Uncle Ben's microwave Basmati rice has 183 calories in a 125g serving, but the actual packet it comes in is 250g so that's 366 calories in total, unless you're happy to decant it and use it in two separate meals, which I'm not as I'm a bit funny about that sort of thing.
Sainsbury's Free Range Fresh Egg Noodles weigh in at 341 calories per half of a 410g packet, now I'm happy with using a half of a packet here but I'm not happy with the calorie count and a quarter of a packet is not really enough.
The solution I found to this problem is don't have rice or noodles with stir fry, just have a whole bag of stir fry vegetable mix, a single portion packet of ready cooked chicken pieces or a packet of King Prawn and a stir fry sauce.
Problem one with this solution is that you exempt yourself from the stir fry meal deals in Sainsbury's and Tesco where you get a stir fry sauce, stir fry vegetables and stir fry noodles for £3, but I learned to live with it. Problem two is that "you can't have stir fry without noodles or rice", this being a psychological problem was easier to battle because as I've discovered you can in fact have stir fry without noodles or rice!
So an example my new healthier living stir fry is:
- Sainsbury's Mixed Vegetable Stir Fry - 325g = 112 calories
- Sainsbury's Fresh Teriyaki & Ginger Stir Fry Sauce - 175ml = 152 calories
- Sainsbury's Taste The Difference Jumbo King Prawns - 175g = 118 calories
Total calories for this meal: 382 which is much better than 565 calories if you add half a bag of Uncle Ben's Microwave Basmati rice or 723 calories if you add half a bag of the Sainsbury's noodles and because you have used a whole bag of the vegetables the meal isn't insubstantial.
A recent discovery I've made is that in Asda and Tesco you can get a three pack of microwaveable Uncle Ben's Single Serve Basmati Rice that are 130g each and have 199 calories a bag, there is also a whole grain rice version that has 215 calories a bag. The only problem is that I've become so used to not having rice and noodles that I hardly ever use them even if they're in the cupboard.
Another good alternative is Tesco Frozen Sweet Chilli Noodle Stir Fry which has 393 calories per 380g packet and has the blessing of having noodles included along with the vegetables and sauce so if you add in a Tesco Chunky Flame Grilled Chicken Snack Pack which has 107 calories per 100g pack near the end of cooking you've got a meal total of 500 calories which isn't too bad for a stir fry with noodles, but you'll find that the portion size is smaller than if you use the first example.
If you want to bulk up your stir fry even more try adding 100g of sliced mushrooms, this is about four average size mushrooms and will add around 13 calories to your meal (depending on the type of mushroom).
These modified stir fry meals became a main stay of my dinners at the start of my health drive because they are quick to cook and taste really good and the key to success when trying to loose weight is to find healthier options that taste nice and that in all probability you will carry on eating after you've got to your weight loss goal and when you realise this you suddenly recognise that you're not on a diet, which implies that you will stop at some point, but you have in fact made a sustainable lifestyle change.
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