Weight Watchers Low ProPoint Snack Ideas

One thing that has kept me going through my weight loss journey is that I never go to bed hungry. There are all these myths around "don't eat after 6pm" or whatever but since Weight Watchers is pretty much just calorie counting, it doesn't matter when you eat, as long as you stay within your ProPoints, you are going to lose weight. 

Every day I save a good 5PPs for evening snacks. I have my tea at around 5:30-6pm every day but by 8-9pm when I'm sat on the couch watching TV or I'm a bit bored I start to get peckish. Some days I am genuinely hungry and other days I just want something, I just crave sweet things. And why shouldn't I be able to have them? There's no way I'm going to spend the rest of my life only eating salads. I love food. I love cake and chocolate. I love eating. I would be miserable if I didn't eat the foods I love. "Nothing tastes as good as being skinny feels" I call bullsh*t on that one!

So I thought I'd share with you some of my favourite snacks. Most are pretty low in ProPoints as I do tend to favour a small pile of food over a single chocolate bar (though I will have them sometimes). 

Salsa and carrot sticks - 1pp for half a jar (3pps for the full jar!)

Time Out single bars - 2pp each.

Popcorn - love these ones from Tesco. Cocolate Orange, Strawberry Toffee and Salted Carmel flavours. 2pp a bag.

Fruit shortcake biscuits - 1pp each.

WW Caramel Mallow - 1pp each.

Mikado - 1pp for 4.

Cinnamon and raisin bagel thins - 3pp. I have mine topped with flora or PB2 and banana for an additional 1pp. Plain ones are also good with laughing cow light and 18g wafer thin ham, also 1pp. 

Alpen Light bars - 2pp each or 2 for 3pp.

Options Hot Choc or Cadbury's Highlights - 1pp.

Velvet Crunch, Wotsits or Quavers (watch your bag size. Multipacks tend to be ok) - 2pp.

Club Biscuits - 3pp

Slow Cooker Beef Stew and Mash - 2pp/ 13pp

I didn't really think I was a fan of stews (memories of watery potato hash with boiled potatoes spring to mind) but they always look so nice so I decided to give it a go anyway. And loved it.

This was on another filling and healthy week so worked out at only 2pp but is a whopping 13pp if counting! Next time I think I would give the parnsips a miss and have extra veg on the side to keep the points down. Could also sacrifice 1pp of meat for a Yorkshire pudding :o

Serves 1
Ingredients
175g Tesco beef stir fry strips - 5pp
200g white potatoes - 4pp
1 x carrot - 0pp
1 x parsnip - 2pp
1/2 brown onion - 0pp
15g Flora light - 1pp
10g gravy granules - 1pp

Method
1. In a slow cooker add diced onion, chopped carrots and parnsips 200ml boiling water and the beef. Season with salt and pepper. 
2. Cook for 6 hours on low. When nearly ready to serve, check the water. If there is too much, take some out, not enough, add some then stir in gravy granules. Since you can only use a small amount of granules to thicken, it's better to have less water to start and be able to add more if required. 
3. Boil your potatoes in salted water until soft. Drain and mash with Flora.
4. Serve and enjoy!

I had mint sauce on mine too for 0pp. 

Salmon Fishcakes 0pp/ 10pp

Another filling and healthy week for me as the past 2 weeks I have PUT ON even sticking within my points so I thought another change up was required. Unfortunately F&H means a lot of cooking from scratch and a couple of days searching for recipes *snores*

I just stole the recipe from Google and adapted it to fit in with Weight Watchers. Very tasty and filling. I served mine with mashed carrot and swede, 15g flora light (1pp), broccoli and cauliflower.

Serves 2
Ingredients
2 x tin skinless & boneless salmon - 13pp (but 6pp each)
1 x slice Nimble wholemeal bread - 1pp
1 x medium egg - 2pp
200g potatoes - 4pp
2tbsp tomato ketchup - 1pp
10g mustard - 0pp
1 tbsp chopped parsley
1 tbsp chopped dill
1 lemon

Method
1. Peel, chop and boil potatoes in salted water until soft. Mash.
2. Drain salmon and combine with mashed potatoes, ketchup, mustard, parsley, dill and lemon zest. Mix well then shape in to fish cake-type things. (I made 4 large fish cakes.)
3. Toast the bread and blitz in a food processor or, if you are lacking in such gadgets, grate on to a plate.
4. Add egg to another plate. Dip fish cakes into the egg, then the breadcrumbs. 
5. Spray a baking tray with fry light and grill until nice and brown on both sides.
6. Squeeze over some lemon juice.

Home Made Coleslaw - 0pp

Gotta love a bit of coleslaw to liven up your salads and sandwiches! I've tried making my own before and been pretty unimpressed. Low fat yoghurt just doesn't taste of anything and makes the coleslaw really watery. Bleurgh. 

Another very simple recipe (I hate recipes with a thousand different ingredients. You buy 20 different spices only to find out you don't like it and then they sit in your cupboard for the whole rest of your life.)

Makes 3-4 portions
Ingredients
1/2 white cabbage
1 white onion 
2 small or 1 large carrot
4-5tbsp Hellmann's lighter than light mayo - 1PP (if you can't find Hellmann's a supermarket own brand will do i.e. Tesco Healthy Living but beware it may be slightly more points) 
1/2tsp Dijon mustard

Method
Grate the cabbage, carrot and onion into a bowl. Mix in mayo and dijon mustard. That's it! You can use more mustard if you like but I find it too strong and burny if I put more in.

Fish Pie - 7pp or 1pp on F&H

I think I took this from a normal Weight Watchers or Slimming World recipe and adapted it to suit a Filling and Healthy day. I was genuinely surprised at how nice it was!

Serves 2
Ingredients
150g carrots, diced
150g swede, diced
(I get a frozen mix of the above from Asda. Tesco do a fresh one too.)
Salt and pepper
250g fat free fromage frais - 3pp
1 tsp chopped fresh dill
1 tsp parsley
1 x clove of garlic
4 x laughing cow light cheddar triangles - 3pp
90g skinless cod fillet - 1pp
90g skinless smoked cod fillet - 1pp
90g salmon fillet - 2pp
2 hard boiled eggs, peeled and chopped - 4pp

Method
Boil the carrot and swede in a pan of salted water for around half an hour. When done add a bit of salt and pepper and a tbsp of fromage frais. Mash and set to one side.
Cook eggs until hard boiled (I usually go for 6 minutes in boiling water).
Gently heat remaining fromage frais, dill, parsley and garlic. Add the fish and cook for around 5 minutes. Add the laughing cow triangles and cook for a futher minute. 
Put fish mixture into a serving dish or 2 smaller dishes, add chopped egg, top with mashed veg and cook in a preheated oven on 200°c for 20 minutes.

Serve with boiled or steamed veg.