Meal Planning Mondays - Week 2

I did my first Meal Planning Monday last week and lost three pounds and was Slimmer of the Week at my local Slimming World - for the first time since I started going six months ago! On that basis I'm going to try to continue the good work, though I'm going out several times this week so it won't be quite so easy to stick to the diet! I'll try my best anyway....

Monday
Breakfast- kedgeree as I have some fish that I need to use up and it should work well in this
Lunch-  baked potato with leftover chicken in a homemade curry sauce. This will probably involve more syns than is ideal because I opened a jar of coconut milk for a recipe (something I made for a friend's picnic) and want to use it up. 
Dinner- Boyfriend has a day off so I've suggested we go out in the evening as I saw so little of him last week. Not sure what we're doing yet but will probably be eating out.

Did I stick to it? Had kedgeree for breakfast with wholemeal rice, boiled egg, red onion and haddock  following a Slimming World recipe which is free. Was doing really well at not having a morning snack then someone brought in some biscuits from our Baltimore office that are a speciality over there, and I really wanted to try one - no idea how many syns so I'm going to randomly say 5 (it wasn't a very big biscuit!). Lunch: as described but the coconut milk wasn't low fat - I'd had it in the cupboard for ages - and it seems there are actually 10 syns per 100 ml (which is the quantity I used in the recipe) - grrr. I was eating lunch in the canteen and there were boxes and boxes of Krispy Kreme doughnuts to celebrate a company anniversary... and Krispy Kreme is the one thing I really can't resist! Even though I had a biscuit earlier as well I told myself that it's only Monday and if I'm good for the rest of the week it might not show up on the scales... so I had 11 syns worth of deliciousness. And it was worth it!
The weather was rubbish today  so rather than go out (we had even been thinking last week of a drive to the coast) we decided to stay in at mine and go out on Weds. So I cooked the turkey in Hunters Chicken sauce planned for Weds, and served it with mashed potatoes as my boyfriend prefers that to rice. So that's 6 syns for the sauce and another 1 for the butter in the mash (I also had vegetables). He had a packet of chocolate covered popcorn and I stole a few, for which I will put down 3 syns.



Total syns for the day: 36. Largely down to Krispy Kreme but it was worth it! Must try harder for the rest of this week though!

Tuesday
Breakfast- kedgeree
Lunch-leftover chicken from roast with cous cous (1 syn as I use a slightly flavoured packet mix), spring onions, maybe some potato salad
Dinner- Salmon curry, to use up the rest of the coconut milk - probably vaguely following this recipe http://www.greatcurryrecipes.net/2012/04/03/pan-steamed-salmon-with-a-rich-creamy-coconut-sauce/


Did I stick to it? Breakfast - overslept a bit and was in a rush this morning so took some museli into work to eat at my desk (free as option b choice). No morning snack (yay). Lunch - roasted chicken, pickled onions (random but I love them) - all free, plus cous cous - 1 syn. No afternoon snack. When I got home - 3 laughing cow light cheese triangles (free option A); salmon curry as above, counting 10 syns for the coconut milk, served with leftover mashed potato (1 syn) and veg.
Total syns for the day: 12. Not bad at all.

Wednesday
Breakfast- Either a breakfast tortilla/frittata if I've had time to make one! If not, poached eggs and smoked salmon assuming I'm not in a total rush this morning.
Lunch- leftover chicken from roast with cous cous (1 syn as I use a slightly flavoured packet mix), spring onions, maybe some potato salad
Dinner- will invite my boyfriend over to dinner I still need to use up the Tesco Hunter's Chicken sauce and the turkey escalopes I bought and didn't cook last week. As I said last time, I was horrified to find just now it has a whopping 24 syns in the jar! A quarter of the jar will be enough, which makes it 6 syns, and the chicken or turkey will be free. I will serve it with rice and have to admit that rice is the one thing I don't have the patience to cook, so it's Uncle Ben's microwavable pouch every time (have I just lost some followers there...?!). The basmati has 1.5 syns for the 250g pouch so I'll call that 1 syn for the portion. I'll have it with vegetables and think I will treat my boyfriend to some garlic bread with it and maybe some cheese sprinkled over the chicken (on his portion only!).
Revised plan: Now going out with my boyfriend, his cousin and her fiance. I've suggested a few places for dinner based on looking at menus where I could make a healthy choice, but they haven't got back to me yet so I don't know what we're doing.
I was going to roast some butternut squash and cook broccoli tonight for tomorrow's lunch but now won't have time if I'm out (and forgot about it yesterday).

Did I stick to it? Didn't have breakfast as I was running late then during the morning had two Slimming World Hi-Fi rocky road bars - which are delicious! A bit on the small side though ;-)  But two count as one option b choice and that means breakfast today was free, yay. For lunch I had the leftover chicken with cous cous (1 syn) and some pickled onions. Didn't snack at all as I was busy but had a can of diet coke (free). For dinner my boyfriend's cousin chose ASK. I had rigatoni pasta in a tomato sauce with meatballs, onion and chilli - it came with cheese on top but I asked them to go easy on the cheese (though I didn't want to do without it entirely!). I've looked for it on the Slimming World website but they don't seem to give syn values for dishes in the big chain restaurants like Weightwatchers does (unless I just can't find it which is quite possible). I also shared some garlic bread with my boyfriend - OK, so it was garlic bread with mozzarella... I did let him eat most of it and I drank diet coke and didn't have dessert though, so it wasn't too bad! Then I went to the pub with his cousin while my boyfriend and her fiance went to the cinema (to talk about them behind their backs!) and had two vodka and diet cokes.
Total syns for the day: No idea as I can't work out what my dinner had in it... I'm going to randomly guess 30 syns in total. Which isn't too bad for an evening out.

Thursday
Breakfast- Leftover tortilla or Dorset Cereal's museli (the only kind I like)- option b choice- with a low-fat yogurt if I have any in the house (I try to eke out how long I can go between grocery shops as it's a hassle when you don't drive and don't want to pay £6 for a delivery!)
Revised plan There is still kedgeree left so I'll have that
Lunch- chunks of roasted butternut squash and cooked broccoli mixed in with a pouch of Uncle Ben's risotto rice, cooked in the office microwave - 4.5 syns
Revised plan No idea. If I don't get time to prepare anything I could buy some sushi as that's 2.5 syns.
Dinner- Dalepak minted lamb grill I've already got in the freezer (and because my boyfriend doesn't like lamb so I eat it when he isn't around) - 3.5 syns. With new potatoes either boiled or roasted if I've got time, and probably gravy and maybe mint sauce which I should allow 2 syns for.
NB make some pasta for lunch tomorrow

Did I stick to it? Breakfast: kedgeree as before, which was free. Morning snack: one Rocky Road Hi-Fi bar which is free (I can have another one as well and it's still free!). No morning snack. Lunch: bought some sushi from Tesco which was 2.5 syns, but it was really disappointing and I didn't even eat all of it, and I was still hungry afterwards. Had some Laughing Cow extra light cheese triangles (free) and then a packet of Bachelor's cheese and broccoli pasta - the kind you just make with hot water and milk in the microwave. I thought some of these were syn-free but this one had 5 syns. Still not too bad for today. I followed it with the second Hi-Fi bar I'm allowed for free. It was free in both senses too - I won a packet of these for being Slimmer of the Week last week. I'm really glad I did! Dinner- as planned, though without gravy so I'll count 4.5 syns. Didn't snack - but also didn't make the pasta I was going to do for tomorrow's lunch - as I spent all evening on the internet trying to plan a holiday!
Total syns for the day: 12, pretty good I think

Friday
Breakfast-Dorset Cereal's museli - option b choice- with a low-fat yogurt if I have any in the house
Lunch- Pasta with tuna and passata - filling and syn free if I use passata rather than a jar of pasta sauce, as I will probably over indulge tonight.
Dinner- Eating out then going to a comedy club with my boyfriend. I've booked dinner at the Albannach near Trafalgar Square - toptable.co.uk has a 50% off food offer if you order two courses. Looking at the menu, for the main I'm tempted by the veal chop with sauteed potatoes and blue cheese butter - but probably shouldn't, unless I order it without the butter; I also fancy the Gloucester Old spot pork chop with mustard mash and cider jus. Which might actually be OK on syns - unlike dessert! I want the poached pear and butterscotch mille-feuille - probably better than the chocolate pot with shortbread biscuits, which I predict my boyfriend will order! Anyone know how many syns I should count for the meal?
I'm sure I will have a couple of drinks in the comedy club too, but if I go for spirits and a diet mixer, like vodka and diet coke, that's 2.5 syns per drink. I will probably have a glass of wine in the restaurant though - so maybe only one vodka and diet coke afterwards (then I can switch to diet coke). I'll make sure the glass of wine is a small one (175ml - ok medium but to most places that's small) as that's already 6 syns alone!

Did I stick to it? Breakfast - wasn't hungry when I got up this morning so when I got to work I had two Hi-Fi bars - free as option b choice. Lunch - Campbell's pasta and sauce, as yesterday, but this time tomato and herb flavour - which is actually free. Very quick to cook in the office microwave - but I think I've burnt my tongue! Dinner: as I said I had the pork chop with mashed potato and cider jus which I think should have been syn free but I'll count a couple for any butter in the mash (2 syns). The pear and butterscotch mille-feuille was amazing, and probably not too bad as the biggest part of it was the pear. I think I should count 10 syns for it anyway though (sigh). I had a glass of wine (6 syns) then at the comedy club only diet coke. I also had a little bit of bread and butter before the meal so should probably count about 10 syns for that.


Total syns for the day: 28? total guess but I had an entirely syn free day before going out for dinner, which is great.

Saturday
Breakfast- Will probably have stayed at my boyfriend's last night so the best option for breakfast will be toast and/or a Muller light.
Lunch- with my sister, who is coming to London purely to visit the Christian Louboutin exhibition at the Design Museum! (And see me of course...) I've given her a few options on where to go and she picked Fire and Stone, a pizza place in Covent Garden with some really unusual pizzas. The menu doesn't show calorie content so I will just have to choose wisely, though if I want a pizza, I'm going to have a pizza!
Dinner- Probably with my boyfriend if I'm home in time, though we're more likely to be at his house than mine as he's rabbit sitting (yes really). Think I will make Cannelloni - I will make a vegetarian one for me and a meat version for my boyfriend. Mine will use dried cannelloni tubes, basil leaves (growing on my windowsill!), canned spinach (a bit adventurous as I don't actually like spinach but when I've eaten spinach and ricotta cannelloni in restaurants I haven't really tasted it), and cottage cheese as it's lower fat than ricotta or other options. I'll also add some seasoning and use passata to pour over the top. I'm crossing my fingers that my boyfriend will like his meat version as he's only ever eaten cannelloni once before, and he did like it, but it was ready made from Tesco Finest! I'll do him some garlic bread with it and some broccoli for me. My recipe from the Slimming World website should only have 1 syn. The only issue is that if I am at my boyfriend's house rather than my own I will need to bring all these ingredients with me - or assemble the canneloni at home and bring it over to cook.

Did I stick to it? Breakfast: had a Muller light at my boyfriend's (free) then was really hungry after I got home from Slimming World so had two ryvita with Philadelphia light (free option a and b). Incidentally I found at Slimming World that I had put on a pound this week - and I thought I'd been pretty good! (OK apart from the Krispy Kreme... but this week has still been a relatively good one compared to what I was eating before). I was wearing denim when I got weighed this week (I had a flimsy dress last week as it was actually sunny then!) and I'm sure that weighs a pound... it's annoying and was quite unexpected so it just means I have to try harder next week.
Having said that, I had a lot of syns today...! I met my sister for lunch and had a yummy pizza - no starter or dessert and only diet coke, but think I should count 20 syns for the pizza.
It was really late by the time I got home from London (the Christian Louboutin exhibition is amazing BTW) and by the time my boyfriend picked me up it was already 7.45... I knew if we went back to his house and cooked dinner it would be nearly 9pm by the time we were eating and we were both hungry already (and I was exhausted from walking round London all day) so we decided to stop off at the chip shop. I know, I know! It was lovely though... and not *quite* as bad as I thought, according to the Slimming World website I should allow 25 syns for my saveloy and chips. It was worth it anyway!
Total syns for the day: 45 but with lunch out and a takeaway dinner it could have been worse!

Sunday
Breakfast- Will probably have stayed the night at my boyfriend's house. He tends not to have breakfast and lunch at weekends, and instead prefers brunch, which is usually bacon rolls. There are not always a lot of different options so I will either have a bacon roll, or Quorn sausages as I prefer sausages, and these only have 1 syn each (I'd probably have 2 sausages). If I have a wholemeal roll or bread I can count it as my option b choice.
Lunch- See above.
Dinner-Chicken, lemon and garlic casserole (Slimming World recipe) with mashed potatoes or rice

Did I stick to it? I made my boyfriend some bacon rolls for breakfast and I had three quorn sausages (3 syns) on brown bread (option b choice). Afternoon- 2x M&S meringue nests 5 syns. At my house around 5pm as we were both really hungry - one pop tart (I blame my boyfriend and my lack of willpower for that!) . Can't find it on the SW website and I haven't got the packaging any more so I will take a random guess of 10 syns (hopefully that's more than enough). Dinner as above - it was really nice!
Total syns for the day: 18 I think, pretty good.