A bit on the side

Now I'm not often one who uses dressings or sauces, I even like my salads plain, but I do confess to liking a wee bit of brown sauce to go with my lean back bacon all fat trimmed off sandwich!  While checking out the syn values on Slimming World I upset myself by looking at the feature about "sides".  Dammit.  Did you know that just one little yorkshire pudding comes in at 3-4.5 syns?  Bloody hell and that's just a wee one too!

So how many little sides do you use, and how many extra calories are you unwittingly adding to your daily intake?  Even without putting dressings on my salad and eating pretty healthily, I reckon on average I'm giving myself an extra 5-7syns on some days that I wasn't really counting for....  Time to think about my little bits on the side and my SW relationship I think!

• Dash of milk – ½ Syn per dash of semi-skimmed milk
• 1 level tsp sugar – 1 Syn *Swap to sweetener and enjoy for Free
• Fruit cordial (250ml made up) – 2½ Syns *Swap for sugar free varieties for a Free drink

• 1 level tbsp butter – 5½ Syns *Swap for reduced fat butter and save 1½ Syns
• 1 level tbsp margarine/spread – 5½ Syns *Swap for reduced fat marg and save 2½ Syns
• 1 level tbsp jam – 2 Syns *Swap for reduced sugar jam and save ½ Syn
• 1 level tbsp honey – 2½ Syns
• 1 level tbsp marmalade – 1½ Syns *Swap for reduced sugar and save ½ Syn
• 1 level tbsp peanut butter – 4½ Syns *Swap for Marmite for a Free toast topper!
• 1 level tbsp tomato ketchup – 1 Syn
• 1 level tbsp brown sauce – 1 Syn
• Small (142ml) glass of orange juice – 2½ Syns (or enjoy a couple of oranges for Free!)

• 1 level tbsp mayo – 5 Syns *Swap for extra light mayo and save 4½ Syns!
• 1 level tbsp salad cream - 2½ Syns *Swap for reduced calorie salad cream and save 1 Syn!
• 1 level tbsp sweet pickle – 1 Syn
• 1 level tbsp coleslaw - 1½ Syns *Swap for reduced fat coleslaw and save ½ Syn or make your own
• 1 level tbsp vinaigrette dressing - 3 Syns *Swap for fat free vinaigrette for a Free salad dressing!

• An average multi-pack bag of crisps is around 7½ Syns.
• A sprinkle of Cheddar cheese (around 28g) is 6 Syns. Swap to reduced fat cheddar and enjoy 42g of cheese for 6 Syns or count it as your Healthy Extra ‘a’ choice
• A generous drizzle of olive oil on your salad could cost 6+ Syns. *Swap for lemon juice or balsamic vinegar for Free or count olive oil as your Healthy Extra ‘b’ choice.

• 4 level tbsp gravy (made with granules, no fat added) – 1 Syn
• 1 level tbsp apple sauce – 1 Syn
• 1 level tbsp mint sauce – 1 Syn *Swap for no added sugar mint sauce to make it Free!
• 1 level tbsp cranberry sauce – 1 Syn
• 1 level tbsp redcurrant jelly – 2 Syns
• 1 level tbsp horseradish sauce – 1 Syn
• 1 level tbsp mustard – ½ Syn
• 1 level tbsp olive oil - 6 Syns per tbsp *Count it as your Healthy Extra ‘b’ choice, or use Fry Light spray for Free
• 1 small Yorkshire pud (average 30g) – 3-4½ Syns