American Food

[Sally_Cinnamon]

Sorry, sorry, sorry to be a pain.

Short story--English girl in America getting back on SW. Books presently crossing the Atlantic to get to me but lots of American food not in the books anyway. Will, at some point, join again online, but right now $80 for 3 months is an outlay I can't afford.

Story over.

Might someone be kind enough to give me the syn values of these two foods?

Here's a link to the nutritional info.

1. Morningstar Sausage Veggie Patties
Calories in Morningstar Farms - Veggie Breakfast Sausage Patties

2. Kraft Pasta Sides (like Pasta 'n' Sauce)
Calories in Walmart - Parmesan Pasta Sides

I would be SO grateful, and I promise to keep requests like these down to a bare minimum.

Thanks so much

 

[kt_baybeh]

hiya

1. MorningStar Veggie Patties

4 Syns per package/portion on Extra Easy
4 Syns per package/portion on Green
4 Syns per package/portion on Original

2.Kraft Pasta Slices

11 Syns per package/portion on Extra Easy
11 Syns per package/portion on Green
11 Syns per package/portion on Original

Hope this helps xx

 

[Sally_Cinnamon]

It helps loads, thanks so much. I was hoping they might offer alternatives to my much loved Quorn burgers and Pasta 'n' Sauce, but sadly not. Ah well, the hunt continues...

 

[Circes]

What are the main ingredients in these? They may qualify for a free food allowance that would reduce the syn values significantly. I'm particularly thinking of the second one - is the main ingredient pasta? I suspect that maybe kt didn't include the allowance.

 

[Donnie46]

Welcome to the forum.

 

[Sally_Cinnamon]

Thanks so much, ladies.

The main ingredients are as follows:

Morningstar Veggie Sausage Patties (they were only 1 point each on WW so I was kind of surprised that they're 4 syns on SW): Textured Vegetable Protein, Egg Whites, Corn Oil...then all the spicy, flavoury stuff

Knorr Pasta Sides (Parmesan Flavour): Enriched Macaroni Product (this means pasta, right?), then lots of vitaminy, flavoury stuff, then the cheesy stuff.

But if they're still 4 syns and 11 syns respectively I'll just have to play suck it up, buttercup

And I'll DEFINITELY check out that blog--THANKS

 

[BritMumInCanada]

Hey Sally,

I can help you with some things. Walmart do a breakfast turkey sausage. They are 80 calories for 2, so work out as 0.5 syns for the two sausages (they are not a bad size either really). So I definately recommend those if you can find them.

Now re: the knorr sides. I contact a SW consultant in the US and she advised me that they try to stick to fresh produce over there, so havent really had a need to list some syn free processed products, but she said if you are really stuck then you can count the pasta and fiesta sides as free as long as you just cook them in water. i.e. don't add the butter or milk etc suggested. The same goes for the pasta and rice roni packets. But just be aware that this isnt directly from slimming world headquarters, so I would be reluctant to use these often. Just more as an emergency if really needed.

The trouble with the syns calculator is it is not really accurate for free foods, even if you put in all the nutritional information for a bachelors savory rice which is free, it will syn it quite highly. Which means you have to be really careful and try to just stick to the free stuff sw suggests, which is not helpful for us overseas, as we dont have the stuff available to us. I really think they need to do something about the accuracy of the syns calculator. It does make you dobut things, when it calculates something as syns when they tell you it is free.

As I put in my message to you on my blog. If you have a Trader Joes near you. I highly recommend checking it out, they do lots of great healthy products, and their 0% greek yoghurt is lovely and great substitute for quark.

Also all the 100 calories packs are great for your syn treats, and work out as 5 syns. The 100 calorie popcorn, does about 6 cups worht of popcorn, so is great for watching a movie etc.

Oh and be careful with fat free flavoured yoghurts, as I have found some are highly synned.

Good luck.

 

[Sally_Cinnamon]

Britmum, you are a star. Thanks SO much for this.

I found Quorn products in my local grocery yesterday which was an initial :talk017: moment but discovering that they were over $5 a packet was a definite :wow:moment. I doubt I'll be buying them often, if at all. We try not to shop at Walmart (pesky social conscience) but if I'm only going there for 1 thing I can suck it up--it's not like I'm giving them my loyal patronage. I'll pop in over the weekend and see if I can find the sausages you recommended.

As for the Knorr sides, great to know that I can use them as free if I need to. I'd only make them with water (or HEA milk) anyway. In the UK, I used to make pasta 'n' sauce quiche, or mix in TONS of vegetables, so I'd probably do that on the odd occasion I might have them here.

It is a bit of a minefield, isn't it? I'm mostly sticking to fresh foods and it will certainly be easier over the summer break but when I'm on campus and have a hectic schedule, it's handy to have something available that can be ready in minutes--although I do try to keep home made stuff in the freezer for that same reason.

Thanks SO much again