The FastDay Forum

I was just trying to think ahead with regards to fast day, as with normal non fast days I know one of my problems lay in not being prepared. So hopefully as long as I have plenty of ideas in for my fast days they should go ok

Is there anything in particular that you find yourself having time and time again on your fast days? Always a home made low cal veggie soup? Always a boiled egg salad?

[carorees]

Yes! Baked salmon steak with oven-roasted veggies (not potatoes but mixed veg like onions, courgette, peppers, mushrooms, carrots, tossed in a tablespoon of pesto and baked in the oven). Getting a bit bored of it now though and looking to try some other things...

Hmmmm, sounds yummy!

always homemade vegetable soup and a big bowl of salad veg

Stif fry, loads of veg. Usually without noodles but sometimes use a small amount. Often have with microwaved salmon with lemon juice and soy sauce.
OH announced he was sick of stir fry tonight as we have had them most fast nights for 3 weeks! so I've cooked a low fat prawn curry and lentil dhal tonight, but I think this might have tipped over 500 kcal, think next time Ill cut out the dhal and do some sort of spinach side dish.

I find having lots of veg and some low fat protein source (chicken, lean ham or fish) available usually means that I can concoct something relatively quickly (even if its another sir fry!). Interestingly I quite enjoy cooking my evening meal on a fast day, I think it is the anticipation of eating it!

Stock seems to be a staple ... I love half a knorr veg stock pot in a mug!

I'm the same as Nikipins and really enjoy cooking fast day foods ... it's a challenge like ready, steady cook where you use the contents of the fridge, make it as tasty as possible without smothering food in cheese sauce, mayo, butter or having a pile of carbs.

The things I've used most are garlic, ginger, mushrooms, chilli, lemons, herbs and those spices you buy for one recipe and leave in the back of the cupboard ...stock up on them all because they make even the plainest things really tasty

[carorees]

Pixie: Lemon pepper! It is really delicious sprinkled on that salmon I mentioned before baking.

Oooo, will look out for that!

I like lemon for making things fresh and zingy, I have a lemon zest and sea salt rub thats nice sprinkled on green beans or new potatoes.

I've got a lemon basil plant as well and it's really good stuffed into chicken breasts

Various fruit teas - if you feel hungry, make another cup of tea and the feeling fades, while you enjoy the nice fruit taste (I have a sweet tooth so works for me!)

Supermarket mixed casserole veg pack (check calories in different mixes, potatoes will be higher) with sliced raw chicken in a slow cooker with a little water and a couple of stock cubes. Makes a simple, low calorie chicken casserole which we like.

Miso soup is handy for a sort of lunch at 29 cals for a sachet of Clearspring brand. In a bowl and eaten with a spoon, it feels like you've eaten something!

Good luck Witchy Wife! Love the name

Oooh thanks for the ideas everyone. Love the idea of a low cal chicken casserole With even more veggies on the side, yummy!

I need to take my new slow cooker back to Argos. Opened the box and the lid was missing!

I think slow cookers are good for low calorie hot meals that you can cook without fat.

I get the casserole pack and the chicken mini fillets from Sainsburys. I would say get the smaller chicken fillet pack. According to My Fitness pal, 100 g of chicken breast is 138 cals, half a pack of Sainsburys casserole veg is 170 cals (more due to potatoes but if you like them and you're careful, you can still have them) and a chicken Oxo is 15 cals. So this dinner is approximately 323 cals.

If you get a casserole pack without potatoes, it will be less calories or you can have a larger serving of other veg.

I hope that's about right. I find My Fitness Pal app is good because it has most foods on the database and you can scan the barcode (if you have the right phone!)

Herbal teas for me, they're a good way of getting your fluids and fill you up between meals.

I keep trying herbal teas but most of them taste like pond water to me! The only one I can sometimes drink is liquorice tea by yogi brand but liquorice can cause fluid retention and raise blood pressure so I'm careful not to dring too much not that I can face more than one cup a day normally.
On thing I have started drinking is hot vimto squash. It's sweet and practically calorie free if you use the no added sugar variety. It's nice when my sweet tooth is craving for something. My only reservation is with all these no sugar/diet drinks is that they have lots of artificial sweeteners, flavouring and colourings in, so again I try to only have one or 2 cups on a fast day and none on my feast days. It's probably better than lots of diet coke as uncarbonated and lower in phosphates.

I always begin with a veg sauce.

Then I turn it into:
1. Veg curry, which up to now I've had with a microwaved or baked potato - sometimes turned into 4 curried wedges (fried, using 1 cal spray). However, tomorrow I'll have it with 40g of rice - and still come in under 300 calories for the meal;

2. Chilli non carne, adding red kidney beans and using mushrooms as the meat substitute;

3. Lasagne-type dish, layered with slices of cooked potato and non-dairy cheese substitute;

4. Ragu sauce with pasta (once again, using 40g of pasta, it still comes in under 300 calories)

All these are on my blog. However, I'm sure there are other variations of a veg stew - I'd love to hear your ideas!

Fasting on Monday's and Wednesday's, as I do, I make enough on the Monday for both days - ringing the changes between them (except for the potato lasagne).