Your Slimming Essentials – The Weekly Pinch of Shopping 28.10
Happy Fright-day, everyone! Hold on to your hats, masks and wigs. Our Halloween edition of the Weekly Pinch of Shopping is about to cause a scream!
If you’re looking to trick-and-treat dinner guests this weekend, we’ve got the perfect pumpkin-themed puddings. They’re covered in white chocolate and filled with a devilishly delicious salted caramel and chocolate mousse – scroll (if you dare!) to find out more about them.
Has anyone else noticed Patch the Pumpkin Cake in Morrisons? No spooky shindig is complete without a celebratory showstopper, and that adorable little face is too cute to resist…
We’re so excited that our NEW cookbook, Pinch of Nom: Enjoy, is available to pre-order 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.
If you can’t wait until December 8th for some new Pinch of Nom recipes, you can try 26 exclusive new recipes in our Family Meal Planner right now! It’s our most family-friendly food planner yet – plan meals and organise what you need to buy with our game-changing freezer tracker! You can order 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. This week we’ve given you a reminder of the current selection, so hurry down to Aldi to pick up some bargains before a fresh selection goes on offer next week!
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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!**
Strawberry Mojito Princes Skinny Mixers Non Alcoholic – 20 calories per 150ml
Thanks to lower sugar mixers with a fraction of the calories, there’s less need to worry about hidden tricks inside your favourite boozy treats this party season.
Tasty all on their own or great for pairing with your go-to tipple, Princes’ range of Skinny Non Alcoholic Mixers come in at 30 calories or less.
We’ll be making Spook-tacular Strawberry Mojitos with our choice, but there’s nothing to stop you preparing Petrifying Passionfruit Martinis or Boo-tiful Blackberry Brambles.
For a virgin version of our adults-only Strawberry Mojito Jellies recipe, leave out the sneaky tablespoons of rum or swap in a few drops of Princes’ Strawberry Mojito mixer. Just be sure to adjust the calories accordingly, if you’re counting.
Princes Passionfruit Martini Skinny Mixers are available from Tesco, priced at £2.50.
Fresh Ideas Caramelised Onion Houmous – 116 calories per 1/4 pot
This Fresh Ideas Caramelised Onion Houmous is a satisfying snack that’s ready to go when you are. With a moreish blend of chickpeas, caramelised onion and tahini sesame seed paste, it turns leftover veggies like carrots or celery into a mid-afternoon pick-me-up.
Made for dipping, our Halloween Sausage Mummies are the definition of frightening finger food. We’ve wrapped low-fat chipolatas in light puff pastry ‘bandages’ and baked them until they’re too crispy to resist. Bound to steal the show at your fright-night buffet, it’s good to know there’s nothing scary about the calories (only 120 per mummy!).
Fresh Ideas Caramelised Onion Houmous is available from Morrisons, priced at £1.35.
Extra Special Sweet Potato, Butternut Squash, Coconut and Chilli Soup – 142 calories per 1/2 pot
A proper midday warmer, Asda’s Extra Special Sweet Potato, Butternut Squash, Coconut and Chilli Soup is just the ticket. Every pot comes with enough satisfying chunks of sweet potato and butternut squash to make up two of your 5-a-day, seasoned with warming chilli and fragrant herbs.
No matter what the weather’s like this weekend, our Halloween Ghost Toast is sure to lift everybody’s spirits. We’ve used a DIY cardboard template to make our cinnamon-infused icing sugar fall into a ghostly shape.
A fang-tastic opportunity for some family fun, why not get creative and top everyone’s toast with their favourite ghoulish shape?
Extra Special Sweet Potato, Butternut Squash, Coconut and Chilli Soup is available from Asda, priced at £2.75 per pot.
Lotus Biscoff Milk Chocolate With Biscoff Cream – 84 calories per biscuit
We couldn’t resist getting our teeth into these all-new Biscoff Creams. Loaded with signature spiced caramel flavours, each crunchy biscuit is coated in an irresistible layer of silky milk chocolate. The creamy filling even comes with Biscoff chunks mixed in – we’re already popping the kettle on.
You can also experience the magic of Biscoff and cream thanks to our velvety Biscoff Mousse. Easy to prepare at a moment’s notice, it’s not just the super simple ingredients list that will put a spell on you.
We’ve kept this luxurious little pudding far lower in calories than you’d expect (196 per pot!), using a blend of Greek-style yoghurt and low-fat double cream.
Lotus Biscoff Milk Chocolate With Biscoff Cream biscuits are available from Morrisons, priced at £3.00.
Tesco Sprouts With Smoked Bacon and Chestnuts – 128 calories per 1/5 serving
We couldn’t resist the festive feel in this convenient pre-mixed bag of sprouts from Tesco. With moreish smoky bacon pieces and chestnuts in a velvety, butter drizzle, this faff-free mix is too good to wait until Christmas. Ready to go in 10 minutes, they’re an easy way to take Sunday roasts or meaty midweek meals to the next level.
Great for keeping vampires at bay, our Creamy Garlic Sprouts are a surefire way to get luscious, leafy greens past the fussiest eaters at the table. We’ve roasted them in the oven until they’re crisp with a golden brown topping of melty Parmesan.
You can make them veggie-friendly by substituting Parmesan for a vegetarian hard cheese.
Sprouts With Smoked Bacon and Chestnuts is available from Tesco, priced at £2.20.
Biff’s Plant Shack Crispy Fried Jackfruit Burger – 213 calories per burger
With its chewy, meat-like texture and ability to soak up aromatic flavours, it’s no wonder jackfruit makes for a convincing meat alternative.
These Crispy Fried Jackfruit Burgers from Biff’s Plant Shack are ideal for dinner on a meat-free Monday, and they’re just 213 calories each. The patties come seasoned with a tasty blend of herbs and spices, and coated in extra-crispy, vegan-friendly ‘breadcrumbs’.
For our Vegan Campfire Stew, we’ve slow-cooked budget-friendly tinned jackfruit until it’s tender enough to be pulled apart with two forks.
Combined with a herby, garlicky blend of tomatoes, kidney beans, carrots and more, you’ll never miss meat with this nutritious one-pot wonder on the table.
Biff’s Plant Shack Crispy Fried Jackfruit Burger is available from Sainsbury’s, priced at £4.50 for a pack of 2.
Inspired Cuisine Chicken and Vegetable Fajita Mix – 346 calories per serving
For evenings where you’re caught without a plan, this Inspired Cuisine Chicken and Vegetable Fajita Mix is a winner to have in the freezer. With chopped onions, red and green peppers and roasted chicken pieces coated in a Mexican-style seasoning, Aldi has done the heavy-lifting for you.
Stir-fry the mix and serve with a slimming-friendly side like our Nando’s Spicy Rice. With plenty of chopped veggies and rice in a thrifty Nando’s-inspired seasoning, it’s an easy match made in heaven with so many midweek meals.
It’s no secret that we’re batch-cook fiends; we save extra portions of this batch-friendly side every time we make it.
Inspired Cuisine Chicken and Vegetable Fajita Mix is available from Aldi, priced at £2.35.
McCain Flavour Maker Fries Takeaway Style Salt and Pepper – 236 calories per 87g serving
We can’t resist the charms of the salt and pepper options on the takeaway menu, so it’s no surprise we were drawn to these McCain Flavour Maker Fries. Each bag comes with a sachet of takeaway-style salt and pepper seasoning, so you can shake over as much or as little as you’d like.
The perfect side dish for a Fakeaway film night, you can have them oven-baked faster than you can pick a horror flick to watch.
If you can’t choose between burger night and a Chinese-inspired chippy dinner, our Salt and Pepper Chicken Burgers give you both. Using simple store cupboard ingredients, our homemade spice blend recreates restaurant-like flavours for a fraction of the calories.
McCain Flavour Maker Fries Takeaway Style Salt and Pepper are available from Tesco, priced at £3.30.
Scarily Sweet White Chocolate Pumpkins – 226 calories per pumpkin
Far from a nightmare, you won’t want these Scarily Sweet White Chocolate Pumpkins to end. It’s hard to tell just by looking at the pumpkin-shaped white chocolate shells, but those menacing carved smiles are hiding a sweet secret. Dive in (if you’re feeling brave), and you might just find a salted caramel and Belgian chocolate mousse filling on a crunchy digestive base.
A boo-tiful addition to any blood-curdling buffet, you’ll be shocked by how easy our Boonanas are to prepare. We’ve covered bananas with ghostly vanilla-infused fat-free Greek yoghurt ‘sheets’, and used piped melted chocolate chips to give them adorable faces. The devil is in the details!
Scarily Sweet White Chocolate Pumpkins are available from Iceland, priced at £5.00 for a pack of 4.
Morrisons Patch The Pumpkin Cake – 228 calories per slice (serves 12)
Move over, Colin. Morrisons’ Patch The Pumpkin Cake caught our attention with his ultra-chocolatey Swiss roll sponge. Filled with chocolate-flavoured buttercream and covered with white chocolate and sugar decorations, Patch’s bright pumpkin face will look right at home at the heart of your spooky spread.
If you fancy treating your party guests to a homemade showstopper, look no further than our Baked Pumpkin Cheesecake. The perfect way to make the most of pumpkin leftovers, we’ve spiced our slimming-friendly cheesecake mix with autumnal cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger.
If you think that sounds delicious, just wait until you get to the Biscoff biscuit base…
Patch The Pumpkin Cake is available from Morrisons, priced at £6.50.
REMINDER Aldi Super 6 Fruit and Veg Selection
We love Aldi’s Super 6 selection of fresh fruit and veggies! Each fortnight they choose six different items for a special offer where you can pick them up for much less than the normal price.
Here’s our reminder of this week’s Super 6 selection:
- Onions – 40 calories per 100g
- Sweet Potatoes – 86 calories per 100g
- Mango – 60 calories per 100g
- Baby Potatoes – 75 calories per 100g
- Gala Apples – 52 calories per 100g
- Closed Cap Mushrooms – 22 calories per 100g
**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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