Your Slimming Essentials – The Weekly Pinch of Shopping 10.02.23
A brand-new Weekly Pinch of Shopping is here to inspire you while you’re in the supermarket aisles! We’ve put a focus on speedy snacks, sides, stir-fries and sweets this week. That means everything is ready in less than 15 minutes, if it needs cooking at all.
There’s no way you want to miss Little Moons’ NEW sorbet-filled range of ‘Refreshos’ mochi balls. Bursting with fruity flavour, they’re fantastic to have on standby – for only 59 calories each!
If that doesn’t convince you to make a bit of room in your freezer, Caramilk Creamy Vanilla Ice Cream definitely will. A whole tub full of frozen flavours from Cadbury’s beloved golden chocolate bar, we’ve never been so excited to grab a spoon! Keep scrolling for the scoop on where we found it…
Our NEW cookbook, Pinch of Nom: Enjoy, is out NOW! Enjoy is all about turning mealtimes into memories, and it’s brimming with 100 brand-new recipes that you’ll be excited to make, share and eat with family and friends, time and time again.
From fakeaway favourites to midweek wonders, every dish comes big on flavour without taking you off track. Put the food you love back on the menu by ordering your copy here.
You can share your recipes and photos by posting over in our Facebook group, where you’ll also find our members having a good old chat about lots of these shopping items too. You can join the group by clicking 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!
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.
Want to make sure you never miss a Weekly Pinch of Shopping? You can sign up to receive the Weekly Pinch of Shopping in your inbox here, so you’ll always be the first to read the new articles.
**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!**
Sainsbury’s Flourish Energise Infusion Tea – 9 calories per serving
A zingy alternative to your morning coffee, Sainsbury’s Flourish Energise Infusion Tea packs a punch that’ll set you up nicely for the day ahead. Every sip is infused with sweet ginseng, zesty lemon and Vitamin B6, so it’s refreshingly different from typical green tea flavours.
Valentine’s Day is just around the corner, and our Jammy Hearts are an adorable way to give tea breaks a romantic touch. The reduced-sugar jam filling and crunchy biscuit base is designed to win hearts, so make sure you share them with someone special!
We’ve used real butter instead of reduced-fat spread to keep our buttery biscuits crisp, and they still come in nice and light at 48 calories each.
Sainsbury’s Flourish Energise Infusion Tea is available from Sainsbury’s, priced at £1.80.
Warburton Thin Sliced Bagels 21 Seeds & Grains – 147 calories per bagel
Adding more seeds and nuts to your midweek routine is never a bad idea. These vegan Thin Sliced Bagels 21 Seeds & Grains from Warburtons are a great place to start. They’re best served lightly toasted until golden brown, smeared with a layer of reduced-fat spread.
The 21 different seeds and grains make every bite even more satisfying, as well as adding an irresistible crunch (we’re talking poppy, sunflower, pumpkin and chia seeds on top, to name a few!).
Wholemeal bagel rolls are great to snack on, or you can use them to make a slap-up breakfast like our Egg in the Hole Breakfast Bagel. An oldie but a goldie from our Everyday Light cookbook (you’ll find the full recipe on pages 28-29), we know we’ve done this one right when we need a knife and fork to eat it – we like our egg runny!
Warburton Thin Sliced Bagels 21 Seeds & Grains is available from Tesco, priced at £1.65.
Morrisons Nourish Curried Couscous Salad – 119 calories per 1/2 pack
There’s no shortage of deliciousness in Morrisons Nourish Curried Couscous Salad. It combines wheat berries, carrots, chickpeas and sultanas with pickled red onion, and blends them all together with a mildly-spiced yoghurt dressing.
Couscous can be a delicious and satisfying light lunch option all on its own, or it’ll make a cracking alternative to serving up steamed veggies as a side dish.
Take our Roasted Vegetable and Feta Couscous traybake as an easy-peasy example. We’ve oven-roasted colourful root veg, pepper, onion and rocket, and drizzled over a moreish blend of chipotle paste and honey. Finish with crumbly feta cheese and crunchy walnuts, and it’s ready to pair like a dream with chicken or fish.
Morrisons Nourish Curried Couscous Salad is available from Morrisons, priced at £2.49.
Nature’s Pick Red Pepper & Carrot Soup Mix – 80 calories per pack
When it’s chilly outside, nothing warms you up quite like a hearty bowl of soup. This Nature’s Pick Red Pepper and Carrot Soup Mix from Aldi handles the faff for you, by dicing up red peppers, carrots, onions and white cabbage ready to pop in the pan.
Combine the veg with 850 ml of water, 2 stock cubes and simmer for 25 minutes until velvety smooth. Don’t forget to take a crusty wholemeal bread roll for a dip, if you’re feeling extra hungry!
Are you in the market for more soup-er lunch ideas? You’ll want to scroll through our list of slimming-friendly broths. Most of them are freezer-friendly, like our Carrot Orange and Thyme Soup. Ready in just over half an hour, with a short list of inexpensive ingredients, there’s really no excuse not to give it a whirl.
Nature’s Pick Red Pepper & Carrot Soup Mix is available from Aldi, priced at £1.09.
Iceland Sweetcorn Fritters – 129 calories per 1/5 pack (oven baked)
You can always count on Iceland for freezer-friendly snacks and sides, like these fuss-free Sweetcorn Fritters. Wrapped in a crunchy blanket of breadcrumbs, each fritter is filled with a lightly-spiced sweetcorn filling. Bake them from frozen for around 15 minutes, or crisp them to perfection for 8-10 minutes in your air fryer – whatever suits!
If you can find them, it’s well worth trying our Hidden Veg Fritters. The magic of this recipe is that it works with an endless combination of leftover veggies, so it’ll satisfy your savoury snack cravings and reduce food waste all in one go.
We usually blend together butternut squash, peas, sweetcorn and onion for our fritter filling – it’s a heck of a tasty way to get on your way to 5-a-day!
You can find the full recipe in our Family Meal Planner on page 103 (you can grab a copy here if you need to!).
Iceland Sweetcorn Fritters is available from Iceland, priced at £2.50.
Spicy Chicken & Bacon Bowl – 394 calories per pot
We’re all about speedy lunches that take next to no effort, so we had to add this Spicy Chicken & Bacon Bowl to our basket. Don’t be fooled by the leafy greens on top – it’s so much more than a salad bowl!
Gently heat the South American inspired chunky tomato and bacon soup in the microwave, then add the chunky chicken pieces, rice and spinach separately. The mild spices here are just enough to warm up with on brisk, wintery lunch breaks.
Chicken and bacon steal the show together in any dish they’re a part of, and our Chicken Bacon and Leek Cottage Pie is no exception. Add a melty layer of reduced-fat cheese to the fluffy potato topping, and the definition of wholesome comfort food is ready to serve.
Spicy Chicken & Bacon Bowl is available from Ocado, priced at £4.25 per pot.
Morrisons Korean Style Sauce – 85 calories per 1/2 pack
We’ve noticed Morrisons introducing a few different stir-fry bits lately, and this Korean Style Sauce caught our eye. Mostly savoury with a gentle sweetness, we can never say no to Korean-style sauces. You can pair this one with noodles and a bag of veggies for £3 in Morrisons’ stir-fry meal deal, and you’ll be well on your way to a rapid midweek dinner.
There’s no quicker or easier way to get takeaway-style flavours at home than a stir-fry. Our popular Bang Bang Chicken goes from wok to plate in less than 10 minutes, and you only need six ingredients to rustle up our punchy homemade sauce.
It already has the perfect balance of sweet, sour and spicy flavours, but if you’re in the mood for a hotter fakeaway, you can always turn up the heat with added Sriracha or chilli flakes.
Morrisons Korean Style Sauce is available from Morrisons, priced at £1.09.
Iceland Mushroom Stir Fry Mix – 112 calories per half pack (stir-fried)
This Iceland Mushroom Stir Fry Mix is full of ready-chopped veggies you can chuck in the pan straight from the freezer. With mushrooms, red onion, carrot, beansprouts, broccoli florets and white cabbage in the mix, it’ll pair nicely with your favourite sauce, rice or noodles.
If you prefer your stir-fry sauce to be thicker, you can always allow the veg some time to defrost so that there’s less water in the pan.
Speaking of speedy mushroom dishes, have you tried our Balsamic Mushrooms yet? Once your mushrooms are tossed and coated in our sticky balsamic glaze, pop them in a dish and your oven will do most of the work for you. They’re especially delicious served alongside our Creamy Garlic Chicken.
Iceland Mushroom Stir Fry Mix is available from Iceland, priced at £1.50.
Little Moons Refreshos Mochi Sorbet Very Berry – 59 calories per mochi
Little Moons have done it again! While we’re used to delicate little ice cream mochis, their Refreshos range comes filled with fruity sorbets instead. Bursting with satisfying sweetness, it’s hard to believe they come in as light as 59 calories each!
For now, you can pick up ‘Pineapple & Mandarin’ and ‘Very Berry’ flavours – we decided to go for the latter! They’re only available from Asda at the moment, but you’ll spot them on the shelves in other supermarkets in time for spring.
When it comes to fruity frozen treats, our Strawberry Cheesecake Frozen Yoghurt never disappoints. A dazzling combination of tangy strawberry puree over a cheesecake-flavoured yoghurt base, it’s 152 calories per serving even with the crunchy biscuit crumb topping.
Little Moons Refreshos Mochi Sorbet Very Berry are available from Asda, priced at £4.80 for a pack of 6.
Cadbury Caramilk Creamy Vanilla Ice Cream – 189 calories per serving (1/5 of a tub)
Cadbury Caramilk! Now that we’ve got your attention, feast your eyes on this Cadbury Caramilk Creamy Vanilla Ice Cream. With velvety vanilla and a gooey golden caramel chocolate centre, we can’t think of a tastier treat to tuck your spoon into while you’re cosied up in front of the telly.
While we’ve gone for the tub, Cadbury have released Caramilk lollies you might want to look out for too…
Just like Cadbury Caramilk, we’ve taken inspiration from a top-tier sweet snack to make our Biscoff Swirl Ice Cream. Instead of the lashings of cream you’d find in higher-calorie versions, we’ve used blended frozen bananas as a sneaky, slimming-friendly alternative.
Since every silky, spiced caramel-infused scoop is plant-based, it’s an epic dessert option for vegans too!
Cadbury Caramilk Creamy Vanilla Ice Cream is available from Asda, priced at £3.50 per tub.
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.
Braeburn Apples – 51 calories per 100g
You can’t beat the juicy-sweet crunch of an apple. Halfway between green and red, Braeburn apples are especially refreshing to snack on throughout the day. Slice them up or dive straight in – they’re so easy to work into your daily routine!
One finely-sliced Braeburn apple is all you’ll need to bake up a cosy batch of our Apple Pie Cookies. They’re so simple to prepare, the hardest part is stopping at just one or two…
Bananas – 89 calories per 100g
Bananas are simple and delicious – just peel and you’re away! Low in calories and high in potassium, this versatile fruit isn’t just good for snacking; bake it in a sweet pudding or pair it with Biscoff to start your day with an extra-special bowl of porridge.
Our Banana and Caramel Filo Rolls look like they came from a restaurant, and you can have them ready at home in less than 45 minutes. It’s really important to use firm, slightly under-ripe bananas for this recipe! If you use ripe ones, they may ooze out from the filo parcels.
Easy Peelers – 41 calories per 100g
Bursting with vitamin C, easy peelers add a boost of goodness to breakfast, or you can save them to be enjoyed as a fruity pick-me-up at lunch time. They’ll definitely curb your cravings in the mid-afternoon lull!
If you’re a lover of zesty, orange flavourings, you need to try our Chocolate Orange Brownies. There’s no denying that chocolate and orange is a classic combo, and these chocolatey squares make the most of it for only 72 calories each.
Blueberries – 57 calories per 100g
Blueberries can be on the higher end of the price scale, so we never miss an opportunity to snap them up when they’re on the Super 6! Pancake Day is on February 21st and if you’ve never tried fresh, juicy blueberries on your stack, our Bacon and Maple Blueberry Pancakes recipe is proof you should change that.
We use Ready Brek instead of traditional flour – the fine oats give our cakes a seriously scrumptious fluffiness.
Asparagus Tips – 25 calories per 100g
Steamed, grilled or oven-roasted, you’ll love throwing crunchy asparagus tips into your cooking. They’re a great way to add a boost of nutrition to a variety of dishes, and they’re so mild in flavour even fussy eaters won’t notice.
Asparagus tips provide a luscious pop of green in our Creamy Garlic Prawns. This tapas-inspired seafood dish is yummy as it is, or you can serve it over a bed of rice for a bulkier dish.
Unwaxed Lemons – 17 calories per 100g
Since they’re so versatile and packed with health benefits, we don’t mind at all when life gives us lemons. Use their trademark zingines to enhance bakes, take a plateful of pancakes to the next level or finish off a fuss-free citrusy garnish.
The tantalising zingy-ness in our Lemon and Blueberry Waffles is too good to miss. Rather than using full-fat cream, we’ve added indulgence with a dollop of sweetened quark.
**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 share – not to mention all of the amazing support and motivation!