre-made ones.

This recipe is essentially just 1 ingredient so the serving size is going to depend on how many potatoes you want to use and how big you want your hash browns to be.

Ingredients:

Potatoes (as many as you want)

Low-calorie spray

Salt

Equipment:

Pan

Bowl

Cheese Grater

Baking Tray

Oven-Safe Bottomless Moulds (I used egg rings but metal cookie cutters might work)

Syns per serving: Free*

Method:

1. Boil the potatoes in a pan of hot water until they soften a little.

2. Drain and leave to dry. Meanwhile pre-heat your oven to around 200 degrees.

3. Once dried off, grate the potatoes into a bowl, add salt to taste. (you really do need to add salt to this - it's really bland without.

4. Line a baking tray with baking paper and place your egg rings on top of the baking paper. Spray with low-calorie cooking spray and use a spoon/fork to push the potato mixture into the egg rings. Spray again with low-calorie cooing spray and place in the oven.

5. Turn the hash browns over after around 15 minutes (at this point they will have set in their shape and you will be able to remove the egg rings. Return the the oven until golden.

If you'd like to freeze some hash-browns, they can be frozen once they've been half-baked (so the point where you would turn them over). To reheat simply place in the oven from frozen and bake until golden on both sides.

Serving Suggestions:

On the weekend: These can be served as part of a Full English Breakfast, alongside some lean bacon, syn-free sausages, tomatoes, mushrooms a fried egg (cooked with low-calorie cooking spray) and 2 rounds of toast (from a 400g wholemeal loaf) for a hearty syn-free breakfast.

During the week: For a quicker breakfast, these are a great way of saving your Healthy extra B option for later, simply cook up 2 of these hash browns and use them as the bread part of a bacon sandwich.

*Syns accurate as of 15/10/2017, Slim Savvy is in no way affiliated with Slimming World and will not be responsible for any inaccurate information with regards to syn values. We do endeavour to update our recipes when syn values are reviewed to keep our information as up-to-date as possible.

Syn-Free Burgers

I recently had one of those moments where I looked in the mirror and realised there was a lot... more... of me than there normally is. With my birthday, Christmas and a beach holiday soon on the horizon, I figured it was probably about time I went back to Slimming World, and since I'm getting a little creative in the kitchen these days, I thought why not share my Slimming World friendly recipes with you.

First up, my tasty syn-free burgers.

These burgers are adapted from a recipe I was using pre-slimming world, super tasty and plenty of speed food in the burgers themselves for those of us that just aren't into lettuce.

Recipe makes 3-4 burgers, depending on how big you make them.

Ingredients:

500g mince meat (5% fat or less)

3 spring onions

3-4 cloves garlic

1-2 chillies (the more chillies, the spicier the burger)

1 medium egg

Equipment:

Chopping Board
Sharp knife
Mixing bowl
Grill

Syns per serving: Free* (perfect for SP days)

Method:

1. Chop the spring onions, garlic cloves and chilli as small as you can get them (the smaller the pieces, the better the texture of the burgers)

2. Add the chopped flavourings into the mince meat and mix well.

3. Beat the egg in a separate bowl until the yolk and white combine, add this into the mince meat mixture.

4. To make perfectly rounded burgers, I use a large circular cookie cutter and press the meat into a chopping board inside the cookie cutter.

5. Cook the burgers on a grill preferably (I do mine on a George Forman type grill for 10-15 minutes or until the meat is no longer pink inside) although I can't see why they wouldn't cook in an oven (high eat setting and again, until the meat is no longer pink).

Serving Suggestions:

For Normal Extra Easy Days: Serve on a HeB wholemeal or gluten free bun with free lean bacon, lettuce, tomato slices and a 30g slice of cheddar cheese (HeA or 6 syns) alongside slimming world chips or wedges.

For an Extra Easy SP Day: Serve in a salad of lettuce, gherkins, chopped tomatoes and chopped red onion, wholemeal bun optional.


*Syns accurate as of 15/10/2017, Slim Savvy is in no way affiliated with Slimming World and will not be responsible for any inaccurate information with regards to syn values. We do endeavour to update our recipes when syn values are reviewed to keep our information as up-to-date as possible.