Hello all & welcome to 5:2 if you’re new to it. There are plenty of recipe ideas dotted about and you can always search for a keyword if you’ve got something specific in mind. Do remember though that you don’t necessarily need a recipe for your fastday. I lasted an entire year of my time on 5:2 just having a bowl of branflakes (a BIG one) and a cup of tea (2 sugars & milk) as my one fastday meal.

Recently they’ve changed the damn recipe for my bran flakes and I’ve had to experiment. I’ve just been having an absolutely massive salad with a little dressing and some tuna or boiled egg or a bit of chicken or hiloumi cheese instead. Simple but effective.

I tend to use recipes for my non-fastday food really. I’ve been through one of my mum’s old Weight Watchers cookbooks and calorie counted them (where they weren’t already done for me). They are ABSOLUTE GOLD. Most recipes come in under 500 calories per portion anyway and often I find myself bulking them out or doubling them up to reach 500. Then I box them up and freeze them (as most of them tell you they are appropriate for freezing) – voila, readymeals with no added nasty extras, ready to go in 10 minutes on a fastday or a non fastday. Most veg based soups (without copious amounts of cream etc.) tend to come to well under 300 calories so if I really need no-brainer comfort food I have a portion of one of my favourites (carrot & corriander or Broccoli & stilton usually) and a parbaked roll (also liberated from the freezer). Simples.