When it comes to losing weight, many of us wish we could wave a magic wand and the weight would disappear. However, since this is unlikely to happen, we instead waste our time trying one fad diet after another. We fast for a moment, only to give in and eat everything in sight, only to gain the weight back.
This is why Slimming World is one of the most successful weight loss plans out there: instead of starving members with unrealistic meal plans, it incorporates healthy foods so members can eat until they’re full and still lose weight.
I have almost all of the Slimming World recipe books and love them all. I am always amazed at how they cleverly substitute low-fat ingredients for higher calorie ingredients.
But it can require a lot of collecting herbs and spices to enhance the flavor, as well as a ton of other ingredients that take up space in your kitchen and fridge.So when I found out Slimming World Kitchen was launching its own recipe box service, I was pretty excited.
I knew it wouldn’t be hard, having followed the Slimming World plan for years. The plan includes lots of “free foods” that people can eat until they’re full, as well as “healthy extras” – milk, cheese, wholemeal bread, and some less healthy foods like fats, oils, sweets and crisps.
We regularly eat Slimming World’s spaghetti bolognese, chilli and famous chips, but despite my extensive collection of recipe books, I found myself falling into a mealtime rut and eating the same foods over and over again.
So when I was offered the chance to try out a new recipe box service, I jumped at the chance, as it promises to provide you with all the ingredients you need and each recipe contains only “free” Slimming World ingredients, making it a healthy option whether you follow the plan or not.
And since I’m always trying to lose weight, I also wanted to know if it would help me lose weight. And this is what happened.
How to use
Slimming World Kitchen has its own website and offers 15 meals every week. You can choose up to five meals each week and buy them for two or four people.
Each meal is accompanied by a photo, duration and price, with a vegetarian meal for two costing £10, and a meat and fish meal for two costing £12-13. Meals for four are cheaper, under £4 per person, with some as cheap as £3.25.
The website also lists ingredients, allergens and nutritional information for all meals, and the week I chose had a wide range of menus to suit all tastes, including veggie madras with onion pilaf, sunny salmon, lemon and mint traybake and rustic pork pasta in a fennel and caper sauce.
I choose to choose a dish I’ve never tried before, with ingredients I know my whole family will enjoy. Once you’ve made your selection, you can simply add it to your basket, check out when you’re done, and wait for it to be delivered.
My parcel was sent by DPD, the delivery time was 1 hour and it arrived on time.
What you get
I was pleased to see the size of the box. It was huge. But what was more important was what was inside. I chose 4 meals, each in its own individual bag, surrounded by plenty of still-frozen ice packs. Plus, there was a detailed recipe book with each meal numbered.
One side of the box had a separate space for the ingredients that needed to go in the fridge, like chicken, pork, yogurt, etc. Then, the rest of the box contained four recyclable bags, each clearly numbered so you could tell which ingredients were inside.
Luckily, I have a big fridge, so I decided to leave all the ingredients in the bags and let them take up a shelf. After all, I usually just stuff my fridge with all the different ingredients I buy to cook with, but they’re more likely to spoil before I can eat them than eat them. But this time, I just didn’t feel like getting started right away.
Everything we needed, from peppers and spinach to organic soup cubes, tomato puree and carefully measured Greek yogurt, was right in the bag, so there was no need to fumble with scales or rummage through cupboards. And best of all, each meal came with step-by-step instructions, along with the duration it would take, so we could choose the meals that best suited our busy lives.
Meals tried
Korean style beef noodles
Since we wanted to make it quickly, we decided to choose things that looked super tasty and could be made in just 25 minutes of guided time. We opened the bag and were delighted to see what was inside – everything looked super fresh and the portions were generous.
Although it did require some chopping and chopping of the chestnut mushrooms, peppers, green beans, shallots and steak, it was super easy, and what I was especially happy about was that it was all so convenient, no measuring or measuring required and it was ready in the promised 25 minutes.
The flavor was amazing, and adding fresh basil at the end really enhanced the flavor.
I’ve tried to make many stir-fries over the years but I gave up because I never got it right, but this dish was full of flavor. I’m going to buy the ingredients for this dish again and give it another go.
And there was so much food and the portions were so big, I didn’t think this would help me lose weight, but we’ll see.
Meal for 4 £22
Creamy Chicken Soup
I decided to have this for dinner on Saturday because it felt a bit indulgent and I was trying to cut down on my weekly takeaways. It only took 45 minutes, which isn’t a long time but it fit nicely into my busy schedule.
It felt like there was less prep done this time – I still had to chop potatoes, mushrooms and shallots, crush garlic and chop parsley – but none of it took that much time – in fact the cooking took up most of the time so I had time to do other tasks while it cooked. It came with a generous amount of incredibly fresh broccoli.
I was surprised at how the yogurt perfectly replicated the creaminess I would normally use in a meal like this, but at a fraction of the calorie count, and the roasted potatoes were a great alternative to the mashed potatoes or rice I would normally choose.
It looked and tasted like fine dining and everyone loved it. The portions were also generous, filling all four of us up but could have had more. Despite the success of Korean noodles, this dish has quickly risen to the top spot.
Meal for 4 £16
Jerk pork with pepper, corn and coriander rice
We love rice dishes, so when we saw this on a menu, it was a no-brainer to make it. It can be made in 35 minutes, making it the perfect dish for a school night. This dish requires a little prep, but it’s always good to have when you want to make something a little different.
I loved the idea of roasting canned sweet corn with peppers and jerk seasoning because it really brings out the flavor of the ingredients in a way that other cooking methods never do, and once again it was ready in the promised 35 minutes and, despite our voracious natures, made a hefty meal that made six meals instead of the promised four.
Again we loved it, it was spicy but not too overpowering and the coriander rice was a surprise, another big hit and we will definitely try it again.
Meal for 4 £18
Best chicken korma ever
In hindsight, I thought this might have been a good Saturday night takeaway option, but we decided to have it for Sunday lunch instead of our usual roast dinner. My husband made it and said it was “easy enough”.
This doesn’t require much prep and is ready in 30 minutes. It doesn’t taste like takeaway food and I hesitate to vote it “best ever,” but it was still very good. I thought the broccoli on the side was a bit odd, so I left it out. Instead, I made myself a salad of tomatoes, cucumbers, and onions, and followed Slimming World’s mandate of filling 1/3 of my plate with speed foods (in layman’s terms, usually fruits and vegetables).
However, the yogurt gave the sauce a creamy texture that we all enjoyed.
Meal for 4 £16
verdict
All the meals were delicious, and although at first it seemed a little pricey it was actually quite good value as there was very little waste and our plates were clean all week. Embarrassingly, our bins often overflow but this time they weren’t as full as usual and for the first time we even had space left.
There was less packaging, all the food was edible, I think it saved money and reduced food waste. It also came with a full recipe book of all the meals you could eat for the week, which was nice. We tried a few more dishes and they took longer to cook because they required weighing and measuring which you can avoid when buying boxes.
I also really liked how the recipe book listed allergens as well as instructions, but will this work for me as I desperately want to lose weight?
I know how Slimming World works so I was able to follow the plan alongside my meals of fruit and yogurt for breakfast and homemade soup for lunch, etc. However, for a beginner it can be difficult to “do Slimming World” as there is no general information on what else to eat.
The meals are complete with calorie and nutritional information, making them suitable for anyone wanting to lose weight, whether they’re following Slimming World or not, but also for anyone who just wants to enjoy healthy food quickly and easily.
But like I said, the portions were huge. If I ate the whole thing, I’d never lose weight.
Well, I was wrong. I weighed myself at the beginning of the week, followed this meal plan, and lost 5 pounds without feeling like I was “on a diet.”
I also became more conscious of what other foods I was eating and by the end of the week I felt healthier than I had in a long time. I love the taste, the convenience, and for me, the results on the scale, so I’ll definitely try it again in the future.