January is the month when millions of people across the country decide to eat healthily. After indulging over Christmas, people like to start the new year on the right foot, with many taking up a new diet.
Somerset Live reporter, Heather Pickstock, attempted to slim down by eating Tesco's own brand diet meals for her dinner. While most of them weren't that impressive, there was a clear winner from her meals.
Here's her review of all the different dishes.
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Heading down to Tesco, Clubcard in hand, I was delighted to see that the supermarket has a range of its own brand calorie meals. But the results have been mixed.
At two for £5 they are great fridge/freezer options on the days when time (along with cash) is short. Despite promising myself I would never eat a ready wine again after six weeks living on them during a kitchen refit, I took my chances and headed to the till.
First up one cold winter's night was the spaghetti bolognaise. A promise of a concoction of tomato, cooked beef and red wine sauce for just 351 calories per portion. A few minutes in the microwave (yes, lazy I know) and dinner was served. But I wasn’t impressed.
The spaghetti didn’t feel soft like it should ( despite cooking it according to the instructions) and all I could taste was the tomatoes and the basil. This herb was on overdrive.
The calorie count on this was impressive though - mainly as I didn’t eat it all. Not deterred, and with a jumpsuit which I have never worn due to it being too tight hanging on my wardrobe as inspiration, I decided to try another dish later in the week.
In comes the mushroom risotto. Now, this was better, marginally.
Not exactly the cooked risotto rice with mushroom in a cream and white wine sauce topped with spinach that was promised, but not that bad. Although I couldn’t taste the wine (or is that because it was Dry January and those tastebuds had receded?) and I didn’t notice the spinach.
It was also a bit watery in its consistency. Then again, water is calorie free and altogether this meal weighed in at just 314 calories for a 380g portion.
After cooking for myself for a couple of days, and after a long week, I thought on Sunday I would try the chicken breast roast. But boy, it was bland. Ok, normal roast dinners have delicious crispy spuds and lashings of gravy.
This had a paltry, rubbery chicken breast, watery gravy and an unimpressive serving of calories and peas. And boiled potatoes - not a roastie in sight.
At just 274 calories for the meal I decided to add to it with more veg - some broccoli and sugar snap peas - which bulked it out a bit. And I admit I did put a large spoon of cranberry sauce on it just for additional flavour, so that probably boosted the calorie count slightly.
Feeling disappointed, later in the week I moved onto the finale cod mornay with mash and peas. And this was undoubtedly the best of the bunch.
The portion was not massive, well at just 292 calories per serving it’s not going to be. But it was surprisingly tasty.
The fish was nice and flaky, peas crisp and the mash creamy. The sauce also had a bit of bite to it.
In fact, I’ve been back and got a couple more for the freezer. For those microwave Mondays.
I’m pleased to say that over the last month my efforts have paid dividends and I am nearly a stone lighter . And in part, that is down to the help of the calorie-controlled meals - and a lot of willpower.
Cordon bleu these meals are not. But if it gets me into that jumpsuit by summer, it will be worth it.
And then I can treat myself to a Creme Egg.
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