Your Slimming Essentials – The Weekly Pinch of Shopping 29.12.23
It’s the final Weekly Pinch of Shopping of the year! Whether you’re hosting a New Year’s Eve party or having a cosy night-in on the sofa, we’ve got plenty of tasty picky bits to help you celebrate 2024’s arrival in style.
Start by loading up your plate with crispy-coated Hash Brown Stars and Szechuan-Spiced Chicken Wing Lollipops! Coated in a mildly spicy Asian-style glaze, each wing comes in at just 57 calories per serving.
Plus, it’s not a countdown to midnight without sweet treats. We’ve spotted some gorgeous melt-in-the-middle chocolate puddings for only 82 calories. They’re even better washed down with a sip of Tiramisu flavoured Irish Cream Liqueur…
Pinch of Nom: Express is out NOW! Keep your eyes peeled while you’re shopping the January sales, because you can finally pick up a copy of our brand-new book (and it’s PERFECT for getting organised in the new year).
Dedicated to bringing you all the food you love in even less time, Express is jam-packed with 100 brand-new slimming-friendly recipes. If you pre-ordered a copy THANK YOU!
Don’t forget if you’ve already made any of the new dishes, we’d love you to share photos with us on our Facebook group or on instagram @pinchofnom.
You can order a copy here if you still need to grab one!
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!**
Morrisons Salt and Vinegar Panko Prawns – 264 calories per 100g
Perfect as a starter, light lunch or buffet nibble, these Morrisons Salt and Vinegar Panko Prawns are easy to bake to crispy perfection in an oven or air fryer.
Ready-coated in salt and vinegar flavoured panko breadcrumbs, plate them up with your favourite dip (our Sweet Chilli Sauce would go down a treat) and drizzle with a squeeze of lime.
After plenty of indulgence over the festive season, it’s always good to have slimming-friendly dinner options that’ll leave you satisfied without skimping on flavour.
Our Sticky Prawns with Ginger are coated in an Asian-inspired sweet yet spicy glaze that’s really easy to rustle up from scratch, keeping each portion down to just 207 calories.
Morrisons Salt and Vinegar Panko Prawns are available from Morrisons, priced at £2.99 per pack.
Sainsbury’s Szechuan Spiced Chicken Wing Lollipops – 57 calories per lollipop
Sainsbury’s have done it again with yet another taste bud tingling addition to their party food range: Szechuan Spiced Chicken Wing Lollipops.
Each wing comes marinated in a peppery Szechuan-inspired glaze, with a Kung Pao style dip to complement the flavours. At just 57 calories, they’re ideal for serving over a bed of fluffy basmati rice or aromatic couscous.
Our Chicken Satay Skewers are a homemade bite you can whip up in just over half an hour, and they’re freezer-friendly too. Inspired by the nutty satay chicken skewers we’d order from the local takeaway, we’ve coated our chicken pieces in a lower-calorie glaze
recreated with herbs, spices, onion and peanut butter powder.
Sainsbury’s Szechuan Spiced Chicken Wing Lollipops is available from Sainsbury’s, priced at £5.25 per pack (or £3.50 with a Nectar card).
Iceland Luxury Mini Toffee and Pecan Roulades – 351 calories per roulade
If you’re not ready to cut down on decadence yet, these Luxury Mini Toffee and Pecan Roulades from Iceland are just the ticket. Split into four individual roulades rather than one larger roll, they’re far easier to portion up – or to serve as a picky bit for the party season.
Filled with toffee sauce and whipped cream, wrapped in a layer of meringue and crunchy pecan nuts, they’re ready to eat as soon as they’re defrosted (after around 45 minutes).
Toffee fiends can’t get enough of our Chocolate Toffee Puddings from pages 260-261 of our fifth cookbook, Pinch of Nom: Enjoy.
While you’d expect them to have an indulgent, high-calorie caramel centre, we’ve used a cheeky secret ingredient for our healthier melty middle: sugar-free creamy toffees.
Iceland Luxury Mini Toffee and Pecan Roulades is available from Iceland, priced at £5.50 for a pack of 4.
Tesco Sticky Toffee Cheddar – 116 calories per 30g
Don’t put away your cheese board just yet…you need to try a slice of Tesco Sticky Toffee Cheddar on a cracker. While Cheddar combined with raisins, dates and chewy toffee pieces might sound odd, this is one of those you need to try before you judge.
Our Mince Pie Cheese Toastie earned us a few strange looks at first too, and now we couldn’t do Christmas without it!
A great way to use up the last of the festive cheese, simply load up two slices of wholemeal bread and add a tablespoon of mincemeat (or you can use Chutney, if you’d prefer).
Our recipe uses reduced-fat Cheddar to make things more slimming-friendly; you might want to work out the difference in calories if you’re using an alternative.
Take a scroll through our blog for more ideas of what to do with your Christmas leftovers.
Tesco Sticky Toffee Cheddar is available from Tesco, priced at £1.10 per pack.
Sainsbury’s Slow Cooked Smoky Gammon Shanks – 315 calories per 1/2 pack
When it’s cold and blustery out, these Sainsbury’s Slow Cooked Smoky Gammon Shanks will warm you right up. Coated in a tantalising honey and mustard glaze, each gammon shank is cured to seal in the smoky flavours.
You’d need to wait a few hours if you were slow cooking from scratch, but you can pop these in the oven for 30 minutes until they’re tender and succulent.
Our Gammon with Parsley Sauce recipe is even speedier, going from pan to plate in less than 10 minutes (and you only need a short list of simple ingredients to make the thick, creamy parsley sauce).
With steamed veg and mashed potatoes, it makes for a filling, low-calorie midweek meal that’ll help you get back on track in January.
Sainsbury’s Slow Cooked Smoky Gammon Shanks are available from Sainsbury’s, priced at £6.50.
Morrisons Hash Brown Stars – 108 calories per 2 stars
You can never have too many savoury treats at a shindig to see in the new year, especially if there’s a plate full of Morrisons’ Hash Brown Stars on offer. Great for kids and adults alike, these crispy-coated, fun-shaped hash browns are ready to dip in your favourite sauce once they’re baked until fluffy in the middle and golden on the outside.
Why not add a starry side to our Breakfast Bakes for New Year’s Day morning? We’ve ramped up the comfort with an oh-so-gooey layer of cheese and egg on top, so you’ll barely feel the January chill.
We’ve kept our recipe nice and basic, but there’s nothing to stop you adding extras to suit your taste – try stirring in chopped tomatoes, sliced onion or sausages for a heartier Full English inspired bake.
Morrisons Hash Brown Stars are available from Morrisons, priced at £1.65.
Sainsbury’s Katsu Prawn Crystal Rolls – 49 calories per roll
Far lighter in calories than a pastry-wrapped spring roll, you definitely want to invite these Sainsbury’s Katsu Prawn Crystal Rolls to your New Year’s Eve party. Ready-wrapped in a delicate, crunchy net-style pastry, the prawn and vegetable filling is mildly spiced with a katsu-flavoured sauce.
At 49 calories per roll, you can give your go-to buffet staples a run for their money without going too far off plan.
It’s no secret that we love katsu at Pinch of Nom. From Loaded Katsu Curry Fries to Katsu Curry Burgers, we never get bored of giving midweek favourites a katsu-style makeover.
If you’ve never cooked katsu before, our Katsu Chicken Curry is a tasty place to start. Instead of breadcrumbs, we’ve topped our chicken with a surprisingly versatile ingredient: crushed tortilla chips.
Sainsbury’s Katsu Prawn Crystal Rolls are available from Sainsbury’s, priced at £4.50 for a pack of 8 (or £2.00 with a Nectar card).
Mackie’s Toasted Marshmallow Flavour Toffee Coated Popcorn – 125 calories per 30g serving
While we’re in the ‘Chrimbo Limbo’ part of the year, yummy TV snacks are a must. Mackie’s Toasted Marshmallow Flavour Toffee Coated Popcorn will go down a treat with your favourite film, thanks to the sweet, sticky marshmallow flavouring on every kernel.
For more movie night inspiration, scroll through our slimming-friendly snack recipes that are better than popcorn.
When you’ve got a hankering for a marshmallow treat, our Marshmallow Bars are ready in a heartbeat. Fun to make and even better to eat, you only need sugar-free marshmallows, low-sugar Cheerios and a microwave to follow our recipe.
As hard as it’ll be to resist, you’ll need to let them rest in the fridge for 30 minutes before you tuck in.
Mackie’s Toasted Marshmallow Flavour Toffee Coated Popcorn is available from Iceland, priced at £1.00 per bag.
M&S Tiramisu Irish Cream Liqueur – 82 calories per 25ml
If you can’t say no to tiramisu when it’s on a menu, you’ll love M&S’ Tiramisu Irish Cream Liqueur. Creamy and sweet with a coffee boost, it’s delicious on its own over ice, or for adding a tiramisu twist to a homemade Espresso Martini.
You could even serve a drizzle over homemade ice cream for an indulgent, boozy dessert.
Bursting with deliciousness, our Banoffee Tiramisu has banana, chocolate, caramel and tiramisu flavours in every spoonful. While you’re busy prepping your other layers, don’t forget to coat your banana slices in lemon juice – this will stop them from browning so that your topping looks as impressive as it tastes.
M&S Tiramisu Irish Cream Liqueur is available from Ocado, priced at £9.00 per bottle.
Let’s Party Belgian Chocolate and Caramel Flavour Mini Melt In The Middle Puddings – 82 calories per pudding
These Let’s Party Belgian Chocolate and Caramel Flavour Mini Melt In The Middle Puddings are a gorgeous treat. With an oozing Belgian dark chocolate centre in a caramel flavour sponge, it’s hard to believe they’re only 82 calories each.
Enjoy them freshly warmed from the oven on their own, or ramp up the indulgence with a scoop of Biscoff Swirl Ice Cream. While this three-ingredient recipe might seem like it should be high in calories, you can keep things lighter by using frozen bananas to whip up a silky, spiced caramel flavoured bowlful.
If you can’t get enough of Biscoff biscuit inspired treats, you need to look through our favourite things to make with Biscoff.
Let’s Party Belgian Chocolate and Caramel Flavour Mini Melt In The Middle Puddings are available from Aldi, priced at £1.99 for a pack of 8.
REMINDER 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 our reminder of this week’s Super 6 selection:
- Parsnips – 75 calories per 100g
- White potatoes – 92 calories per 100g
- Carrots – 41 calories per 100g
- Red cabbage – 31 calories per 100g
- Swede – 38 calories per 100g
- Brussels sprouts – 43 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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