Mixing it up

Last updated on Wed, 14th Sep 2022

I’ve had the same meal for lunch and dinner for the last two days, and I’m getting a bit sick of it!

I like a chicken salad as much as the next person – actually probably more than the next person. And a large chicken and some salad things from the supermarket certainly goes a long way, and is good value for money. But it can also get a bit boring after a while.

It’s the trap that a lot of people fall into when doing Slimming World – having the same meals again and again. We find a set of recipes that work for us, and then we cook them again and again on an endless loop. And before you know it, you’re bored of everything, and desperate to have something different, which can lead to some off-plan moments!

Our weekly cooking schedule usually contains some or all of the following: a chicken in the slow cooker, a joint of ham in the slow cooker, a stir-fry, a batch-cooked curry or chilli, baked fish and chips, or a spaghetti bolognese. And although I enjoy all of these, I sometimes hanker after something a bit different.

Looking for inspiration

One thing we tried to do a while back, but has since fallen by the wayside, is to introduce a new recipe each week. The Slimming World magazines seem to be a good source of inspiration for new recipes, as do the books you can buy in class. Or a quick search of the internet will often come up with something interesting.

If you follow other SW members on Instagram or Snapchat you can often find inspiration for alternate meal suggestions – as there are loads of people that photograph their meals and share them online.

A bit of planning

I’m also an advocate of planning the week’s meals. I know that if I just left it to the day to decide what I’d like for dinner, I’d not have the right ingredients and I’d end up eating the same things all the time. But by pre-planning (having checked the recipes to follow) we can then buy the correct groceries in our weekly shop, and have everything in ready to go. And it removes the dilemma of working out what to cook each day.