Meal 9: Tomato & Chickpea Surprise

CALORIE DENSITY: 16% = 584kcal/(910ml x 4)

(Compare with Sugar: 95%, butter: 180%)
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COST: 102p (So don’t tell me that eating healthy food is expensive!)
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INGREDIENTS
  • Chopped Tomatoes 400g: 74kcal (400ml) Chopped Tomatoes 400g: 74kcal (400ml) Asda SP Chopped Tomatoes in Tomato Juice – 1 can for 35p
    Chickpeas 240g: 306kcal (240ml) Chickpeas 240g: 306kcal (240ml) Asda Chickpeas in Water – 1 can for 35p
    Tuna Flakes 170g: 90 kcal (170ml) Tuna Flakes 170g: 90 kcal (170ml) Poundstretcher Ocean Best Tuna Flakes in brine – 4 cans for £1 = 25p
    Mash Potato Powder: 60ml: 100kcal (30ml hydrated) Asda SP Instant Mashed Potato – 1 packet 240ml for 28p = 7p
INSTRUCTIONS
  1. Open the cans of chopped tomatoes & tuna and place the contents including the liquid in a large plastic container
  2. Open the can of chickpeas, drain and place the chickpeas in the container
  3. Sprinkle on Piri Piri flavouring & salt or whatever you fancy to taste and mix well – see here for suggestions
  4. Add 60ml of potato powder and mix to thicken (avoiding the use of wheat flour which is higher calorie dense and contains gluten)
  5. Snap on the container lid and heat in the microwave at 800W for 6 minutes

The picture shows how this delicious meal might be served in 2 portions but I’ll have the lot on a single 10 inch plate for dinner as I need a lot of energy for my salsa dancing! The surprise is the fish or meat that you add. I’ve used tuna for this recipe but it could be anything that you fancy providing it’s unprocessed and not fried!

You can drain the liquids from the ingredients and make a separate sauce if you prefer – see here for details. I prefer it all mixed up because it looks as good as it tastes that way – to me at least!

This makes one meals for a man like me (large frame and vigorously active) or two meals for a lady. I don’t mention the calories for each meal because when you indulge in eating natural low density food  which has a density of less than 25% you just eat as much as your appetite dictates and then stop eating. This meal tastes equally delicious with any of the pulses although I have to say that chickpeas are my favourite! The pulses I regularly use are: chickpeas, butter beans, cannellini beans, borlotti beans, haricot beans, pinto beans, black-eyed beans, black beans and kidney beans. You could add some green vegetables if you like but I just take multi-vitamins because they’re more effective and a lot cheaper.

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