5:2 Diet Pork Fillet with Bean Stew and Rice‏

When partaking on the 5:2 diet as I have been on and off for the past few months in an attempt to ditch the baby weight, I have found that the hardest part of fasting days is the boredom.

Sticking to 500 calories two days per week isn't particularly difficult especially with useful tools such as MyFitnessPal to calorie count for you. But coming up with different ways can be the hard part.

This meal was one I devised for a weeknight when I'd had a busy day and needed to feel substantially full on something other than salad or soup. It comes in exactly 400 calories and if you take it without the rice, just 314 calories according to packet information and using MyFitnessPal.

The pork fillet is cooked under a grill to save on some calories and I'd saved some calories by skipping breakfast so was able to add two tablespoons of ready cooked rice to the equation which significantly helped.

The meal below makes enough for 2 portions, I served a larger portion of the entire meal with rice to my partner for his dinner but you could just as easily freeze the stew and save it for another fast day. 

4 pork fillets weighing approx 200g in total (100g per person)
1 red onion
1 green pepper
1 tin butter beans
1 clove garlic
1 tin of chopped tomatoes
Ready Made Rice - I used Tesco Pilau Rice - once cooked 62g is sufficient for a Fast Day
Cooking spray (

Firstly place a saucepan on a low heat.

Finely chop the onion and crush the garlic, spray the pan and add the onion and garlic to gently soften.

In the meantime, chop the pepper into bite sized pieces and also add to the pan.

Add the tomatoes and drained butter beans and stir through. Now allow to cook for 20-30 minutes.

Pork fillet of this size, takes around 15-20 minutes to cook under a grill. I would generally place some foil on the grill tray to catch any fat, but as the fillet is a very lean part of the pig, this should be minimal. Turn the meat over after about 8 minutes of cooking, it should be getting nicely charred. Once cooked, allow to rest, wrapped in foil for 4-5 minutes.

If you are having rice, this is the time to cook according to packet instructions.

Finally plate up half of the stew first then add the pork fillet and rice and enjoy a filling meal on a fast day.