Your Slimming Essentials – The Weekly Pinch Of Shopping 01.01
It’s a brand new year and time to get back on track after an indulgent festive period!
This week’s Weekly Pinch of Shopping is full of products that will help you to get the most out of our third book, Pinch of Nom: Quick and Easy, and help you to smash your slimming goals.
We’ve found some healthier versions of popular products like soy sauce, Marmite and chewy toffee caramels, and a selection of really convenient, time saving items like ready chopped garlic.
There’s also some products that might seem a bit strange but are guaranteed to be delicious in a wide range of dishes (okra anyone?!), and one of our all time favourite flavour boosters – Henderson’s Relish.
We’ve even made a note of the recipes in our third cookbook or on our website that we think that these products would be perfect for.
If you’re looking for a really easy way to keep yourself on track and plan your meals then make sure you grab our second food planner. It’s the easiest way to meal plan and keep track of exactly what you’re eating.
Lots of these products have been talked about over on our Facebook Group, so if you’re not a member then make sure that you click here to join now so that you don’t miss out (and don’t forget to share any delicious new products that you come across).
Our Weekly Pinch of Shopping list aims to show you slimming friendly products that are available in a wide range of stores so that you can pick them up during your weekly shop, and to make things really convenient we’ve also listed any relevant nutritional info and the RRP.
Please remember that all prices are correct at the time of us writing this article and so they should be used as a guide only.
Want first access to our Weekly Pinch of Shopping articles? Make sure that you’re subscribed to our newsletter as we’ll be letting our email subscribers know that a new list has been published before anyone else.
You can sign up for our newsletter here.
**A note on our shopping list: 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!**
Ashfield Farm 10 Italian Style Chicken Chipolatas – 42 calories per sausage (FB recommendation)
Thanks to Chelsey Metcalfe for sharing these Ashfield Farm 10 Italian Style Chicken Chipolatas over in our Facebook Group: we think they are a great budget-friendly slimming essential!
Because they’re made with lean chicken rather than high-calorie full fat pork, these chipolatas are only 42 calories each.
You can use them in place of pork sausages pretty much anywhere, but the subtle Italian flavouring adds extra depth to casseroles and risottos in particular.
With mozzarella, sun dried tomato, basil and garlic, these flavourful bangers are the perfect sausage to use in our Sausage Casserole from our third book!
You can also try them in our Tomato, Bacon, Sausage and Mushroom Risotto for a touch of the Mediterranean at home!
Pick up a 10-pack of these Ashfield Farm 10 Italian Style Chicken Chipolatas from Aldi for £1.89.
Henderson’s Relish – 44 calories per 100ml
Henderson’s Relish is an absolute store cupboard essential and is a fantastic way to boost flavour in pretty much any dish.
We use it in so many of our recipes including our Vegan Chilli and our Garlic Mushroom Risotto, and it’s also a really great gluten free substitute for Worcestershire sauce.
This spicy table sauce is also suitable for vegetarians and vegans which means that you’ll get all of the flavour while ensuring that your dish is suitable for all dietary requirements.
It also really helps to enhance the flavours of a range of other sauces like gravies or our Peppercorn Chicken from our third cookbook.
You can find Henderson’s Relish in Sainsburys, Asda, Waitrose and Morrisons for around £1.60 a bottle – it’s a total slimming essential!
Cofresh Okra Cut – 31 calories per 100g
Okra might look a little bit strange but it’s actually really versatile and a fantastic vegetable to incorporate into your daily cooking.
It’s got quite a mild flavour, so works really well in strong, spicy dishes like our Vegetarian Gumbo from our third book.
This Cofresh Okra Cut is ready cut and ready to cook from frozen so it’s super convenient to have on hand in your freezer for when you need a bit of extra help getting your 5 a day.
Suitable for vegetarians, we also love this Cofresh Okra Cut in our Vegan Campfire Stew or our Chilli Con Carne.
It’s not just for popping into things like stews, however, it’s also fantastic for steaming, roasting and frying – the ideal side dish to any meal.
This Cofresh Okra Cut is available in Tesco for £1.
Amoy Reduced Salt Soy Sauce – 3 calories per serving
We love soy sauce as it’s such a quick and easy way to add a boost of flavour to any dish – it’s essential for making loads of our favourite fakeaway recipes!
This Amoy Reduced Salt Soy Sauce has all of the flavour of soy sauce, but is 25% lower on salt than the normal version, which is great news if you’re trying to limit your salt intake.
Suitable for vegetarians, this soy sauce is so versatile and can be used in a range of different recipes or marinades to add a rich sweetness to your dish.
Use in our Salt and Pepper Ribs for a dish that tastes even better than the one you’d pick up from the takeaway, or in our Stir-fried Beef with Ginger and Spring Onion.
It’s also fantastic when used in our Honey Chilli Pork from our new cookbook!
You can find this Amoy Reduced Salt Soy Sauce in most supermarkets for around £1.40 a bottle.
Morrisons Savoy Cabbage – 21 calories per 80g
This Morrisons Savoy Cabbage can be used in such a wide variety of different dishes and is a great way to help make sure you’re eating enough veg.
Use in dishes like our Bubble and Squeak from our third cookbook, our Vegetable Stew with Orzo, or simply as a tasty side dish with any meal!
Each 80g portion of this Morrisons Savoy Cabbage counts as one of your 5 a day and has only 21 calories so it’s slimming friendly too.
Morrisons Savoy Cabbages are currently on offer, reduced from 65p to 49p at Morrisons so you can grab yourself a bargain too!
Werthers Toffee Sugar Free – 22 calories per sweet
Chewy, creamy caramel sweets are usually firmly off the menu when following a slimming plan.
These Werthers Toffee Sugar Free give you a burst of sweetness without the extra calories and Points!
These are delicious enough to enjoy throughout the day on their own or pop them in the car for emergency snacking, but did you know they have another surprising use in the kitchen?
We’ve used these caramels in our third book to give our Salted Caramel Rice Krispie Bars an authentic toffee taste without lashings of butter and sugar. It really works!
This method inspires us to try it out in some of our other desserts, like Chocolate Cake with Salted Caramel Cream!
Grab an 80g bag of Werthers Toffee Sugar Free from most supermarkets for £1.
Knorr Veggie Cook’s Essentials Smoked Chilli & Tomato Vegan Stock Pot – Less than 4 calories per serving
Stock pots and stock cubes are a slimming essential, and we always have plenty of these in the cupboard!
Knorr Veggie Cook’s Essentials Smoked Chilli & Tomato Vegan Stock Pots are an easy way of adding extra flavour to SO many dishes.
From stews and casseroles to pies and risottos, you can use these vegan friendly stock pots for a touch of smoky flavour without searching for fancy ingredients!
At less than 4 calories a serving, it’s worth having a box or two of these on hand to liven up a Bolognese Risotto or a Cumberland Pie!
We’ve spotted these Knorr Veggie Cook’s Essentials Smoked Chilli & Tomato Vegan Stock Pots at most supermarkets for £1 per 2 pots.
Morrisons Chopped Garlic – 138 calories per 100g
There’s something really satisfying about being able to add freshly chopped garlic, without faffing with a kitchen gadget or any washing up!
This Morrisons Chopped Garlic can be used straight from the freezer, meaning no waste and no fuss.
It’s so simple to use, simply substitute one clove of fresh garlic for one teaspoon of frozen chopped garlic.
No need to defrost, chop or peel: that sounds like the perfect addition to our Quick & Easy cookbook to us!
We use garlic as part of the base to so many of our recipes because it’s so versatile, whether you’re batch cooking a Creamy Bolognese from our third book, or rustling up Facebook favourite Creamy Garlic Chicken.
Morrisons Chopped Garlic is available for £1 per 100g bag
Yutaka Silken Tofu – 56 calories per 100g
Tofu’s got a little bit of a bad reputation, but when cooked in the right way it’s actually delicious!
This Yutaka Silken Tofu is suitable for dairy free, gluten free and vegan diets and is the perfect choice for whipping up a veggie or vegan meal in a jiffy.
Ready to eat, this tofu has a really smooth and creamy texture and works really well in everything from soups and salads to desserts – yes, really!
If you’ve never tried tofu before then we absolutely recommend giving our Salt and Pepper Tofu a go, or our Creamy Vegetable Panang Curry which you can find in our third cookbook.
This Yutaka Silken Tofu is available in Asda, Morrisons, Ocado and Tesco for around £1.65.
Marmite Reduced Salt Yeast Extract Spread – 22 calories per serving
Love it or hate it, Marmite has been a staple for us for a long time as a way of adding a deep savoury flavour in a pinch.
Marmite’s new Marmite Reduced Salt Yeast Extract Spread gives you the instantly recognisable flavour of Marmite, but with 25% less salt!
Ideal if you’re watching your salt intake but still crave the strong Marmite flavour.
We always have a jar in the cupboard for those days just before the ‘big shop’ as it lasts a long time and needs minimal effort!
Still suitable for vegetarian and vegan diets like the original version, this naturally low sugar spread is a quick and easy breakfast for the entire family.
You may be surprised at how tasty it is in pies and casseroles too.
Try a thin spread on a couple of crackers, in our Sausage and Marmite Pie or Marmite Mushrooms on Toast!
You can get your hands on a 250g jar of Marmite Reduced Salt Yeast Extract Spread for £2.70 at most supermarkets including Asda, Tesco and Sainsbury’s.
**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!*
Love our Weekly Pinch of Shopping articles? Remember to sign up to our newsletter to get first access to the next one.
And if you’re not already part of our Facebook Group then make sure you join as we love seeing all of the new products that you find – not to mention all of the amazing support and motivation!