Slimming World Secrets

The Syn-Free Big Mac with fries, ketchup and milkshake

I’ve met a fair few Slimming World members who are big fans of those shiny golden arches – and the moreish goodies that come from within.

I’ve also met a fair few who blame a Big Mac binge or a burger bender for when they get on the scales and face a gain.

I must confess I’m no fan of McDonald’s – despite all the salt, sugar and fat used to create some kind of flavour, I find the burgers pretty tasteless and simply a massive waste of Syns. I can make my own burger for next to no Syns, and it tastes miles better.

But I appreciate there are plenty of people who love “Maccy D’s” and feel seriously deprived if they’re not allowed their Big Mac or Double Cheeseburger because they’re “trying to be good”.

Is a Syn-free Big Mac even possible?

After the success of my Syn-Free Cheeseboard post, I wondered if it would be possible to create a Syn-Free version of not just McDonald’s signature burger the Big Mac itself, but the Big Mac Meal, using Free foods and my daily allowance of Healthy Extras.

The Big Mac has been around since 1967. It’s a simple affair really, consisting of a white bread roll, two burger patties, a slice of cheese, a little salad and a burger sauce.

Yet despite that simplicity, the Big Mac will set you back 25½ Syns. Urgh. And I’m talking about a regular Bic Mac here – not the Grand Big Mac version. I can’t find how how many Syns would be in one of those, but I imagine it’s in the same realm as the so-called Big Tasty, which weighs in at a morbidly obese 40 Syns!

Even some of the wraps at this multinational behemoth can set you back 30½ Syns. It is clear that McDonald’s is no ally of Slimming World members, unless you want a few salad leaves and a Diet Coke.

The Syn-free Big Mac Meal

Back to our burger. If you order a Big Mac, you’re invariably going to order something to go with it. So, let’s create the classic Big Mac Meal by adding fries, ketchup and a shake.

I’m intrigued to read that “Supersize” is no longer “a thing”, assumingly after the Super Size Me movie back in 2004, in which Morgan Spurlock spends a 30-day period eating only McDonald’s food. Spoiler: it doesn’t end well for him.

So, we can’t Supersize our Big Mac Meal, but we can still order “large” versions. So, let’s go for a large portion of fries – and there are more than the ones in my photo.

“That’ll be 17 Syns, thanks very much – call it 19 with a couple of those tiny tubs of ketchup. Something to drink?”

“Well, I’d usually go for a Diet Coke because ‘I’m trying to be good’ but, since I’m having a treat, I might as well go for a milkshake.”

“OK, what flavour?”

“Vanilla please.”

“Small, medium or large?”

“Oooooh, let’s go for a large, you twisted my arm!”

“That’ll be 24 Syns please.”

68½ Syns for a McDonald’s Big Mac Meal

So one burger, one large fries (and it’s French fries – hardly the same as a big bag of chips from the chippy), two tubs of ketchup and one large vanilla milkshake: a grand total of 68½ Syns. For one meal. It’s not worth it – you could have more than two bottles of wine for that!

If you’re looking to average ten Syns a day during the week, congratulations, you’ve got 1½ left to spread over your other 20 meals, plus drinks and any snacks. Is it worth it?

Anyway, enough ranting about McDonald’s, let’s look at how I recreated this fabled dish for exactly no Syns. That’s right. None, zero, nada. And it doesn’t taste like cardboard either.

The Syn-Free Big Mac

The classic McDonald’s Big Mac contains the following elements:

• White bread roll
• Beef patty x2
• Iceberg lettuce
• Big Mac Sauce
• Processed Cheddar cheese slice
• Dill pickle slices
• Onions

How McDonald’s squeezes 25½ Syns into that little lot is quite beyond me, but hey, let’s break it down. First, there’s a fair amount of Speed food in there. The lettuce, onions and dill pickles are all Speedy and Syn-free. Dill pickles in the UK and Ireland are essentially pickled cucumbers, or gherkins.

Then we look at the cheese slice. I thought the Bic Mac had two, but it appears not. For my Syn-Free Big Mac, I’m using one Dairylea Original slice, which counts as half of one Healthy Extra A. I shall save the other half for later.

For the burger patties, I usually make my own these days – and you can’t do much better than the official beefburger recipe from the Slimming World website.

It’s dead easy – just bung the ingredients in a bowl, mix well and then divide and press into four burgers. I usually cook one and freeze the other three.

For the Syn-Free Big Mac, I’m dividing the mixture into six patties, because I want “flatter” burgers – not the chunky quarter-pounder versions I usually make.

Buying Syn-free beefburgers

If you want to save time and buy your own burgers, there are some Syn-free versions available, including the Slimming World range at Iceland stores, and the 3% beef mince ones from Marks and Spencer and Ocado.

Which leaves the bread roll and the sauce. The bread roll McDonald’s uses is made with white bread, split into three parts and topped with sesame seeds.

Most white bread has to be Synned on Slimming World, but there are some gluten-free versions now which count as a Healthy Extra B choice. Brands include Promise, Schar and BFree, as well as supermarkets’ own brands. Just be sure to check they qualify as a HEB.

For my version, I’m using a Morrisons Free From white roll. You want to choose a roll with some height to it as you’ll be slicing it into those three layers. This roll weighs in at 75g, so you’re getting plenty of bread bang for your HEB buck. You only get 60g of regular wholemeal bread for a B choice.

Sesame seeds and sauces

Because the McDonald’s “bun” is topped with sesame seeds, I decided to add my own. Sesame seeds are about one Syn per level teaspoon, but I’m not Synning these as I’m only using a tiny pinch. To get them to stick, I just brush the top of the bread roll with beaten egg, sprinkle on the seeds and then bake in a medium oven for five minutes.

That leaves the burger sauce. There are several McDonald’s copycat recipes online, mostly involving vast quantities of mayonnaise.

As we’re keeping this Syn-Free, I’m making my own sauce using this recipe from Basement Bakehouse. The recipe includes 1 tbsp of granulated sweetener and 1 tbsp of Heinz Seriously Good mayonnaise, both of which would need to be Synned.

I’m getting around this by grinding up three sweetener tablets (Syn-free) and switching the mayonnaise for the Hellman’s Lighter than light version. As there’s only 1 tbsp (half a Syn) involved in the whole recipe, and it makes enough sauce for about burgers, I’m not Synning it. I also blitz my sauce in a liquidiser to make it more “saucy”.

So that’s all the elements sorted. Dry-fry your burger patties, carefully slice your bread roll into three layers and assemble your very own Syn-Free Big Mac. Enjoy – you can thank me later.

Syn-free French fries

I make Slimming World Chips every Thursday night as part of my Treat Night ritual after group, so I’ve become a bit of a dab hand at making these.

I usually make really chunky chips – sometimes wedges – and serve a huge plateful with a tin of baked beans and three eggs. It’s dead easy, it’s completely Syn-free and it feels like I’m having something naughty.

For the French fries for my Syn-Free Big Mac Meal, I obviously want them thinner, so I’m slicing my potatoes into chips of about 7mm thick. I’m also soaking them in cold water for half an hour to remove some of the starch.

I’ve tried making Slimming World chips in various ways, including par-boiling them first and using an air dryer, but nothing beats bunging them in a hot oven for half an hour and turning them after about 20 minutes. Make sure your oven is preheated to 240°C (220°C fan) or gas mark 9. And be aware that thinner fries will take less time to cook, so keep your eye on them.

Syn-free tomato ketchup

This was a late addition to the whole, but I just thought: you can’t have French fries without a good dollop of tomato ketchup, can you?

I’m using a recipe I’ve used once before. In fact, I made a batch for one of our group’s members, Nigel, one taster night a few years ago as he has ketchup with EVERYTHING!

The recipe I’m using is from the excellent Fat Girl Skinny website and it just involves boiling up passata with vinegars, spices and a dash of Worcestershire sauce. It’s sweet and delicious – better than anything you’d buy in a supermarket. And it makes loads, so I’m bottling some for the fridge and adding the rest to ice cube trays for the freezer.

Syn-free vanilla milkshake

McDonald’s milkshakes are famously thick and ice cold. Who can forget those childhood ordeals of using every fibre of your being to suck it up the straw only then to be rewarded with a painful brain freeze?

This is because they contain lots of ice cream. And sorry, folks, despite low-Syn brands like Halo Top arriving on the market in recent years, a Syn-free ice cream is something that still eludes the greatest minds in food and drink. I pray to St Margaret for the day that this and Syn-free wine are lovingly created.

So, our milkshake will contain no ice cream, but fear not – it will still be thick, sweet and delicious. I did run a search for Syn-free milkshake powders and syrups. Alas, my search was in vain. There are some half-Syn versions from Crusha and Sweet Freedom, but nothing that’s totally free.

I wondered about using fresh strawberries or bananas to make a shake but, strictly speaking, blended fruits need to be Synned.

Then, as I was wandering down the bakery aisle of my local Aldi supermarket, I spotted some tiny bottles of vanilla extract among the food colourings. A quick scan of the barcode with the app confirmed it to be Syn-free. Brilliant!

All I’m doing to make my milkshake is to use 525ml of skimmed milk from my Healthy Extra A allowance (the rest went on the cheese slice). I add this to about 6 tbsp of fat-free Greek Yoghurt and blitz in a liquidiser with about 1 tsp of the vanilla extract until nice and frothy. Dead easy, no sugar and no ice cream.

I’m also adding a few drops of red food colouring to give it that authentic milkshake look, even though it tastes like vanilla and looks like strawberry!

So what does it taste like?

I don’t want to blow my own trumpet (well, maybe a little) but this really was fantastic. It looks like the real deal – but it tastes infinitely better without all that salt, sugar and fat involved.

Sure, it takes a little time to make the burgers, the burger sauce and the tomato ketchup – and to track down some of the ingredients. I appreciate this is no longer “fast food”.

But if you want to prepare a family treat, perhaps for a family movie night or a birthday, this would go down really well, and you’ll save yourself almost 70 Syns per serving in the process.