Your Slimming Essentials – The Weekly Pinch of Shopping 22.11.24
Happy Friday (and happy PUBLICATION WEEK to Pinch of Nom: All in One). It’s time for a brand-new Weekly Pinch of Shopping!
Our new cookbook isn’t the only thing we’re obsessed with this week. We’ve found a jar of Pistachio Crème that we can’t stop spreading on everything – it’s only available in one shop for a limited time!
Plus, GÜ’s new Gingerbread Melting Middle Pudding is the luxury we all need right now! Soooo cosy and comforting for these cold nights.
Speaking of cosy comfort, our brand-new cookbook is OUT and ready to warm you right up!! PINCH OF NOM: ALL IN ONE is jam-packed with incredible, easy-to-make recipes you can cook up in one pot, pan or tray.
You’ll also get:
- 30 slow cooker recipes (more than we’ve ever put in one book before!)
- Over 90 brand-new recipes, organised into the Nom chapters you know and love
- Fuss-free, flavourful meals, without a mountain of dishes to clean afterwards
Keep your eyes peeled for it in the shops if you’ve not got your copy already, or tap here to order an extra one for a friend.
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Make sure to let us know if you spot any yummy-looking, slimming-friendly new products on the supermarket shelves – we might just feature them in our next article! The members in our incredible Facebook group are always happy to have a good old chat about lots of these shopping items. You can join the group by clicking here.
Our Weekly Pinch of Shopping list aims to show you slimming-friendly products that you can find online or in one of your local supermarkets. We try to make it as easy as possible for you to pick up these items as part of your usual weekly shop, and we’ll always include the calorie information and the RRP for you.
Please remember that, although all prices are correct at the time of writing, supermarkets can change their prices often, so this should be used as a guide only.
Along with our favourite new finds from the supermarket shelves, each week we include details of the Aldi Super 6. Every fortnight Aldi discounts a selection of 6 fruits and veggies that you can grab for a fraction of the price. There’s a fresh selection this week, so scroll down to find out what’s included, along with some ideas on how to make the most of the ingredients.
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**A note on our shopping list: we do not take payment, promotion or gifts for including any of the items mentioned in these articles. We bring them to you because we love them and hope you will too!**
Cully & Sully Curried Parsnip Soup – 52 calories per 100g
Nothing warms the soul like soup! This Cully & Sully Curried Parsnip Soup is bursting with autumn flavours, with a gluten-free blend of parsnip, a stock of seasonal veggies and a hint of spicy curry powder.
For a bit more luxury, and a lighter alternative to bread croutons, try serving with crisped-up parsnip skins – the added crunch is irresistible!
We use a similar nifty trick to top our Curried Parsnip Soup. Those golden cubes aren’t toasted bread, they’re actually air-fried chunks of parsnip.
It’s wonderfully thick and nutritious for only 150 calories per bowlful! Now’s your cue to crack out the tupperware…
Cully & Sully Curried Parsnip Soup is available from Sainsbury’s, priced at £2.30.
Merchant Gourmet Bean Medley – 133 calories per 100g
There are plenty of good reasons to invest in a pack of Merchant Gourmet’s Bean Medley. First, you get five different kinds of fibre-filled beans in one mix. Plus, they’re packed with protein, keeping you sustained for whatever the day holds.
On top of all that, they’re drained and ready to eat straight out of the pouch, or microwave for 90 seconds to serve hot.
You can even stir them into rich, midweek classics like Chilli con Carne (just be sure to adjust the nutritional values, if you’re following a calorie-tracked plan). This recipe might be one of our oldest, but it never gets boring.
If you’d prefer, leave it to bubble away while you go about your day, with our Slow Cooker Chilli con Carne method.
Merchant Gourmet Bean Medley is available from Sainsbury’s, priced at £2.20 per pack (or £1.70 with a Nectar card).
Iceland Cheesy Potato Swirls – 292 calories per 1/4 pack
We might be guilty of picking up these Cheesy Potato Swirls because they remind us of our own Baked Mash Swirls recipe, but we have no regrets! Just like ours, they look and taste really impressive plated next to meaty mains.
It only takes ten minutes to crisp them up until gorgeously golden and brown, with the magic of an air fryer.
Just imagine how yummy these swirls of cheesy potato would be on top of the delicious, nutritious filling from our comforting Shepherd’s Pie. We use lean diced lamb, instead of lamb mince, to bring the calories down without compromising on flavour.
Swirls aren’t the only alternative pie topper you might like to try – cheesy mashed cauliflower works a treat too!
Iceland Cheesy Potato Swirls are available from Iceland, priced at £1.00 per bag.
Deli Kitchen Everything Wraps – 185 calories per wrap
Instantly upgrade lunchtimes with these Deli Kitchen Everything Wraps. Ready-coated in an ‘everything-style seasoning’ made up of mixed seeds, garlic, sea salt and onion, they’re guaranteed to take just about any wrap filling to the next level.
Try taking them for a spin with our Mexican-Style Crunch Wrap recipe. Inspired by a clever wrap hack we spotted on TikTok, we show you how to neatly fold your filling into triangles, and get everything crispy too!
It’s not just got a meaty filling; we’ve included a chunky, fresh guacamole and a cheesy section that’s sprinkled with crunchy, crushed-up tortilla chips too.
Ready in just 20 minutes, it’d be rude not to give it a whirl! Just be sure to take note of the additional calories, if you use an everything wrap.
Deli Kitchen Everything Wraps are available from Sainsbury’s, priced at £2.85.
ASDA Bom Bahia Garlic Chicken Balti – 268 calories per 1/2 pack
Looking for a bit of aromatic spiciness to help you fight the sniffles? Pop this ASDA Bom Bahia Garlic Chicken Balti in the oven. It’s a medley of flame-grilled chicken pieces in a fiery, tomatoey sauce, topped with chargrilled red pepper and coriander.
Be warned, though – with a three-chilli spice rating, you might want a dollop of fat-free yoghurt to cool things down!
Warm up instantly when you flick to page 118 in our ALL IN ONE cookbook. That’s where you’ll find our utterly delicious One-Pot Chicken Tikka and Rice.
Just like the name suggests, you don’t even need to cook the rice separately with this fuss-free recipe. It’s easier than ordering from a takeaway!
ASDA Bom Bahia Garlic Chicken Balti is available from Asda, priced at £5.00 per pack.
itsu vegetable tempura fries – 158 calories per 1/4 pack
If you love crunchy veggies, pick up a bag of itsu vegetable tempura fries from Tesco. This brand-new addition to the freezer section uses a colourful mix of crispy-fried pumpkin, whole green beans and sweet potatoes.
Oven cooked or air-fried, it’ll be ready to serve in a jiffy; it’s a great Asian-inspired side dish alternative for when you fancy something different from chips.
We’re big fans of getting creative with vegetable side dishes, as our Christmassy Air Fryer Spiced Parsnip Fries prove. You’ll love serving them in a sticky-sweet honey glaze at your next festive spread, and you can make them in the oven too.
Try a handful with a roast dinner, or swap them in wherever you’d normally serve sweet potato fries – they’re just as filling!
itsu vegetable tempura fries are available from Tesco, priced at £3.25 per pack.
Sainsbury’s Roasted Butternut Squash Gnocchi, Taste the Difference – 436 calories per pack
Next time you don’t feel like cooking, remove the sleeve and pierce the film on this Taste the Difference Roasted Butternut Squash Gnocchi from Sainsbury’s.
It feels fresher than most ready meal options out there, with potato gnocchi, chunks of butternut squash, tomato sauce, ricotta cheese and spinach, all tossed together in a gremolata crumb.
The best thing about our new Butternut Squash and Sage Gnocchi is that the oven does most of the hard work for you. A velvety cheesy sauce gets poured over everything, with a couple of spoonfuls of dried sage to add some aromatic flavour.
It’ll be thick, rich and creamy when it’s ready. In other words, it’s gonna go down a storm at the dinner table!
Sainsbury’s Roasted Butternut Squash Gnocchi, Taste the Difference is available from Sainsbury’s, priced at £5.00.
Primula Limited Edition Cheese & Pigs in Blankets – 98 calories per 50g squeeze
Fans of squeezy cheese, get ready! Primula has released a limited-edition tube for Christmas: Cheese and Pigs in Blankets. Add a squeeze to seasonal snacks or sandwiches stacked with roast dinner leftovers to instantly boost them with festive flavours.
It won’t be around for long; head to Iceland sooner rather than later if you want to give it a try!
With Christmas less than six weeks away, it’s also the season for impressive showstoppers like our Pigs in Blankets Christmas Wreath. While a version made with the traditional trimming would be much higher in calories, we’ve kept things slimming friendly by wrapping chipolata sausage ‘piggies’ in cosy light puff pastry blankets.
Stand back and watch when you put this one out – it doesn’t last long!
Primula Limited Edition Cheese & Pigs in Blankets is available from Iceland, priced at £2.00.
Specially Selected Pistachio Crème – 80 calories per 15g serving
We know where we’ll be on Sunday, 24th of November – scanning the Specially Selected Pistachio Crème in the Specialbuy aisle at Aldi! These limited edition jars won’t be around for long, and they’re bound to be popular.
A silky, nutty-sweet spread, it’ll be delicious on toast or swirled into a light puff pastry creation. You could always follow the recipe for our scrumptious Biscoff Swirls, and swap in Pistachio Crème for Biscoff. Just make sure you tweak the calories, if you’re tracking on MyFitnessPal.
Biscoff or not, puff pastry swirls are delightful with a cuppa. We’ve got lots of different swirl ideas for you to try on our blog, and there are savoury options too!
Specially Selected Pistachio Crème is available from Aldi, priced at £1.79 per jar.
GÜ Gingerbread Melting Middle – 385 calories per ramekin
The latest multi-layered ramekin from GÜ is Gingerbread Melting Middle, and it just screams ‘comfort food’ to us! Dig your spoon into warming autumn spices (a blend of cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg), soft chocolate sponge and a molten chocolate centre, all topped with biscuit crumbs.
It’s heavenly at 385 calories per pot, or you can pick up Speculoos Sponge Pudding from the same limited edition range for 277 calories.
We can’t think about melt-in-the-middle desserts without craving our Chocolate Lava Mug Cakes. Top with raspberries or low-calorie ice cream to ramp up the indulgence!
GÜ Gingerbread Melting Middle is available from Ocado, priced at £3.75.
NEW Aldi Super 6 Fruit and Veg Selection
We love Aldi’s fortnightly selection of fresh fruit and veggies! They choose different items for a special offer where you can pick them up for much less than the normal price.
Here’s the rundown of this week’s extra-special Super 6 offering, along with some recipe ideas for you.
Baby Potatoes – 75 calories per 100g
Baby potatoes hold their shape after cooking, giving them a delicious bite that makes fresh salads and side dishes more satisfying. Why not take some home to make up a portion of our Garlic and Parmesan Potatoes?
Royal Gala Apples – 52 calories per 100g
Royal Gala are pink-red dessert apples with a mild sweet flavour and a crisp texture. They’re also a lot of fun to cook with, especially if you’re making our warm and comforting, slimming-friendly version of Apple Strudel.
Closed Cup Mushrooms – 17 calories per 100g
Low in calories and mild in flavour, mushrooms are a handy, versatile ingredient for bulking out lots of different dishes, without taking you off track. There’s definitely been a chill in the air lately, that’s why we’ve been tucking into Chicken and Mushroom Pie on repeat.
Kiwi – 61 calories per 100g
Kiwis are a juicy pick-me-up fruit packed with immune-boosting vitamins; they’re well worth having in the fridge to reach for when you need a little treat. Our Fruit Christmas Tree wouldn’t be the same without kiwi slices!
Fine Green Beans – 31 calories per 100g
One of the most versatile veggies around, you can enjoy green beans on the side of your main meal whenever you need a boost of nutritious goodness. Air-fry a handful with breadcrumbs and Parmesan cheese, and you’ll end up with our gorgeous Air Fryer Green Beans.
Baby corn – 26 calories per 100g
A crunchy handful of baby corn always goes down a treat in fried rice dishes, stir-fries and curries. It adds the perfect bite to our much-loved Diet Coke/Pepsi Max Chicken on fakeaway night.
**Remember: we do not take payment, promotion or gift for any of the items mentioned in these articles. We bring them to you because we love them and hope you will too!**
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