Week 1 /2 Management Food Questions....

[Samantha]

I start management next week and have been shopping to get my first weeks food. My local supermarket is a Morrisons and I struggled to find a fat free salad dressing.

Is it possible to buy ready made fat free dressings or is it something you have to make yourself? If you can buy them which supermarket and which brand?

Mustard... Are we allowed any kind of mustard? I really like the whole grain kind but when I looked at the label these were the highest in carbs. I know for the first few weeks we are supposed to keep our carb intake fairly low so a little confused about this.

Last question (I promise) Week 2 we are allowed fat free dips. As with the salad dressing can you buy these or do people make up their own with fat free yoghurt?

Samantha

 

[Cerulean]

Waitrose perfectly balanced is pretty good from my old WW days, but I haven't used a shop bought dressing yet on RtM - I didn't find anything suitable in Morries. I used mustard powder for the first two weeks and now add a tsp of wholegrain mustard (Morrisons 35p - bargain!)

I made my own fat free dip from Total 0% (or in Morries Longely Farm fat free yog is the same price for twice as much) - I add black pepper, mint, cucumber garlic parsley and whatever spices I fancy that day.

For more precise ideas I'd use the raita/tzatziki base recipe from the booklet for proper amounts - I always use more garlic than most mortals!, but generally I find having some fresh mint in a pot and some parsley is useful for the dips - if there is a virtually fat free dip available in Waitrose or Morrisons I haven't seen it.

For dressings I generally use a good white wine vinegar or a very expensive 10 quid basalmic (I know, but it means that in a pinch use can use it on its own) I also reduce it down by half and pour it over hot food with soem garlic sometimes...

I mix abut 50ml vinegar with a squeeze or two of citrus, plenty of salt and black pepper and a bit of colmans mustard powder...depending on if it's lunch or dinner I add half a clove of garlic.

I haven't written about how non-specific the manual is for some ingredients or the 'rules' but it is frustratingly so at times.

I should assume that we just need to use our common sense and not eat all the fruit in the world like I have done today.

 

[Samantha]

Thanks Sarah for replying. Your dip sounds YUM so will definately try that in Week 2. I have never tried white wine / balsamic vinegar and not sure I will like it BUT the post SS taste buds might just enjoy the new taste so will give it a go.

After I posted that I looked in my fridge and right up the back I found a salad dressing I had bought for my OH at the beginning of summer and it is actually pretty low in fat!

It is a Kraft Light Italian per 100ml has 6.8g carb, trace fat. Only problem is has 1.2g sodium but as only have a small amount it should be ok. Got it in Sainsburys (when I used to live just down the road from a HUGE saver centre since moved)

I saw somewhere you wrote you wont buy meat from morrisons... why is that? I got some salmon and some cod in there the other day. The salmon looked ok but not to sure about the cod So was kind of in a delima as to what to do as I have no decent supermarket near me. On the upside I went into M&S at london bridge today I go through there on my way to and from work) and was surprised to see a lovely selection of prawns, salmon, fish. A little expensive but it looked VERY nice and I think I will treat myself next week.

Thanks again for all your recipe ideas and reply

Samantha

 

[Cerulean]

I'm going to sound like such a fusspot now! My Dad's a trained chef and hotelier and I have lived in hotels and restaurants my whole life until the last few years - I was a chef myself before I went to Uni - my parents now live in Glucetsershire and we've had the same butcher for nearly 25 years, I grew up watching the locals at our place in Wales bring in lobsters (anyone with a boat in Swansea is allowed to set two pots I think) and swap them for pints! I've killed a chicken and skinned a rabbit and I believe that people should eat meat, but probably only a few times a week - and that the meat we eat should be of the highest quality having had an excellent quality of life.

This means that I can't buy meat from most supermarkets - I don't trust Morrison's sources and quality - I have no real foundation for that, but their meat is too cheap to be ethical and tastes 'wrong'.

In London tis can be a bit trickier...any red meat or poultry I have usually comes from a butcher who can tell me exactly where my meat came from - doing LL means that I have had to compromise on my fish and poultry and use Waitrose for convenience (and to avoid the other foodie shops near my butcher!)

I used to mainly have fresh fish on a Saturday when I could buy it from the fishmonger and then I would roast a 'happy' chicken on Sunday and use the leftovers through the week and then when I ran out I would be on mainly veggie dishes for the rest of the week - which is the only supermarket that I've found where if I ask, someone will come and talk to me about where their meat comes from.


That said...I do have a think for junk pasties and prepared snack food which is where this can all fall down sometimes - I am trying to give up that bad habit...which will be part of my RtM, I hope.

 

[joh117]

For salad dressing I use the Kraft Light range there is the Italian, Thousand Island, Honey and Mustard, French to name a few and they are all trace fat.

I bought all these from Tesco but I also shop at Asda. Not been to Morrisons as the new store in York is yet to open but looking forward to having a shop there for a change. Used to like shopping there when I was a student

Jo

 

[Peridot]

Re meat - I couldn't agree more with you Cerulean. I'd rather have it less often, pay more and know that the animal had a happy life.

Of course all this is irrelevant as I'm on packs for as looooong as I can see ahead!