Meal planning - week 9

My last full week before I go on holiday (yes, I know I was on holiday two weeks ago) so I'm going to try really hard to shift a bit more weight before I hit the joys of US road side diners, In & Out Burger and the buffet at the Bellagio!

Monday
Breakfast Toast, maybe boiled egg if time
Lunch Going to my local environmental fair today with a friend and my boyfriend, think the plan is to get lunch there.
Dinner Salmon with mango and lime salsa, rice and veg

Did I stick to it? Breakfast: had some leftover thick sliced ham (free). Didn't really have lunch at the environmental fair - had a fresh chocolate-covered ring doughnut and half a Ms Cupcake cookie sandwich, which I'm totally guessing had about 20 syns. For dinner I had the rest of the cookie sandwich (probably another 10 syns - it was huge!) and a piece of salmon with mango and lime salsa, rice and veg, which was delicious and all free.
Total syns for the day: estimating 30 which was all cake!
 
Tuesday

Breakfast Toast
Lunch Ham pasta salad
Dinner Out with my boyfriend and friends
 

Did I stick to it? Breakfast: lots of ham to use up so I had a couple of slices on ryvita with a laughing cow light triangle - a nice change and syn free. Morning snack: leftover potato wedges (free). Lunch: ham pasta salad - 2 syns for the mayo. Afternoon: this seems to be where I always cave! I had a pack of mini wagon wheels and should have looked up the syn value before I ate any, but I didn't.. they have 4 syns each (half as many as a normal wagon wheel) but I had 5! Oh dear... that's 20 syns in one go. I went out in the evening and as my boyfriend and I were early to meet my friends we went to Starbucks and I had some sort of frappucino which I have just discovered is 19 syns... there's a reason I don't go to Starbucks! Then we went out for dinner and I had two small glasses of wine - 10 syns - some goats cheese on bruschetta - about 8 syns - and chicken ravioli which should be free but I'll estimate 5 syns for the sauce. Everyone was having dessert so I went for a low fat frozen strawberry yogurt - I can't find the syn value or calorie content anyhere so since it was supposed to be a virtuous dessert I'll randomly count it as 3 syns. Given I've pretty much lost count for today anyway....
Total syns for the day: 67, I think - crikey! Really need to be good for the rest of this week as I'm going out for a curry on Saturday night as well and I really wanted to lose another pound or two before my holiday.

Wednesday

Breakfast Hash browns - recipe here or if not enough time, some leftover thick sliced ham
Lunch Ham pasta salad - hopefully made enough for 2 days
Dinner  As I wasn't feeling well last week I have to go to the youth club today (I am putting together their annual newsletter and need to talk to the young people and volunteers), so will take a sandwich for my dinner
 

Did I stick to it? Breakfast: far too tired this morning to fuss around making hash browns (or anything else) so I had a couple of laughing cow light triangles. I think I'm addicted! They're syn free and taste really nice anyway. But I know I will need to eat something else when I get into work. Morning snack: marshmallow wafer, 1.5 syns. Lunch: 4 ryvita dark rye (free option b choice) and mackarel pate - I didn't make it so don't know what's in it (it's homemade) but fish is free and hopefully it's nothing more than soft cheese or low fat fromage frais... so I'm going to count 5 syns for it and hope for the best. Also had a packet of skips - 4.5 syns. Afternoon: cereal bar, 6 syns and can of coke, 7 syns - really tired for some reason and decided I needed waking up! Went to the youth club in the evening as I need to gather info to write their newsletter but it wasn't great (couldn't find most of the people I needed to speak to and generally felt like I was wasting everyone's time). For some reason I was feeling quite low after that and coming home to an empty house didn't help and I decided the only thing that would cheer me up was going to the chip shop! Dear oh dear... at least these days I tend to leave half the portion whereas once I would have ate it all. No idea how many syns so I'm guessing about 25.

Total syns for the day: 49. I do seem to go to the chip shop far too often... after my holiday I'm going to ban myself for at least two months.

Thursday

Breakfast Hash browns
Lunch Sandwich
Dinner Will invite my boyfriend over to dinner. Going to make herb and spice crusted chicken breasts that I saw on Lavender and Lovage. If I remember, I will make extra to have for lunch tomorrow. For dessert I will make the Slimming World fluffy chocolate mousse (0.5 syns, recipe on their website but only accessible to members)
 

Did I stick to it? Don't know why I thought I would have time to make hash browns for breakfast! I might try making them the night before or at the weekend one day and seeing if they are OK left overnight in the fridge. Had cereal this morning (free- option b). Cereal bar when I got into the office - 6 syns. Lunch: leftover ham pasta salad - 2 syns for the mayo. Went to gym at lunchtime. Afternoon: packet of Skips 4.5 syns. Don't think I had anything else as I was in a training session for a lot of the afternoon but I can't actually remember now! Dinner: made the chicken which was very nice, and served it with Slimming World chips so the whole thing was free, hooray! I couldn't make the mousse as I wasn't able to get hold of any Quark this week so did some popcorn for my boyfriend and had a couple of pieces myself but I think that should be free (as it was salted not sweet).
Total syns for the day: 12.5... unless I forgot something that I ate. Just goes to show I can be good when I try!

Friday

Breakfast Toast or cereal
Lunch  Leftover chicken from last night with salad
Dinner Have to stay home this evening as my sister and her boyfriend are coming to stay, though they are not arriving until after dinner -they have tickets for the Paralympics tomorrow (and I live in London whereas they don't). Will make the fast fish casserole from the Slimming World recipe book I had last week.
 

Did I stick to it? Had bread and butter for breakfast as I had some really fresh bread and it is nicer not toasted! But forgot about the leftover chicken for my lunch and ended up having a tuna sandwich. Which means I need to count the bread I had for breakfast as syns: according to the website a slice is 3 syns so with the butter I'll count that as 5, plus 2 for the mayo in my tuna sandwich. Had a Special K bar 4.5 syns and another cereal bar, 5 syns. Dinner: had the leftover chicken with an apricot sauce I had in the fridge - it was part of an apricot coulis I made for a dessert that I haven't blogged yet, so was a little sweet so actually went really nicely with the chicken. I think I should count 3 syns for the sugar in it. I had it with new potatoes and vegetables, which was really nice.
Total syns for the day: 19.5, not bad

Saturday

Breakfast With my sister and her boyfriend, won't have a huge amount of time as I have to go to Slimming World and they are off to the Paralympics but I plan to make pancakes. I will probably have lemon juice and splenda and will buy a couple of bananas in case they want banana and toffee sauce (I can't stand bananas!)
Lunch  Baked potato with tuna, red onion and cottage cheese
Dinner Out with my boyfriend, my sister and her boyfriend: curry. Will almost certainly pig out as this place does the most amazing naan breads.
 

Did I stick to it? Had a pancake for breakfast which I think should be 5 syns. Went to Slimming World and was really pleased to find I've lost 2 pounds! That means I've shifted the 3.5 pounds that I out on in Majorca two weeks ago. Given I'm off to America on Tuesday I really wanted to lose those few pounds first so I'm exactly where I wanted to be. But I have a feeling I'll put a lot of weight on in America! Anyway back to today's food... lunch was a baked potato with cottage cheese and crab sticks I needed to use up, all free. Followed by a packet of mini Maryland cookies, which I'd forgotten is 10 syns for a really tiny bag, oops! Went out for a curry in the evening and had the works - chicken korma, rice, naan. It was lovely!
Total syns for the day: No idea and not going to bother counting now!

Sunday

Breakfast With my sister and her boyfriend: they are off sightseeing in London today so I will do them a cooked breakfast and I'll have parts of it (eg sausages - quorn ones if I'm feeling good - toast, maybe eggs, hash browns if I can make them).
Lunch 
Dinner Mackerel in lemon and caper dressing with new potatoes - recipe from Tesco here

Did I stick to it? Just realised I didn't even finish planning today! Never mind - I had a sausage sandwich for brunch (about 12 syns) and roast pork, roast potatoes, veg and gravy for dinner - should only be 2 syns for the gravy. Since I'm going on holiday on Tuesday I am not going to worry about counting syns tomorrow (and what I eat will depend on what needs using up in the fridge anyway, and what time I get home as I might have to work late to get everything done). America here I come!