Sunday 31 July 2022

Sunday, 31-07-22

 Morning, everyone!
I'm really tired after a lovely day out yesterday although the step count wasn't as high as it might have been because there was a lot of meandering and wandering from stall to stall rather than purposeful walking.  The latter is far less tiring, I think.

Yesterday's meals:

Breakfast
I had the yogurt before I set off and the fruit later on

The lunch selection was disappointing.  The bumph said 'a wide selection of food and drink' and it certainly wasn't.  It was a coffee stall and a stall making burgers and pizzas, both with incredibly long queues.
I queued while J and N sat down and almost three quarters of an hour later (!!!) I got to the front of the queue.  By then, J had joined me and we decided to go for a few of the snacks as neither of us could fact queueing again.  So I ended up with a black coffee, a small bag of mini-cheddars and a bakewell tart - you know the kind of thing - all pastry and white icing with a cherry on top.  Not the best thing but there was precious little choice, not even flapjacks or nutty bars.  Oh, well . . .

Dinner
I was so glad the rice was waiting for me when I cot home.  I just spray fried some tomatoes, added the rice, chicken, etc, and heated it up to piping hot and it was delicious.
The day finished off with a yogurt and my step count was around 9,000.


Today's plans:

B:  bacon, egg, tomatoes and mushrooms
A nice, tasty cooked breakfast.  Lovely
SW:  protein and free

L:  cheese and onion toastie, salad; fruit
This will use my healthy extras up nicely.
SW:  up to two healthy extra As and one healthy extra B, one and a half syns for some onion chutney

D:  chicken makhani (otherwise known as butter chicken). tomato and onion salad; yogurt
This is another Simply Cook kit and I will change the recipe a bit, using 5% Greek yogurt instead of double cream and just leaving out the dollop of butter (so maybe it should be called not-butter chicken) because I don't have any butter and I'm not buying a whole pack for one little bit!
SW:  the SW site says it is five and a half syns for the whole think and this will be two portions.  It will be less for me because of leaving out the butter and subbing yogurt but I'm going to say it is two and a half syns anyway.  Plus half a syn for a Mullerlight.

E:  I'm absolutely shattered this morning so I'm having an easy day today.

Summary:
up to two healthy extra As
one healthy extra B
four and a half syns

Saturday 30 July 2022

Saturday, 30-07-22

Morning, everyone!
I do apologise for yesterday's very despondent post.  I really wasn't feeling great about getting on those scales, but when I did, I was surprised.  Yes, there was a gain, a fair old gain, but it was several pounds less than I expected so that was good.
It was a good meeting too, nice and cheerful, and I came home feeling loads better.

Today's going to be an odd day.  I'm out pretty much all day, at the summer wool festival at Ampthill.  We will be eating there and I have very little idea of what's on offer.  All I know is that there's a 'street food area' so I will have to wait and see.  I will be on my feet most if the day though, which is good.  Plenty of steps today!

Yesterday's meals:
Well, I took photos - good start!
Breakfast.
I didn't have any toast in the end, just Southwold bacon and garden tomatoes.  Yum.
I also had a banana.
Lunch.
Tandoori chicken pitta - it was tasty and filling.

I had a pear after personal training and an apple a little while later.


Dinner
I finally got round to having this after planning for several days.  I used the Schwartz Spanish chicken and rice sachet (half of it to make two portions) and I added extra veg - babycorn and mushroom - plus the tandoori chicken.  With a splash of Henderson's relish to pep it up, it was really nice.
It was supposed to use risotto rice but when I looked, I only had a bit, so I use basmati rice instead.  When I make up the other half of the sachet, I'll use risotto rice and see what difference that makes.  I suspect it will be more 'creamy' in texture.

For afters, I had a Mullerlight and that really was that for the day.
Today's plans:

B:  fruit and yogurt
I'm short of time so I'll have a yogurt before I leave and take some fruit with me for later.
SW:  speed

L:  I don't know yet, it depends on what's available at the wool festival
SW:  unknown

D:  Spanish chicken and rice, side salad; yogurt
Yes, the same as yesterday - I decided to make two portions so I had it ready for today.  I'll probably be worn out and in no mood for cooking when I get home so to have something that just needs heating up is perfect.
SW:  I think this will be pretty much free with just half a syn for the Mullerlight

E:  lots of walking

Summary:
unknown today

Friday 29 July 2022

A week in meals

 Starting 24-07-22 after a week off.  It doesn't include fruit, yogurt, naughty nibbles, etc.  

Sunday
scrambled egg and smoked salmon
hm cheesy scones with salady bits
dinner was take away Indian - no photo
Monday
cooked breakfast
tandoori chicken salad
beef stroganoff



Tuesday
fruit and yogurt
cheese and tomato toastie
murgh kari

Wednesday
tomatoes on toast
cheg salad
tandoori chicken


No photos on Thursday



Friday
bacon and tomatoes
chicken salad pitta
Spanish chicken and rice.


Friday, 29-07-22

 Morning, everyone!

Weigh day and I'm dreading it.  I won't be ducking out though - I need to know this week.  Last week, with everything that was going on, I really didn't need to know.
It's the evenings - I can be totally on plan all day and then it all goes kaput come the evening.  Not happy.

Yesterday's meals:
No photos.  
Breakfast was eaten on the run.
I had lunch with a friend
The evening was absolute rubbish

Today's plans:

B:  bacon and tomatoes on toast
SW:  three syns for one slice of bread

L: tandoori pitta, salad; yogurt
I have a bit of the tandoori chicken to use up so I think this will work nicely.  I might have a go at quick pickling some onion or cucumber to go with it.  
SW:  one healthy extra B for the pitta, half a syn for the yogurt in the chicken and one syn for the yogurt mint sauce.

D:   Spanish chicken and rice, assorted veg; yogurt
Didn't have it yesterday so I must have it today.
SW:  half a syn for the yogurt on the cooked chicken and half for the yogurt.

E:  Personal training, changed from Wednesday this week.

Summary:
no As
one healthy extra B
five and a half syns

Thursday 28 July 2022

Thursday, 28-07-22

 Morning, everyone!

Yesterday's meals:

When we were little, Mum used to fry streaky bacon to crispy and then cook the tomatoes in the resulting bacon fat, serving the tomatoes on toast with the crumbled bacon on top.  That was a feast fit for royalty.
This wasn't as good as that but, all the same, it was a very delicious breakfast with garden grown tomatoes.


This went down well, followed by an apple and an apricot.  Nice.


Unfortunately, the day went downhill.  No, not food related, but I developed a sort of migraine-ish headache, feeling a bit sick and with a dodgy tum.  It passed but I cancelled personal training (Lindsey has rescheduled for Friday pm, bless her) and I didn't feel much like dinner so I just had some of the tandoori chicken (which I had cooked earlier) without anything else.

It looks as if it is breadcrumbed but it's only the spiced yogurt.  It was easy to make, delicious, really tasty and I will definitely be making it again, for sure.

I didn't wear my watch yesterday so I have no idea of steps.
Today's plans:

B:  Probably a quick yogurt as there's a lot on today.
SW:  half a syn

L:  tandoori chicken, salad; fruit
I have a friend over for lunch and I hope she will like this.  However, I will get some ham out of the freezer, just in case.  :-)
SW:  half a syn for the yogurt in the chicken (just to be on the safe side)

D:  Spanish chicken and rice, salad; yogurt
This is a Schwartz packet.  I've seen vloggers talking about it and saying it's quite nice.  I have to adapt it somewhat as I will have some tandoori chicken to use up rather than using uncooked chicken but that's OK.  Fusion is good!
Tracy Mouse said that it tastes a bit bland so maybe I will add some spice - chilli flakes, perhaps.
SW:  half a syn for the chicken but the rest is free, even the packet mix.  The yogurt is another half syn.

E:  nothing formal today but I reckon I will be doing my steps, well over 5,000, anyway.

Summary:
no healthy As or Bs
it feels like that poem - half a syn, half a syn, half a syn onward . . .  two syns in total.


Wednesday 27 July 2022

Wednesday, 27-07-22

 Morning, everyone!

Thank you for the advice about tandoori chicken and the recipe link.  The mixture of chicken, yogurts, lemon juice and spices is currently residing in my fridge for cooking later on.

Yesterday's meals:

Groove dance aerobics was fantastic today and this was perfect as an follow on.  Strawberries, raspberries, blueberries and blackberries with some 5% yogurt.
Garden grown cucumber and tomatoes.  I have peppers too but they are staying obstinately green at the moment!!

This filled me up.
The second portion (out of three) of the murgh kari.  What a delicious dinner. However, I made the yogurt mint sauce with 0% yogurt and you can tell the difference.  It had a good taste but the texture was 'dry'.  A bit of fat makes such a difference.


A good day for steps today - almost 14,500.
Today's plans:

B:  tomatoes on toast with mushrooms on the side
My favourite summer breakfast, made with tomatoes from the garden.  If I don't have enough garden tomatoes, I still have some shop bought ones in the fridge to complement.
SW:  half a healthy extra B for one slice bread

L:  cheg salad; fruit
Otherwise known as devilled eggs.
SW:  one healthy extra A for cheese, one syn for mayo and one and a half for my mustard nectar lime dressing.

D:  tandoori chicken, salad, yogurt mint sauce; Mullerlight
I had all the ingredients for this so thank you again for the info and advice, Jane and Eileen.
Here's the recipe, if you're interested.
SW:  one syn for 75g 5% yogurt (It's probably less but to be safe . . .) and half a syn for the Mullerlight

E:  personal training today

Summary:
one healthy extra A
half a healthy extra B
four syns

Tuesday 26 July 2022

Tuesday, 26-07-22

 Morning, everyone!

I really enjoyed the tandoori chicken for lunch yesterday so I'm going to look for a likely recipe.  I know it should be cooked in a tandoor, a clay oven, but I wonder if I could use either my Cobb or maybe my little tagine instead or, indeed, my Ninja.
Hmm - after all, I do have plenty of single spices, etc.  Must do a search and have a ponder.

Any suggestions, recipes, ideas?
Yesterday's meals:

A perfect Slimming World breakfast.  Lots of speed and protein with not a hint of visible fat.
And those tomatoes were utterly delicious - I'm living the summer dream again!
Lunch was so tasty.  The tandoori chicken was a little dry but the mint yogurt sauce worked really, really well.  I used some Greek yogurt for half a syn, about half a tsp mint sauce (so little as to not count), some lemon juice, garlic granules and cumin.  So delicious and I'm definitely making that often.  It was a but 'thick' but I gather if you blend yogurt, it goes thin and runny so I will give that a go.

I really don't care for the zero fat dressings you can buy.  They're nasty and gloopy.  But my mustard and nectar dressing is lovely and now I have another one I can use too.

For dessert, I had some rather tatty pieces of fruit - a manky pear, a couple of plums and a couple of apricots - that I chopped up and removed the nasty bits from.  I added some chopped melon and a dollop of 0% yogurt and it was good.

In the end, I didn't do any extra veg to go with the stroganoff as it had onion, red pepper and mushroom (the pepper was my own addition).
It was gorgeous.  Such a good, meaty flavour, quite spicy but I guess it would be less so if I had used double cream and the right amount rather than 5% yogurt and less than it said (because I added some water to actually cook the mix as yogurt would have split).
I don't know exactly how many syns because of all the changes but it would be a lot less than making the original recipe would be.
I just paired it with a little bit of rice left from Sunday evening and I will DEFINITELY be getting it again - another Simply Cook success.

As I only halved it before adding the yogurt to one half, the other half will freeze so that is what I am doing.

The meals were very healthy but, sadly, there was a whole lot of picking going on yesterday, naughty me.  I need to plan for several days ahead, I think, so I know where I am.
Also, I'm reinstating the restricted eating (unless it simply does not work) which has gone by the board recently for various reasons.

Steps were just under 11,000, so that was good.

Today's plans:

B:  fruit and yogurt
After a visit to the local PYO yesterday, I have plenty of strawberries and raspberries and I will add blueberries and blackberries to the mix for colour contrast and variety.
SW:  one and a half syns for 100g 5% Greek yogurt

L:  cheese and tomato toasted thin (maybe a crimpie), mixed salad; fruit
I'll use the one kind of thin that counts as a healthy extra B.
SW:  one healthy extra A, one healthy extra B, one and a half syns for some of my mustard dressing.

D:  murgh kari, tomato, cucumber and onion salad with minty yogurt dressing; fruit or yogurt
One of the Simply Cook meals made last week and two portions frozen - this is one of them and all I have to do is add some yogurt.
If you read my other blog, 'Diary of a (retired) teacher', you will see that I have plenty of cucumber and tomatoes, so a nice salad will work well.  I'll make the minty dressing again but this time add a bit of chilli of a gentle kick.
SW:  the curry is three syns, the yogurt will be one syn (unless I use 0%) and the minty dressing will definitely be free as I will use 0% in that.  A Mullerlight will be half a syn.

E:  Groove aerobics today

Summary:
one healthy extra A
one healthy extra B
seven and a half syns


Monday 25 July 2022

Monday, 25-07-22

 Morning, everyone!

Now that all the disruptions, disturbances, meals out, meals at home with friends, etc, etc, are all over, it is Back On Plan week this week, thank goodness.  I am really looking forward to it.  The scales won't look great on Friday, but they will look better than they do right at this moment.  :-)


Yesterday's meals:

A nice 'clean' tasting breakfast, as simple as it looks.
And that's the smoked salmon used up!

The cheese scones worked out pretty well.  Being made with wholemeal flour, they tasted very 'wholesome' (well, they would!) and I like that very much.   
The mix goes further than for the sweet ones and I used 0% yogurt which saved a few syns.
Four scones came to one and a half As, one and a half Bs and the rest is all speed and free.  Two of them are now in the freezer for another time.
The Primula came to part of a healthy extra and went really well as a topping.


Dinner was the Indian takeaway and it was delicious.  I had guests, so no photos.
Beth took all the leftovers for Alex except for some tandoori chicken which I really didn't need to order but you know how you worry there won't be enough!!!  Anyway, that is now split into three portions and in the freezer, being reasonably SW friendly.

Today's plans:

B:  bacon, mushroom and tomatoes
The bacon will be some of the delicious Southwold bacon, the egg will just be an egg and the tomatoes will be picked from the garden - yay!

Proof!!!!

SW:  protein and speed, no syns



L:  tandoori chicken, salad; fruit
I may as well start using up that chicken.  It is on the bone so will need sort of 'shredding' off and I will remover any remaining skin before eating it, of course.  One of the many sensible rules of SW is to take off the chicken skin and discard it (I don't like chicken skin anyway!).
The salad will contain home grown cucumber, courgette and tomato - a veritable feast!
I might have a go at making a yogurt and mint dressing too. 
Google says : 'This is the most classic version of the Indian Yogurt mint Sauce – it includes Yogurt, mint, coriander, spice from green chili, zing from lemon juice, and Cumin Powder.'
I have most of those ingredients although I think the sauce we had last night had turmeric, judging by the colour.  I've found an easy enough recipe so will give it a go - nut no leaf coriander - nasty, soapy tasting stuff!
SW:  There are varying syns for tandoori chicken.  Given that I'm going to be de-skinning, etc, I think I will say four syns, to be on the safe side.  The sauce looks like being free as long as I use 0% yogurt

D:  beef stroganoff with horseradish spiked mash and roasted courgette
I know this sounds daft but I can't find my last Simply Cook kit from the first box, the Singapore Pork.  I've got the recipe card, I can't find the little pots.  Weird.  I'm sure they will turn up but, in the meanwhile, I am very glad I ordered another box last week because I enjoyed the first meals so much and a tenner at a time doesn't break the bank.
I will do a bit of tweaking - I'll use some yogurt and some light crème fraiche instead of soured cream and I will do less potato that it says.  I'll have to modify the method to accommodate using yogurt but it should be OK and if it does split, it's not the end of the world, it just looks a bit odd.
The roasted courgette will be a yellow courgette from the garden, just sprayed and roasted in the Ninja.
As I'm not sure it will all freeze, I will have similar tomorrow.
SW:  unfortunately, SW doesn't have the syns.  It says 700 calories but it should be less than that with the changes.

E:  Circuits and then a swim.

Summary:
no healthy As or Bs
syns unknown but it should all be well within the limit.
(not so great for 'back on track' ooops)


Sunday 24 July 2022

Sunday, 24-07-22

Morning, everyone!

Yesterday's meals:
As expected, I took no photos.
Breakfast was basically bits of spicy chicken (takeaway leftovers!), lunch was fruit and dinner was a smaller plate steak and chips at the Hare.  I do love their smaller plate portions although I was disgruntled to see that their 'superfoods salad' is no longer on the menu.  I wanted that for first choice.  What is good though is that all their menu items now have a calorie count.  I find that very helpful.  Well done, Hare!

I will take photos today so tomorrow's blog should be much more colourful.
Today's plans:

B:  scrambled egg, smoked salmon and mushrooms
I really MUST use the last bits of the smoked salmon so scrambled eggs seems perfect.
SW:  protein and speed

L:  low(ish) fat cheese scones, side salad; fruit
I'm going to have a go at adapting the blueberry scones recipe to make savoury scones instead.  The same amount of wholemeal SR flour and yogurt but, obviously, different seasonings.  I can use 30gt hard Italian cheese for an A choice and I could spray soften some finely chopped onion to add with the cheese and, maybe, some mustard powder, garlic granules, etc.  I have a bit of primula soft cheese to have as a topping with salady bits - cucumber, tomato and so on.
Worth a go, anyway!
SW:  one and a half healthy extra As, one healthy extra B, speed and free

D:  In the garden with friends
I'm having three dear friends round and we're having a girly take away together.  We're going Indian so this will be off plan but, in this sort of scenario, I can have a bit of this and a bit of that and a little goes a long way.
It's the last off plan meal for a while - tomorrow is right back to my usual schedules in every way.  Phew.

E: an online class and some strength stuff.

Summary:
one and a half healthy extra As
one healthy extra B
syns unknown



 

Saturday 23 July 2022

Saturday, 23-07-22

Morning, everyone!
Everything is wonky at the moment.  I didn't weight at SW yesterday.  I know I'd have gained and I didn't need to have it confirmed on what was a very emotional day.  No regrets.

I'll keep posting over the next few days but there won't be 100% SW content.

Yesterday's meals:
No photos as they weren't the sort of meals it was helpful to record really.  
So I thought I'd post a photo of potential meals/parts of meals in the weeks to come.  Much more positive.



Today's plans:

B:  leftovers from last night's Indian takeaway, bought to 'celebrate' completing on Dad's house.  Odd, I know, but there's no way I'm wasting them.
There's also some sauce - Kashmiri sauce which is sweet and coconutty and very naughty.  I've popped that in the freezer (hopefully it will freeze OK) to have another time with chicken and fruit.
SW:  goodness only knows

L:  Very little and very light because . . .

D:  eating out at the Hare with Beth and Alex.
This is to replace the cancelled meal planned for last Sunday in Norwich.  I know the Hare menu and will try to make some good choices but I'm going to enjoy myself.
SW:  again - not a clue!

E:  I will be doing some strength exercise today

Summary:
Back to normal on Monday!


Friday 22 July 2022

Friday, 22-07-22

Good morning, everyone.

Yesterday's meals:

Breakfast was eaten on the run and I had an apple and a banana.

Lunch was two of the tweaky blueberry scones with some Greek yogurt and some strawberries.  It had been a very emotional morning and I was in 'need' of something sweet and comforting.  This fitted the bill to perfection and was very filling too.

I love this recipe and now I am going to see if I can adapt it to make some cheesy scones (using a healthy extra A, which I can have with cheese triangles or cottage cheese, chutney and things like sliced tomato, cucumber, ham, etc

Later on, after Personal Training, I had some fruit.

I changed the plans for dinner at the last moment as I was feeling hot and tired and frazzled so I just cooked the steak and had it in a sandwich with some chutney.  You know what - it was jolly good.  No photos though, sorry.
Today's plans:

B:  fruit and yogurt
I've stuck with this all week - may as well continue.
SW:  speed and free (I'll have 0% yogurt today)

L:  feta and roasted veg salad; fruit
As I didn't have any roasted veg last night, I may as well.
SW:  one healthy extra A for the feta and one syn for some of my salad dressing

D:  Not sure yet
The background is that we should be completing on my Dad's house today, all being well, fingers crossed, etc.  So I might be having a little celebration or I might be drowning my sorrows.  Time will tell.

E:  a walk or something inside (it's raining a bit at the moment)

Summary:

Thursday 21 July 2022

Thursday, 21-07-22

Good morning, everyone.


Yesterday's meals:
I made an effort to photo breakfast today.  Berries and 5% Greek yogurt.  It's so delicious and refreshing.



I do like smoked salmon and cucumber sandwiches and this was perfect for a warm day.


Later on I had a couple of plums and a couple of apricots.


Dinner was the Simply Cook nyonya curry.
I changed it somewhat.
I added red onions (why it's darker, I suspect, red peppers and mushrooms, partly because I wanted to and partly because I didn't have many green beans.  I didn't add the suggested potato.
I shared it into three and in the portion I had, as the sauce wasn't thick, I added two level tbsp couscous and left it to simmer and absorb lots of lovely flavour.  Fusion food!  :-)
As you can see, I served it with a dollop of Greek yogurt and it was absolutely lovely, so, so good.

I had a Mullerlight to finish.



It was so nice to have my motivation back again.  A good and delicious day's food.

Steps were just over 10,000.  That's good.
Today's plans:

B:  fruit
I won't be at home so fruit is my best bet really.
SW:  free or speed

L:  blueberry scones with Greek yogurt and berries
The scones were the ones I made last week and posted about.  
SW:  one healthy extra B and half a syn for the scones and one and a half syns for 100g 5% Greek yogurt

D:   steak, roasted veg, tomatoes; Mullerlight
No, I won't do a Simply Cook meal tonight, I really fancy steak.
SW:  the main is protein, speed and free and the yogurt will be half a syn

E:  Personal training

Summary:
no healthy extra As
one healthy extra B
two and a half syns

Wednesday 20 July 2022

Simply Cook Review

 Disclaimer:  I have no connection with this company, I am not being sponsored in any way whatsoever for this post, I got the first box free, as does everyone, paying only £1 for postage.

Why?
Someone in our SW local Facebook group mentioned this company, saying that quite a lot of the meals are synned on the SW site which made it easy to incorporate them into the daily planning.  She also said she was enjoying them.

I'm always up for trying this sort of thing.  In the past I have tried Muscle Food 'Do the Impossible', Hello Fresh and a third one which I've forgotten the name of so trying this was a non-brainer

What is is?
Simply Cook is really a meal kit.  You get the spices and the info and you provide all the ingredients.  Not quite as simple as Hello Fresh but it means you can substitute, add to, etc, without feeling you are not using what you have paid for.  I prefer it that way.

How does it work?
The first box of four meals is a freebie with just £1 postage to pay.  Can't argue with that, can you?  

So I went on site, chose my four meals, entered my details and placed an order.  Yes, you have to fill in your card details but, as with all the others I have tried, it is genuinely easy to cancel and there are no commitments to ordering a certain number of deliveries before you can cancel.  You do have to order four meals at a time in a box but it can be as far as six weeks apart and, again, it's easy to cancel.
You just have to remember to do so - I make a note in my diary.

After the first freebie, each box costs £9.99 plus £1.00 postage.  I chose kits to serve two but some have the option of serving four.  

Something I liked was that as an alternative or if you just forget, you can fill in info for a back up box - choose four meals that you like (you can change them any time) and they can be sent by default; or you can click the 'surprise me' box meaning that they will choose four based on your history preferences.  I did the former but I have already chosen my next box, for delivery mid August (you can choose them more often, if you want).

What happens after you have ordered?

(apologies for the awful light in the photos - it was one of those days!)

My order arrived quickly.

The kits come in a strong, flat box that fits through the letter box so there's no problems with being out or anything.  Everything is recyclable except for the peel off lids on the individual pots.  

Inside this flat box were an information leaflet, four recipe cards (more about them below) and four little boxes, one for each kit.

Inside each smaller box are three pots of spice paste, seasonings, sauce, whatever you need to make the meal. On the back of each box is information about what's in each pot and on the web site there is full nutritional information, including possible allergens, calories, etc.
It's all there, not hard to find and looks very complete.
Each pot is marked with the best before date.  In my order, one was BBE November 2022 and the others are in 2023.  No problems there whatsoever.


On to the recipe cards.

They are smaller than A4 but larger than A5 and on thin, wipe-able card so pretty robust.

On the front there's the mandatory photo, a brief description, basic nutritional info such as whether it is gluten free, calories, cooking time, etc plus a description of the three pots.

On the back there's a list of ingredients needed - nothing too fancy or unusual as all the unusual things are provided.  There are also suggestions for variations, the actual recipe which is easy to follow, a tip for extras and, a neat little refinement, one side is perforated from top to bottom so you can tear it off and it's a shopping list.  I won't be using it but what a good idea!



How much choice is there?
Absolutely loads!
The cuisine tends towards the eastern but not solely.
At the moment there are 149 kits to choose from.  I haven't been doing it long enough to know how often new kits come up but it does say they are always developing new kits so - I will see.

What are the meals actually like?
I've made up two of the kits so far and am making up a third this evening.
Each kit says it serves two but I found it enough for three - fine by me and it makes it all better value, for sure.


The first was nasi goreng, a street food type of chicken and rice dish.  Frankly, it was absolutely delicious.  The recipe, made straight apart from adding some red pepper, was enough for three of my portions so I have two in the freezer for easy meals.  Each portion is three syns.
I had to provide rice, onion, a carrot, some red pepper, chicken, prawns (an optional extra) and spray oil plus a bit of sugar and water for the pickling liquid to go on the cucumber.  Oh, and the tomato and cucumber, of course.  I had everything already.
The pots were nasi goreng spice, ketjap manis and pickling spice powder.

If I want to make it again, I can get nasi goreng spice paste in Tesco and I already have ketjap manis.  Making a quick pickling liquid is not difficult and I have two thirds of the pot provided unused anyway.



Then I made murgh kari, a fairly typical tomato based curry.  It used rice, onion, chicken thighs, chopped tomatoes, a bit of sugar (I used Sugarly) and oil (Spray oil for me) and Greek yogurt and I added red pepper and mushroom.  I had it with a flatbread rather than the suggested rice and side salad, but there's loads of flexibility in the sides, it's just up to what you like, have, want to cook, etc.
The pots were garlic paste, murgh kari paste and Anisa's seasoning.

I made it in advance, partly because it was such a hot day and partly because I know curries are much nicer reheated (I didn't add the yogurt until after the reheating!).  It was absolutely and totally delicious.  Wow!
Is it worth it?
If you're looking for something that's quick, pop in the microwave and reheat, ready meal type stuff, then no, certainly not.  It's proper cooking with the spices and sauces all provided instead of making them from scratch.

However, if you're looking to widen your range of meals, increasing the variety of flavours you use and enjoy, making your meals loads more interesting and varied - definitely it is worth it.  They are not hard to make at all.
(and the second and third portions definitely come into the frozen almost-ready meal category!)

The kits are not expensive in themselves but remember you have to provide your own ingredients.  

Most importantly - the meals so far have been simply delicious!


Here's the link to the Simply Cook site.


There is some sort of thing where I can refer you and you get your free box and so do I.
If you would like to do that, here's my invitation link for you to use.  And thank you.

https://www.simplycook.com/invite/YPG20X?t=cp&pg=ref&via=mb

Thanks for reading.  Any questions?  Ask in the comments below and I will try to answer them.


BBC Good Food did a review earlier this year:  Here's the link to it.

https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/review/simply-cook-recipe-box