As the chilly evenings begun to descend, our body assessments followed suit, following weeks of holiday indulgence coupled with glorious relaxation under the summer sun. Finding myself among many thrown off a usually balanced diet, my meals consisting of permissible indulgences at barbecues and friendly gatherings. Recognizing the need for an overhaul, I began my journey towards rectifying my diet.
Having had a pleasant experience previously as a Slimming World member, I was familiar with the principles they advocated in relation to dieting through healthy eating habits. Their plan largely involved consuming lean proteins, a variety of fruits and vegetables, keeping the meals simple yet appetizing.
Nevertheless, I desired a more targeted approach and fortuitously, I had recently procured the new Slimming World’s Out and About cookbook. Armed with this, I challenged myself to a full week of living solely on its recipes. With over 60 recipes for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, there seemed to be enough variety for 21 meals. However, the looming question was the time it would take to prepare and cook everything from scratch, considering the possibility of frequent runs to the store for herbs, spices, and potentially other unique ingredients not a common sight in my pantry.
To kick things off, I spent some valuable time combing through the cookbook, selecting recipes that I found appealing. Although I’m not overly fussy about food, I had to be cautious about a few dietary preferences like my dislike for most fish dishes.
Coming off as budget-conscious, I tried not to overstock with items that may end up gathering dust on the shelf, especially with previous experiences backing this thinking. My initial worry was struggling to put together 21 meals that would be family-friendly since we do have some dietary restrictions. However, after reviewing the book, I found plenty of suitable recipes for various meals and felt ready to get started.
Having prepared a weekly meal plan, I chose to begin on a Monday, giving me ample time over the weekend to shop for ingredients. The plan was to sustain for the entire week, which seemed achievable given my pantry already housed numerous herbs and spices. Moreover, I decided not to change the rest of my diet, with a small exception of returning to my fruit-snacking habit while saying goodbye to potato crisps and chocolates that trickled into my diet recently.
The start was smooth, planning the meals in a way where perishable ingredients were used first. Day 1 came with a luxurious start right off with Strawberry and Melon Sunday, a delightful mixture of frozen raspberries, melon, and strawberries all merged into fat-free Greek yogurt; the preparation was simple and fast as a breeze. Lunch was a German bacon and potato salad, though it had a longer preparation time, it could be made the night before for convenience. For the evening meal, we had mini meatball soup featuring common ingredients like carrots, onions, and garlic, enhanced by additions of celeriac and caraway seeds.
Day 2 was met with a hiccup over our banana pancake breakfast; while my husband found it palatable, I respectfully disagreed. Lunch, on the other hand, was an entirely different story. The Hasselback potatoes and salsa were well worth the time spent in preparation. The day ended on a high note with Farmhouse Turkey stew, an easy and relatively inexpensive concoction of turkey, vegetables, and pearl barley.
Day 3 was a treat for the taste buds, from cheesy breakfast muffins to a delightful prawn Caesar salad for lunch, and by dinnertime, a young Whiz Kid of 14 whipped up some spectacular Chinese Pork Noodles. Day 4 welcomed leftovers for breakfast while lunch saw a transformation of a Bloody Mary Prawn sandwich recipe into a prawn salad.
Days 5 and 6 were designed with convenience in mind, focusing on recipes for overnight oats for breakfast. This was complemented with layered Coronation chicken salad pot for lunch. Friday night was re-named ‘fakeaway’ night where we prepared a Massaman Beef Curry at home, which turned out to be cheaper and healthier as compared to takeaways. This was followed by an equally delightful Saturday evening dinner of Greek chicken skewers and Tsatziki which we accompanied with oven-baked Slimming World chips and a substantial salad.
Wrapping up the week was Day 7, which we indulged in with delicious breakfast pizzas and a late lunch of smoked salmon hash that felt more of a luxurious treat. Surprisingly, despite the well-varied and delicious meals throughout the week, there was pleasing news on the scales at the end of the week—a surprising loss of 9lbs.
While the whole journey was more effort-intensive than my typical week, given the simplicity, affordability, and quick preparation of each recipe, it was a worthwhile endeavor. While I may not dedicate an entire week to this style of cooking, thanks to my love for experimenting with various recipes, the book will undoubtedly be of immense help in my
