Beef in Gravy for a Quick Roast Dinner

Preparing a full roast dinner complete with all the trimmings can take a great deal of time and isn’t usually an option during the busy working week. But if you’re after a quick midweek roast meal, there is always the cheat’s method. Frozen Beef in Gravy.

OK, it might not look like your traditional Sunday Roast (nor taste like it), but it is surprisingly nice. Even better, an entire pack is really low in calories.

Take Sainsbury’s Beef in Gravy. Each 210g pack contains three thin slices of beef in rich gravy and the whole pack has just 115 calories.

It's also low in fat and saturated fat, sugar and calories, though the salt is in the medium category. Admittedly there is a lot of gravy, so if you want to reduce some of the salt, just don’t use all the gravy.

In it's frozen state

The bags can be heated in the microwave from frozen in 6-7 minutes or you can boil them in the bag for 25 minutes.

Alternative Beef in Gravy brands can be found depending on where you shop. For example, Birds Eye Roast Beef in Gravy has 160 calories for a 227g pack or Tesco’s 210g Sliced Beef in Gravy has 158 calories for the pack.

100g = 167 calories (approx. 2 potatoes)

If you want to complete the cheat’s method for a roast dinner, you could also add one or two ready-made Yorkshire puddings from Aunt Bessie.

These have 56 calories each and take 4 minutes to cook.Then you could heat some frozen mashed potato for around 80 calories.

Or if you prefer roast potatoes, there are frozen, ready prepared varieties such as these from Aunt Bessie. A couple of average sized roast spuds from this brand will set you back 160 calories and they take 25 minutes to roast.

To complete your speedy roast dinner, pop some vegetable steam bags into the microwave. Each Bird’s Eye Steam Bag has just 50 calories.

One slice of beef with baby new potatoes

Taking these shortcuts to a roast dinner might not be everybody’s cup of tea, but it’s quick, filling, reasonably healthy, tastes good and is low in calories. Plus, kid’s love it!

Nutrition Information: Per 210g pack: 115 calories, 13.6g protein, 10.5g carbohydrates, 2.1g sugars, 1.9g fat, 0.8g saturated fat, 1g fibre, 1.52g salt.