To think Pinch of Nom is not that amazing?

[GallbladderWoes]

Probably an unpopular opinion, but I had 2 PON books for Christmas, and a lot of the recipes aren't great, and a lot are very basic!

Don't get me wrong there's some good ones but the diet cola Chinese chicken takes ages when there's much easier ways to make a tasty, healthy low fat Chinese, and tonight I made the ham and potato cakes as "an easy dinner" and they have basically been a massive faff and all fallen apart.

Gahhhh.

I have them all there’s some nice recipes. I really like the slimming foodie book and have just got slimming eats.

2 Chubby Cubs books are bloody brilliant and no artificial shitners included. I've made loads out of both of their books and not come across a dud recipe yet.

PON books are awful IMO, mostly rehashed recipes filled with shite.

Cola chicken? As a diet recipe? How can that even be healthy let alone suitabke for a diet?

I don’t think it’s fair to comment on their weight alongside their recipes.

You can KNOW what to eat to get slim and be a trained dietician or whatever and still be overweight. The two don’t have to be linked.

That said, they’ve just copied the popular American ‘Pinch of Yum’ and capitalised on everyone trying to ‘hack’ slimming world. I’ve seen how much money they make from adverts on their blog alone as well as seen the house they’ve bought. They’ve done very well for themselves, whether you think the recipes are any good or not - they know their marketing

Another hairy bikers vote here!
I hate diet recipes, I hate trendy diet books, hate faff and hate ridiculous substitutions and artificial crap.
Hairy bikers have none of this. I regularly use recipes from them

The name is so cringey I couldn’t bring myself to look at it. Nom ! 🤮

Thank god it’s not just me. Cheeseburger pasta? What on Earth!! No thanks.

The cola chicken is a favourite in our house but I’ve not be that impressed by any of the other recipes I’ve tried. I don’t think you can beat the Hairy Dieter books, I use the recipes all the time and not been disappointed by anything I’ve made from their books.

The log book is disappointing. I'm probably the only idiot who bought this.

I like the concept where people batch cook their recipes. This does make life a lot easier.

I like cheeseburger pasta but prefer fatguydiary recipe. It’s tasty, makes a change to Bolognese.

Freedomfaith it’s Diet Coke. I’m personally not keen. But it’s basically chicken, peppers and onion in a calorie free sauce (goes a bit like bbq sauce). Lots of people like it.

Love pinch of nom turkey orzotto. Ideal for batch cooking - freezes and microwaves fine. Uses 2% turkey mince and lots of veg.

@FreedomFaith

Cola chicken? As a diet recipe? How can that even be healthy let alone suitabke for a diet?

Have you never heard of "diet cola", its quite the up and coming trend with the kids or so I hear

@Sxxyfing

They're just basic recipes but they use low fat options of everything which aren't actually good for you compared to the real full fat versions

Which unfortunately I have to follow as I can no longer tolerate fat without being very ill, I miss olive oil!!!

Are you having your GB removed? I did and the fat intake issue improved enormously, fortunately.

Fail for using the word 'nom'

I flicked through a couple of them in the shop before Xmas, my dad had a heart attack a couple of years ago and needs to eat more healthily so was thinking of a present for him. But when I looked at the recipes they didn’t seem very healthy to me!

Same could be said for most recipe books tbh

@Zilla1

Am mildly sceptical about any diet cola recipe as the sweeteners are generally not meant to be cooked and there would be little purpose. The sugar in regular coke has a purpose, to caramelise in cola chicken but would be surprised if the diet cola recipes worked.

It does because it provides the sweetness and a bit of flavour, which is what people are looking for in a BBQ chicken dish...

@DockOTheBay diet cola is not healthy. It’s less bad than full-sugar cola, but that doesn’t make it good or even neutral. There is evidence to suggest consuming artificially sweetened drinks may increase appetite and higher consumption is linked to higher rates of obesity. The acids (eg phosphoric acid) also still damage your teeth even without the sugar.

@Cheeseycheeseycheesecheese Thanks for the rec! I used to get Hello Fresh boxes occasionally and now do the same with Gousto. I keep the recipe cards so I can make them without the box, and several have become staples.

I'm veggie so most cookbooks are at least 50% irrelevant, but I got the Spicebox one for Christmas. I've made three so far and they've all been good.

Thanks for the heads up on the kindle deals @Hobbes8. I’ve just downloaded a few.

I have two of the PoN books and quite like a few recipes. I know we liked the Dirty Cajun rice and have done it a few times. I must try a few more.

Agree with lots of you that the Hairy Dieters books are better though.

I’ve tried to move away from any diet books though so got rid of all my WW or SW books. Hate any recipes using artificial sweeteners etc.

I do like the sound of cheeseburger pasta. Fussy DS might like it. Might give that a go this week.

The name alone puts me off, I would refuse to use it out of principal if anyone bought it for me. I really rate The Curry Guy Light if anyone is after low fat curries, it comes out at least once a week in our house.

Tom Kerridge's Eat Well has some really nice recipes. It does use oil & cream, but in smaller quantities so all the taste with none of the fake. The mustard pork recipe is a huge family favourite with us.