500 Calories or Less: Tomato, Bacon & Bean Soup
This is one of our favourite less-than-500-calorie meals. It’s perfect if you’re looking for 5:2 diet plan ideas or just fancy something lighter for dinner. The 500 calories fast days are obviously the most challenging part of the diet. The point of the 5:2 diet is that you give your body two fast days and five days where you eat normally, albeit slightly healthier. The diet has become one of the nation’s favourite weight-loss options, and the fast days needn’t be as scary as they sound.
Being on a diet doesn’t mean missing out on your favourite treats. We’ve got many low-calorie versions of classic meals, including curry, stir-fries, sandwiches and more. And, of course, we’d love to hear how you’re getting on with your 5:2 diet progress, so feel free to comment below and let us know all about it.
Serves: 4
Preparation Time: 20 minutes
Cooking Time: 50 minutes
Calories: 349
Ingredients
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 200 smoked bacon lardons
• 1 red onion, chopped
• 2 red peppers, deseeded and roughly chopped
• 2 x 400g tins chopped tomatoes
• 1 tsp dried chilli flakes, to taste
• pinch of cayenne
• 2 x 400g tins of mixed beans, drained and rinsed
• Large handful of fresh coriander, chopped
Method
Heat olive oil in a pan over medium heat and fry lardons for about 5min until golden. Lift out and set aside, leaving oil in the pan.
Add the onion, peppers and a splash of water to the pan. Cook for 10min until softened. Stir in cooked lardons, tomatoes, chilli flakes, cayenne pepper and 200ml water. Bring mixture to a boil, then cover and simmer for 20min, stirring occasionally.
Uncover the pan, add the beans and cook for another 10min. Stir in the coriander and check the seasoning before serving. Enjoy!
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