July Challenge: Losing weight while saving money!

sophiesmum_2

I have been trying to adapt some of our favourite recipes to less cals as i am also trying to lose weight.
Tonight i made shepherds pie, I used a fraction of the meat I usually use and bulked it up with grated carrot,and more chopped onion etc. then I used half potatoes and half swede to make the mash topping. served with cauli, broccoli and carrots it made a great filling meal and was almost totally veg.

i am hoping to adapt more of our recipes to make them more moneysaving and less calories.Hoping there will be lots of tips on this thread.

sophiesmum

Pink.

Hi sophiesmum,

A good tip I got on this board is to dry fry the mince and tip off the excess oil before adding the other ingredients....you wouldn't believe the amount of fat that came out of my mince the last time I made Shepherds Pie.

Pink

larmy16

annie-c wrote:

Wow - I have looked at the recipes and had never before thought of using the microwave to make crisps... I will try it and report back!

I have a plastic gadget with sections where you place the thinly sliced spuds, (I have used potato peelings!) and they come out nice. You have to keep an eye on the timing as they can burn.

annie-c

larmy16 wrote:

I have a plastic gadget with sections where you place the thinly sliced spuds, (I have used potato peelings!) and they come out nice. You have to keep an eye on the timing as they can burn.

Thanks for the tip - though I am going to restrain myself from dashing off to Lakeland and will try to cope with ordinary plates!

I've emailed 2 local leisure clubs to ask if they can offer any deals on the membership - but while waiting for a reply a cross-trainer machine came up on my local freecycle group and I was lucky enough to get it - so I'll be collecting it tomorrow night!

I still fancy the gym and swimming, but maybe I could do pay-per session and try to do a bit more 'free' exercise at home alongside it.

I am going to make crisps tomorrow, along with some home-made low-fat hummous and veg sticks and see if I can stretch it to last for lunch on Monday.

recovering_spendaholic

My friend has just joined Total Fitness gym, which I believe are a national chain of gyms and she got a Clinical membership - basically this means that if you get a letter from your doctor you can join for half price per month. She gets pain in her knees and the doc gave her a letter no problem. You can also get exercise on prescription from your GP which entitles you to use the local LA leisure centre and swimming pool for the price of a prescription - you usually get a three month pass.

annie-c

I don't think I'd get a prescription for just being podgy - but thanks for the tip - I'm sure it will help others!!

Annie xx

Trow

For lunches, you could try cous cous - I'm not sure how this would work, but would it be possible to make a vegetable cous cous mix using couscous, herbs and dried vegetables (you can get packs of these in the supermarket or health food shop) - and rehydrate all using boiling water? I haven't tried it, so I would test it at home to make sure the veg rehydrate ok.

I cook my couscous, by using one measure of boiling water to one of couscous, and leaving, covered,till all the water has absorbed, usually as a side dish. You could also make a cous cous salad at home just to take with you.

annie-c

Good idea Trow - you have got me thinking. I usually make veg couscous using pepper, mushrooms and onions sauteed in 1-cal spray oil. I could always take this in cooked, but cold, make up the couscous in work and then mix it through to give a warm couscous salad? Not sure how much the couscous would warm up the veggies though... as you don't get that much when counting calories!

I will experiment at home first... but will wait until I need to make a meal - since my usual trick (neither money-saving or calorie-saving!) is to experiment and them promptly scoff the evidence!!!

Trow

Hmmm - just thought - you could add a bit of flavour to the cous cous by, instead of using water, using a just-prepared dried soup packet... like cup-a-soup or slim-a-soup. I might just try that as I have some needing used.

annie-c

Haven't yet made crisps or couscous, but took packed lunch today - hurrah!

And decided against the first gym I visited as not good value for money - will still check others, but for now have picked up an air-walker machine from freecycle - it's great!