The FastDay Forum

I went crazy in m and s on sun and bought loads!! They are fab and really help on fast days. The portion sizes are amazing I am definatly buying them again!!

I'm having Waitrose Smokey Tomato Chicken tomorrow - full pack 512 calories - only because it was reduced to £2 But also as I'm trying for really low carb evening meals on fast days.

Tonight I had King Prawns with Ginger and Spring Onion from Marks - it was only 210 calories for the whole pack and it was absolutely delicious. And not a 'diet' meal! I had it with half a pouch of their egg fried rice (180 cals) so that was a big, filling meal for just 390 cals. I can really see that becoming a favourite!

I'm having Waitrose Smokey Tomato Chicken tomorrow - full pack 512 calories - only because it was reduced to £2 But also as I'm trying for really low carb evening meals on fast days.

Ooh, we had that the other night - it's gorgeous! Also massively filling. Enjoy!

Hi can u tell me what this " cook" frozen foot store is? I've never heard of it, but the meals u have sound great and filling. Also like the idea of m&s fuller longer dinners. Can anyone tell me if they actually do make u feel like u have had a proper dinner? I don't eat seafood so can anyone recommend any others that are tasty in this range please?

This is the website: http://www.cookfood.net/shops/ You can check to see if they have a shop near you. We've got one a few doors down from us and it's very handy! I've only tried one of the M&S Fuller Longer meals - the beef pie - and found it pretty horrible actually. Didn't finish it and wouldn't have it again. I do love their Count on Us Peri Peri Chicken though.

They do home deliveries. Superior ready meals from what I've heard.

I tend to have a whole pot of soup as my fast meal
and I'm dead picky about where I shop
because of provenance of ingredients

I have spent several years (maybe a lot more) largely eating M&S Count on Us ready meals, then I migrated up to Fuller longers.....

Look at my BMI...

I just never found them satisfying and at one point I started having the Count on Us on Toast , I much prefer the meal plans laid out in "The Fast Diet" book itself by Mimi....

Please do yourselves a favour and eat real food... I'm also suspicious of all the additives, chemicals, etc etc, on a plus most of them have humungous amounts of aggressive garlic, maybe their mostly garlic? Anyhow, this seems to act as an effective oral contraceptive, since no one will come closer than a mile to you afterwards... Or maybe that's a plus!

My worry for you all is that their the start of a slippery slope back into the bad old ways...

We are using soup to fill us up- husband has soup made at work for lunch then a pot of fresh bought soup for dinner, I am having half shop soup lunch and half for dinner- I like being able to see exactly how many cals are in it so I know how much I have for a yoghurt and a piece of fruit too.
Suits us as the soup fills us up and we are eating the same,
Sue

I now have a firm fave in the Quorn Cottage Pie. Tried this one fast night and had it the next one too. It is only 219 calories and like all cottage pies- is a good bit of stodge on a cold night. Filling when scoffed with a mound of broccolli

I always have a selection of M&S Count on Us meals on standby, they're the only low calorie ready meals I've tried that actually taste nice and I can trust to have decent ingredients in.
Like Caroline, on fast days, I try to avoid too many carbs and as she says, the ready meals tend to bulk up on cheap ingredients like potato or rice etc., but they're great for those days when you just don't want to bother cooking or you need a 'ding' meal in a hurry.
My favourites are Chicken Casserole, (tastes more like a roast chicken dinner), Chilli and Potato Wedges, Roast Pork and Vegetables and most of the curry and rice options. Don't like any of the pasta dishes in this range though and the fish pie is a bit bland.

I'm not a big fan of ready meals but have to admit they are handy if you're pressed for time. Anyway, I bought a couple of Lidl's frozen steam meals - had salmon and dill last night with veggies and I have to say it was really very good: lots of salmon with a lovely dill sauce and plenty of brocolli, carrots and green beans at around 380 calories - really impressed and would recommend. The others in the range are haddock and dill sauce with veggies, and chicken with rigatoni in tomato and basil sauce, all below 400 calories and cost about £2.80 each. They take around 12 minutes to microwave - a real boon when you're hungry and haven't time to prepare something from scratch (bad planning, of course, but it happens to even the most organised amongst us!).

Looking for really tasty vegan and vegetarian ideas...no half fabricated but can make from organic items...not too complicated...

[wildmissus]

Go on to YouTube and watch 'The big fat truth about low fat' (a BBC programme). Then read LastChance's post.