Healthy eating on a budget challenge

I often hear people complaining that eating healthily is expensive and often these people stop healthy eating due to the cost. I, however, think I am opposite to this and feel that when eating badly I spend a lot on takeaways, eating out, chocolate and crisps. With this is mind I am going to do a challenge to see how low I can get my weekly shop and hopefully those who read my blog might be able to get their shopping down. Each week I will shop in a different supermarket for my main shop, and will include prices of any top ups I do. The main supermarkets I go to are Aldi, Asda and Tesco.

Budget means different amounts to different people and obviously prices depend upon whereabouts you live.  This Daily Mail article states that the British weekly food bill tops £77 a week for a family, it doesn't, however, say how big the family is. I think for a family of 2 plus a baby I can get our shopping for less.

During the challenge I will share my weekly shop and cost, food menus and any money saving tips I pick up along the way.

Weigh in update

I have started back on my weight loss journey, again! I have gained back 1 1/2 stone which means my loss from January 2011 is back to 3 1/2 stone. I have been back on plan for a week and lost 2lbs, so officially 3 stone 9lbs down.

I was hoping it was going to be more and I'm not sure why it wasn't more than that. I ate really well all week, snacks were kept to a minimum and I had one cheat meal of Fish and Chips at the seaside, this in itself is not much to do any damage, just like one good meal a week would not see me lose any weight.

If you are a long time reader of my blog you will know that I do night shifts which can sometimes impact on my eating and weigh in results. Before having Charlotte I would turn my days upside down so breakfast was around 8pm, dinner time at 2am-3am and tea time was at 8am, however, I am unable to do this now. I have to be up a lot earlier in the day to look after Charlotte when Jonathan is in work, therefore, being up many more hours than I would be normally. I am currently on night 2 of 7 of trying to work out a new routine, I'm not completely sure of what I am going to do yet. However, on my desk a bag of fruit and a tub of salad are waiting to be eaten.

Back on the wagon

My baby is now 5 weeks and 1 day old and I have failed miserably at getting back on the dieting wagon. For those of you that don't know I gained 15lbs throughout my pregnancy and then lost 20lbs, however, I have gained 2 of those back. I am still below my pre pregnancy weight but I still have a lot more to lose. My current weightloss is 74lbs (5 stone 4 pounds)

Today is day one of being back on my diet which is loosely based on Slimming World as I don't go to class so have to rely on a lot of the older information that I have but this works for me.

I would like to lose a stone (14lbs) for Christmas which gives me 6 weeks. I am hoping that eating well and getting plenty of walking in with Charlotte will help me get to this target.

A New Direction

After having my consultants appointment and booking in for my Glucose Tolerance Test (test for gestational diabetes) and being told by the nurse she would be surprised if I didn't get it due to having three risk factors I have decided I have to do something to try and prevent it happening or at least be in control of my eating before my test and possible meetings with dietician.

I have been doing a bit of research and have decided that I don't think Slimming World is the best plan for me to follow for managing my sugar levels. Reasons for this are:

• I eat a lot of carbohydrates as I love my green days, now, I am not aiming for low carb or no carb just more sensible choices when choosing what I eat. 
• Portion control is not really part of Slimming World apart from healthy extras and syns
• A lot of foods contain sweeteners i.e. yoghurts

Don't get me wrong I love the Slimming World plan but at this moment in my life I feel it is not going to serve me well. 

I am still at the early stages of my research and a lot of things I have found have been American and I don't know how much 1/2 a cup is and I don't even think I've ever tasted peanut butter! Also, a lot of information I have doesn't give any ideas of portions, just suggestions of what to eat. 

So my new direction is to try and follow a diet suitable for balancing my sugar levels, a plan where I eat plenty of fruit and vegetables, choose my carbs wisely (wholemeal mainly). I am also going to have to seriously limit my chocolate and cakes which have kept me good company for the last few weeks! So all in all I have a lot more to think about before I can put a shopping list together. 

Lastly, I am sorry if you follow this blog for Slimming World, whenever I do meals I will inform of what parts are Slimming World friendly and I am sure most of them will be more or less Slimming World I just need to approach things differently for a while. 

Tuna toastie

I made this the other day, I was due a shop so only had a few bits in.

You will need
Wholemeal bread
Tin of tuna
Extra light mayonnaise
Pinch of mustard powder
Chives
Salt and Pepper
Splash of balsamic vinegar
Tomatoes
Pickle
Mixed peppers
Laughing Cow Light triangles

1. Mix tuna with mayonnaise, mustard, chives, salt and pepper and balsamic.
2. Slice the tomato into thick slices and grill or fry in frylight.
3. Toast the bread
4. Spread toast with Laughing Cow Light add layer of peppers, followed by a layer of pickles.
5. Add tuna on top and finish off with grilled tomatoes.

I used two slices of wholemeal bread from a 800g loaf as my two healthy extras on a red day. Usually it's two slices from a 400g loaf but thought one slice from a 800g slice would be the same as two from the 400g.

Weigh in...it's a long one!

This is going to be my first weigh in for two weeks as I was on holiday last week so didn't weigh in. I was going to wait until weigh in but couldn't stay away from the scales to see the damage I had done over 8 days, and by what had entered my gob I knew that I was in for a gain I am going to revisit some of the lovel delights that I shoveled into my very expectant gob!

• Greek Meze meal complete with cheesecake
• Numerous alcoholic drinks
• Take -away (yes I did say I was going to avoid but cheesy garlic bread, burger and onion rings were too much to resist)
• Birthday cheesecake made my sister - it would be rude not to
• Massive plate of chilli, rice and cheese at my Mum's
• Sandwiches
• Sausage roll
• Pizza
• Wine
• Cider
• Curry
• Wetherspoons big breakfast
• Crisps
• Nuts
• Chocolate
• Cream cake

I think that's enough for you all to get the idea that I over indulged, part of me hoped that all the walking I did would mean that the food I ate wouldn't make much of a dint in my weightloss but that's just the fat persons way of justifying the obscene amounts of food!!!

On the Saturday morning I stood on the scales, heard the beep and tried to keep my eyes closed but knew I had to open them to see what I had done. Big drum roll ---- a whole 10lbs had jumped right on that number. That was half of what I set myself to lose 10 weeks before my birthday. I am pretty sure this all went on my face, my measurements hadn't changed. So then I had to start Operation Minus 10lbs. 

So what could I do make it seems this 10lb gain had never happend well I could

1. Eat not very much, maybe eating a whole 1200kcals a day would do it.
2. Cut out all syns no velvet crunch, no curly wurly :'(
3. Do something crazy cabbage soup diet maybe or that miracle juicing diet

I didn't do any of the above I stuck to what I have done for the rest of this year, followed the Slimming World plan 100% eaten all my free food, made sure I had my healthy extras and finally I ate my syns, isn't that what they are there for?

I have eaten some awesome things this week and when I finally figure out how to put a table in my blog I will put my food diaries on here. Everyday I have had a cooked breakfast either eggs and beans (green day) or egg, bacon and mushrooms (Extra Easy day); for lunches I have been having salads, sandwiches and pasta dishes. For tea I have enjoyed lasagne, stilton and vegetable pasta and meat free burgers and SW chips. For syns I have enjoyed Freddo(5), Velvet Crunch (4), ketchup (1), low fat margarine (2),  and Kraft Garlic and Herb dressing (1) 

I will not deprive myself of food as this is when the danger will set in and I would have never got back on track, so after all this how did I do, well, I lost the 10lbs I put on and am now back to 4 stone 5lbs (61lbs) lost.

I must also point out that during all my bad food I had terrible constipation which obviously added to the weight gain and I feel that most of the weight I put on was due to that and also water weight.

So here's to a good week and a reduced number next week. Hope you are all well. xx

Potato Salad

Ingredients

New potatoes

2 tbsp of Extra Light Mayonnaise

Fromage frais 

Chives

Garlic

1. Boil the potatoes until cooked
2. Chill the potatoes and then cut into bite size chunks.

3. In a separate bowl mix together the mayonnaise, fromage frais, chives and garlic. Use as much fromage frais as you like.

 4. Mix together and enjoy. I serve it with some savoury rice and a chopped salad.

1 syn for the whole lot, to make this syn free leave out the mayonnaise.

Slow roasted tomato and basil soup

Ingredients 

2lbs of Vine Ripened Tomatoes

500 ml of Vegetable Stock

Garlic

Salt

Fresh Basil

1. Preheat the oven to 150c, slice all the tomatoes in half place in an oven proof dish and sprinkle with salt and garlic granules. You can also use fresh garlic either by crushing it or roasting a few cloves whole.

2. Roast tomatoes for 80 minutes.

3. Heat the vegetable stock in a pan.

4. When heated add the tomatoes and simmer for 5 minutes.

5. Remove from  heat and blend until smooth.

6. Roughly chop the fresh basil

7. Add the bail and simmer for 10-15 minutes.

The enjoy your tasty, healthy, syn free soup.

Weigh in update 11/08/2011

After getting on the scales this morning I have lost 4lbs this week :) in total that is 3 stone 3lbs or 45lbs since January.

I am so happy about this I thought I would get 2lbs as I had followed the plan 100% all week barring some chocolatey goodness at the cinema last night. I had a tough week sticking to plan as I have been quite upset over the rioting particularly in Manchester and Salford as they are my home cities, I know it wasn't as bad as those in London but it made it feel more real and a lot more unsettling. I actually cried I was that upset and then got angry so cried again. In Manchester it feels as though we have just got the city back after the IRA bombing in 1996. When more people turned out to help clean up than rioted I was again glad to be from Manchester/Salford.

As with most weeks where I have had a good loss I have drank a lot of water and made lots of meals from scratch. I finally got round to making the mushy pea curry and it was lovely! Blog post will follow in a couple of days.

Lastly, I would like to thank everyone who had looked at my blog in the last few days and all my new followers. This is thanks to Diet Momma (sw) and Sian Slimmingworld who posted my blog link when I asked them too, if any of you are following Slimming World and don't know this two, click on their names and join them, the information they give is invaluable.

Weigh in update: 2nd June 2011

Today was weigh-in and I maintained. I expected it to be honest but was hoping my good days would have produced a 1lb loss.

May in numbers

Weight lost in the Month of May: 7lbs
Inches lost in May: 3.5

I was pretty impressed with this considering I had a 2lb gain at the beginning of the month.


This weeks plan

For the next week my goal is 3-5lb loss as I would love to get a big loss before two very busy weekends. 5lbs would take me to 2 1/2 stone loss (35lbs) but 3lb is a good weekly loss. So how am I going to achieve this? Well I'm going to drink more water as I feel this was a downfall this week and eat more fruit and vegetables, again not enough of these entered my gob this week.

I'm also not going to get on the scales till next weigh in. I think it is affect the way I eat and is causing damage. For example, this week I stepped on the scales and had gained quite a few pounds and because there was no reason for it I had a bit of a binge and went off plan. However, the rational, sane me knows that I do go up after weigh-in and then the weight comes off towards the end of the week. So if I hadn't have ahd the mini binge I possibly would have lost. 

Weigh in 26/05/2011

This week's weigh in was really good  I lost 4lbs and I reached two milestones. The first one being that I have finally lost 2stones and the second was that I have reached 30lb loss. S

I think this week's success was down to the amount of water I have drank and possible my speed soup. I also think that by planning my meal out with the girls helped a lot. I did go over my syns but didn't have as much as I would have usually and  I still had a good loss.

This week is my week off and I always struggle with my healthy eating when I don't have the structure of work, so far I've had one day off Slimming World on Saturday as I went to my parents to watch the Champions League Final and I had 2 bottles of cider, mousaka, greek salad, houmous and jam roly poly and custard.

So, as you can see I had a bit of a feast. I've been right back on it today with a 'fry-up' consisting of tomatoes, bacon, scrambled egg and Joe's garlic and herb sausages.

I'm hoping to have more blog posts up this week including some recipes that I am trying out.

Hope all of you are OK and the healthy living plan is going well.

Weigh in 5th May 2011

Well that didn't go well! I have gained 2lbs and I'm not sure why. I had one bad day at the beginning of the week but have been good since. I went to Chester Zoo on Tuesday and walked around for five hours, I have also done plenty of walking as I've done lots of shopping. I did realise that I hadn't drank as much water as normal. So I'm putting it down to eating things I haven't counted, things I just pick at without thinking what I'm putting into my mouth.

So this is week is 100% on plan, no meals out, no takeaways and no fizzy drinks. I am sticking to sugar free squash, water and tea. I have decided to do a food vlog on my youtube channel, this first you can see below.

 

The next one will be up later on this evening or tomorrow. I hope you will all check the videos out and point out anything that I am doing wrong. 

Planning

Right, so I've realised that planning a whole week doesn't work for me. I either don't get round to getting the ingredients that I intend to use or by the time I get to 4 or 5 days in I don't fancy what I've planned. So I'm gonna do small plans for a couple of days using ingredients that I have in the kitchen.

Wednesday 27th April

Breakfast: 42g Crunchy Bran with semi skimmed milk. Kiwi and grapes with fat free yoghurt.

Dinner: Chicken thighs salad

Tea: Quorn sausage salad

Thursday 28th April

Breakfast: Quorn sausages and baked beans

Dinner: Jacket potato with cottage cheese and side salad

Tea: Spaghetti Bolognese

So that's my food for the next two days, I am actually excited for it all plus I get to go food shopping on Thursday to stock up :) After suggestions on my youtube channel I am going to try and do a 'day in the life of me' vlog. I'm excited.

A food filled weekend

So Easter weekend arrived and I feel like I've not stopped eating. I decided to not follow the Slimming World plan and just keep trying to limit my food to main meals and snacks on fruit.

Friday

Breakfast: two eggs fried in fry light, chopped tomatoes with a slice of wholemeal bread

Dinner/Tea: Baked cod, marrowfat peas, cauliflower, potatoes and parsley sauce and homemade cheesecake with strawberries for dessert.

Saturday

Breakfast: Porridge and some grapes

Dinner: Ham salad sandwich and grapes

Tea: Went to Nando's so had chicken and spicy rice.

Sunday

Breakfast: Yoghurt and grapes.

Dinner: Low fat chicken supernoodles with a slice of wholemeal bread with banana and grapes.

Tea: Sunday Dinner :) turkey, potatoes, broccoli, sprouts, carrots, pigs in blankets, stuffing, bread sauce and gravy. Homemade cheesecake with strawberries for dessert.

Monday

Breakfast: Half an Easter egg (whoops!)

Dinner: BBQ including a big salad, sausage, chicken, burger and prawns. Homemade cheesecake with strawberries for dessert.

Tea: Nothing as yet but will probably have some soup and fruit when I've finished work.


So as you can see not a great weekend, however, I have eaten lots of homemade meals and kept my fruit and vegetables intake high. Importantly I have had a really good weekend and have eaten no where near as much as I usually do.

The best thing about the weekend has been spending lots of time with my lovely family, I love it when we all get together. An argument with some neighbours over parking threatened to ruin Sunday but I was proud of my sister for arguing back at them in a calm way and she only swore once!

Weightloss Update

Well this will be my weightloss update. By the time I'd done a weigh in last week (Saturday) I'd put on 5lbs as opposed to the 3lbs I mentioned in my Struggling post.

I've weighed myself this morning and I've lost 3lbs. So that's 23lbs in total since January. I'm so happy with this as I went out for a meal with my friends last night which is not the smartest idea I had but I had a great time and lovely catch up. I shared a starter platter with my friends, then had smoked haddock florentine and shared a chocolate cake. So losing the 3lbs is a good achievement. I need to learn to not eat out the night before weigh in.

I think the loss this week is mainly due to eating plenty of grapes and drinking lots of water. I have also made a big effort to keep my snacking down.

So next hurdle is the Easter weekend, unfortunately I am working over Easter :( However I am off Good Friday so will be having a fish dinner at my Mum and Dad's. There is no batter on the fish just a light dusting of flour and I will have potatoes instead of chips with peas, cauliflower and parsley sauce. Easter Sunday I'm working during the day and am hoping my Mum will do a Sunday Dinner for when I get back then it'll be off to the pub for a few cheeky ones!

Hope you all have a fabulous Easter and enjoy the long weekend!

Haddock served with roasted vegetables, cabbage, tomato sauce and feta cheese

I made this as a quick lunch yesterday so it was thrown together so I have no precise measurements.

Ingredients
Haddock fillet
savoy cabbage
Feta Cheese

Roasted vegetables
Yellow pepper
Tomato
Onion
Italian seasoning

Tomato Sauce
Passata
Italian seasoning

I roasted the haddock with  bit of salt and pepper with a squeeze of fresh lemon juice.

I roasted the vegetables with Italian seasoning and cooked until soft.

I boiled the cabbage, I served it al dente.

I mixed the passata with Italian seasoning and warmed in the microwave.

To serve I placed the haddock on a bed of cabbage, placed the roasted vegetable around the side, drizzled the sauce and crumbled the feta over the top.

On extra easy and red day this would be one health extra A for the feta cheese and some syns if you like a lot like me.

Sorry for neglecting the blog

As the title says sorry for neglecting the blog, I have been extremely busy with work, however from tomorrow I have a week off to expect more posts and reviews. I have also been working on an article piece for the blog so that should be finished in the next few days. 

On the diet front things are still going well I have tried to vary my diet a bit and eat more vegetables. I did my first ever cooking video Chicken stuffed with cheese wrapped in bacon served on a bed of rice and green beans, you can see it here, any criticism is gratefully received. I do realise I need a better tripod I currently have a mini one which is fine for videos but not so great for cooking videos any recommendations? The meal itself was absolutely gorgeous just what I needed after a long shift at work. The plate is very full of food, I am following Slimming World which allows you to have unlimited 'free food' which the whole plate was plus a healthy extra for the cheese. Allowing myself a generous serving means I don't have the urge to snack on unhealthy foods. I will do a blog post with the recipe soon and also add some of the pictures I took. 

It's my weigh-in tomorrow and I'm hopeful that I have lost again; actually I'm looking forward to stepping on them scales. I am still a little too embarrassed of my weight to share what I weigh but in a few months I hope to start sharing then pictures of weigh-in, although the weight will still be embarrassing I know that I will be losing it. 

Anyways, happy slimming and keep up the good work.