Your Slimming Essentials – The Weekly Pinch of Shopping 09.08.24
Get ready to write your list! A new Weekly Pinch of Shopping is here and it’s jam-packed with tasty goodies.
It’s not often we pick up an alcoholic beverage for this article! At less than 70 calories per glass, Casillero Del Diablo’s BeLight wines are ideal for pairing with a slimming-friendly meal. The only question left is, will you go for a glass of rosé or sauvignon blanc?
New snack alert! We’re buzzing to spot that Walkers have given Wotsits a lower-fat makeover using chickpeas. Not only that, they’ve taken the cheesiness up a notch, with cheese toastie flavoured crisps!
If that’s got your attention, just wait until you find out the calories in each snack bag…
Thank you, thank you, thank you for ALL the amazing photos you’ve been sharing from PINCH OF NOM: AIR FRYER! There are SO many delicious-looking dishes over in our Facebook group, and we’re just over the moon that you’re all loving the book as much as we do.
If you don’t have your own copy yet, or you can’t decide what to make first, go to our blog to see what everyone else has been making!
You can join the air-frying fun by picking up a copy just here.
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 pick up 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!**
John West Salmon Fridgepot Lemon and Herb – 131 calories per pot (approx.)
Anything that makes lunchtimes easier is a winner in our book! This John West Salmon Fridgepot Lemon and Herb makes it effortless to put together a nutritious, no-cook meal in a heartbeat; simply refrigerate the pot until you’re ready to pop the lid and serve.
Use the lemon-infused salmon flakes to add protein, Omega 3 and (most importantly) delicious flavours to leafy salads, pasta salads or sandwiches.
Brimming with healthy fats, our Baked Garlic Salmon is well worth pencilling into your midweek menu. Forget about high-calorie butter or oils; with the help of a couple of reduced-fat swaps, we’ve made a herby, garlic and lemon sauce that’s too yummy to resist.
We always serve ours on a bed of gloriously green, tenderstem broccoli!
John West Salmon Fridgepot Lemon and Herb is available from Morrisons, priced at £2.25 per pot.
Jordans Popped Oat Crunch Hint of Honey Breakfast Cereal – 146 calories per portion
The great thing about this Jordans Popped Oat Crunch Hint of Honey Breakfast Cereal is that it’s sticky-sweet with honey flavoured clusters that are packed with filling fibre and energy-boosting magnesium.
While it makes for a delicious breakfast, we like to have crunchy cereals in the house for quick and easy snacks too. Why not add a few clusters to a bowl of yoghurt and fruit for a tasty, satisfying pick-me-up?
That’s exactly how we came up with the recipe for our Raspberry Mocha Granola Pots. You’ll have to dig through layers of chocolatey yoghurt, juicy raspberries, reduced-fat aerosol cream to get to the granola-style oats at the bottom.
Jordans Popped Oat Crunch Hint of Honey Breakfast Cereal is available from Ocado, priced at £3.60 per box.
Maryland Minis White Choc – 97 calories per mini bag
Now’s the time to pop the kettle on! These Maryland Minis White Chocolate mini bags are just the thing for a mid-afternoon tea break. It’s the same Maryland cookie recipe you know and love, with oh-so-sweet white chocolate chips stirred in.
The convenient mini bags aren’t just great for taking a bite on the go, they’re also handy for portion control, if you’re counting calories.
Anyone who loves white chocolate needs to try our White Chocolate Blondies recipe. Just like cookies, they go down a treat with a glass of milk or a warm brew!
We’ve used a short list of slimming-friendly ingredients to keep things lighter, without compromising on the squidginess you’d expect from each square of sponge.
Maryland Minis White Choc are available from Iceland, priced at £1.00 for a pack of 6 mini bags.
ASDA Chicken Flavour Savoury Rice – 195 calories per 1/2 pack
There’s no denying that ASDA Chicken Flavour Savoury Rice is a handy time-saver! Ready-infused with a blend of savoury herbs and spices, you’ll also find garden peas, red peppers and carrot chunks stirred in.
You can either boil the grains on the hob, or pop them into a bowl to be microwaved – either way, you’ll only need to wait around 10 minutes before serving.
This vegetarian packet of rice goes down a storm on a meat-free curry night! Spoon a portion of our Vegetarian Tikka Masala onto the plate, and you’ll be in fakeaway-night heaven.
Using a coconut dairy-free milk alternative lets us add a richness to our sauce, without taking you off plan. All in all, each bowl of fiery chickpeas comes to just 176 calories per portion!
ASDA Chicken Flavour Savoury Rice is available from Asda, priced at 65p per pack.
New England Seafood Diced Yellowfin Tuna – 87 calories per 100g
You can fry these chunks of New England Seafood Diced Yellowfin Tuna to perfection in just 6 minutes. Add a touch of garlic to amp up the flavours, or a sprinkling of paprika if you’d prefer the flavours to be smokier.
Lean, packed with protein and super versatile, tuna always tastes great with a fresh salad, noodles or orzo.
Something fresh and vibrant like our brand-new Greek-Style Bean Salad would pair really well.
It’s a medley of holiday-inspired flavours, thanks to fresh veggies, beans and crumbly feta cheese tossed together with a squeeze of lemon and garlic.
Ready in 10 minutes with no cooking whatsoever – it doesn’t get easier than that!
New England Seafood Diced Yellowfin Tuna is available from Ocado, priced at £7.00.
M&S Roasted Red Pepper Pesto Pasta Salad – 157 calories per 1/4 pack
We love roasted red peppers and we adore pesto, so there’s no question we had to pick up this M&S Roasted Red Pepper Pesto Pasta Salad. A single pot serves 4 as part of a grab-and-go picnic spread, or as a side dish next to grilled meat or fish.
You could even tuck into half a pack with some bits of chicken for a quick and tasty lunch box filler.
Open the fridge at the office right now, and you’ll see everyone’s got a portion of our Red Pesto Chicken Salad recipe in their tupperware. This one’s a recent addition to our website and we’ve heard it’s absolutely perfect for sunny days (when they happen!).
The marinade also doubles-up as a salad dressing, meaning every mouthful is bursting with garlicky red pesto goodness.
M&S Roasted Red Pepper Pesto Pasta Salad is available from Ocado and M&S, priced at £3.61 per pot.
Casillero Del Diablo BeLight Rose – 64 calories per 125ml glass
As soon as we saw the brand-new bottles in Casillero Del Diablo’s BeLight range, we thought, wine not? At less than 70 calories per glass, the hardest part is choosing whether to take home rosé or sauvignon blanc.
We found the safest bet was to take home both for a taste test! You can sip it as it is, or the fruity flavours are light and fresh enough to pair with all kinds of slimming-friendly summertime dishes, like the ones in our blog.
You could also use a glug of Casillero Del Diablo to rustle up our version of Pink Sangria. Once it’s mixed with Peach Schnapps, topped up with sparkling water and infused with fresh fruit, you’ll be ready to sit back, relax and soak up the sunshine.
Casillero Del Diablo BeLight Rose is available from Tesco, priced at £7.00 per bottle.
itsu gochujang cooking sauce – 122 calories per 50ml serving
For us, itsu is the gift that keeps on giving! The Japanese-inspired takeaway chain has been adding their products to supermarket shelves for some time now, but this itsu Gochujang cooking sauce has us especially excited.
Spicy, sweet, smoky and sour all at once, Gochujang has to be one of our favourite Japanese-style flavours to cook with.
It’s exactly why we make our Air Fryer Gochujang Chicken Nuggets (from pages 80-81 of our Air Fryer cookbook) at least once a week.
Thanks to the magic of your air fryer, you’ll get all of the crunch of a deep-fried takeaway, for a fraction of the calories!
itsu gochujang cooking sauce is available from Tesco, priced at £2.50.
Roosters Gastro Flamin’ Hot Chicken Breast Fillet Burger – 201 calories per burger
These Roosters Gastro Flamin’ Hot Chicken Breast Fillet Burgers cook from frozen in less than 30 minutes. They’re ideal for a family burger night where you don’t have time to prepare your patties and breadcrumb coating from scratch.
The crispy coating is already infused with a selection of fiery herbs and spices, so you only need to worry about stacking them high with your choice of salad, and a cooling sauce.
You can always follow our KFC Zinger Burger Fakeaway recipe to make your own version.
To make the coating spicier, crush up the hottest Doritos you can find for the coating (Extra Flamin’ Hot), or sprinkle in extra chilli powder into the spice mix to suit your taste.
Roosters Gastro Flamin’ Hot Chicken Breast Fillet Burger is available from Aldi, priced at £3.39 for 4 burgers.
Walkers Wotsits Cheese Toastie Multipack Chickpea Crisps – 57 calories per 12g bag
Keep an eye out for Walkers’ all-new Wotsits Cheese Toastie Multipack Chickpea Crisps! Not only have they taken the flavours up a notch, they’ve also lowered the fat by making their lighter baked crisps with chickpeas.
That brings each cheese-loaded snack bag down to just 57 calories each (standard ‘really cheesy’ Wotsits are 82 calories with twice the fat).
We can’t think about chickpeas without wanting to tuck into our Chickpea Tikka Dip. A cracking appetiser or light, savoury snack, try dunking a selection of crunchy veg batons (carrots, peppers, and celery all work a treat), or some small pieces of low-calorie pitta bread.
It’s ready in minutes with the help of a hand blender or food processor, and it’ll keep nicely in the fridge for a few days.
Walkers Wotsits Cheese Toastie Multipack Chickpea Crisps are available from Sainsbury’s, priced at £2.20 (or £1.65 with a Nectar card) for a pack of 6 12g bags.
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 Super 6 offering, along with some recipe ideas for you.
Sweetcorn – 86 calories per 100g
Boiled, grilled, barbecued or roasted, there are so many ways to enjoy sweetcorn’s signature crunchiness. If you’re a fan of bright and colourful corn on the cob, you’re in luck – it’s only 69p for a pack of two at Aldi this week.
Turn to pages 174-175 of Pinch of Nom: Enjoy to make our homely Sweetcorn Risotto. Rain or shine, it’s a hug in a bowl that’s ready to be ‘enjoyed’ in just half an hour.
Regal Vine Tomatoes – 18 calories per 100g
Often sweeter and more tender than off-the-vine tomatoes, it’s well worth picking up some of these vine tomatoes while they’re on special offer. Whether you slice them up for a sandwich or salad, or cook them into a dish, they’ll bring rich flavour to your plate.
You could always use them to serve up some effortless, French-inspired flavours with our Baked Cod Provencal recipe.
Closed Cup Mushrooms – 17 calories per 100g
From risotto and pasta dishes to curries and pies, there are so many dishes you can add closed cup mushrooms to. They’re also packed with vitamins and minerals, and super low in calories!
Why not start your day right with our Marmite Mushrooms on Toast? It’s wholesome breakfast-time comfort food that you’ll either love or hate (we’re pretty confident you’ll love it!).
Pink Lady Apples – 52 calories per 100g
Pink Lady Apples are famously delicious with a delightful crunch, so it’s no surprise when they’re first to disappear from the fruit bowl. A refreshing snack on a hot summer’s day, they also hold their shape well in heat, so they’re ideal for cooking and baking.
No matter the time of year, Apple Crumble is always one of our favourite puddings. We can’t say no to that tart yet sweet apple centre!
Sweet Pointed Peppers – 44 calories per 100g
Pointed peppers are little different to bell peppers, with a thinner skin and a sweeter taste. Great for roasting, they’re amazing at adding extra flavour into soups and stir-fries.
We love to see peppers in the Super 6 because they’re so incredibly versatile. We’ll often add them into our recipes to ramp up the colour, flavour and nutrition.
Roasted peppers are the key to the rich sauce in our much-loved, comforting Creamy Roasted Red Pepper and Chicken Pasta.
Spring Onions – 32 calories per 100g
With a burst of fresh, vibrant flavour, spring onions are always handy to have in the fridge. From salads and stir-fries to a simple garnish, they add a mild punch of flavour wherever they’re sprinkled.
If you’re planning a Chinese-inspired fakeaway night, sprinkle some shredded spring onion onto our Mongolian Crispy Lamb recipe as a taste bud tingling starter. The freshness of the veggies is the perfect companion to the aromatic meat.
**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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