Clearing out the food!

floridachristmas

Hi everyone.
If you were starting from scratch to stock your shelves, what would you buy?
I eat breakfast, lunch and dinner at home. My husband and son have breakfast and dinner at home but take packed lunches to work and school.
We are not fussy eaters at all. My husband has a very physically strenuous job but doesn't seem to lose weight no matter how much I cut back his portion sizes. He refuses to 'diet' as such as he admits that although he is overweight, he is happy. I don't think he really is though.
My son never gains an ounce and is very active. He loves his food and will eat everything from sushi to KFC. Junk food is a rarity.
Any thoughts would be gratefully received.
Thank you. x

rduhlir

I didn't throw out the things in my cabinet. I just researched and found new healthy dinners to use the stuff in.

BrandNewFabulousMe

what would I buy?? wel my cravings for junk food have gone down so I can say it won't be the first thing I buy... I guess lots of canned fruits and veggies, meats and baked potatoes!!

JADEPH0EN1X

Good sources of protein - chicken , fish , nuts & seeds
Fruit & veg
Whole grain carbs
Healthy snacks such as air popped popcorn , almonds & protein snack bars !
These are just a few things I've changed to !

cootason

I found slowly adding healthy meals to the shelf and fridge really helped, im not a personal trainer though but I have found so far a good source of lean meats, Chicken, or Steak, with some Broccoli really helped me, as well as green tea. dont change too much as it may cause a bit of a stir at home. slowly introduce new meals and stuff family may love it that much they want more. Experiment find what works and what doesn't for the family I am still battling to get mine to change and for the most part I am now eating within my daily limit and have a day for treats, and it has served me well. which means I go out to a cafe and have dinner and a nice drink

Koldnomore

I didn't throw out things either though once certain things got eaten / used I didn't buy any more of them.

I'm not sure what your comfort level is with cooking from scratch but this is what I do a lot of so my shelves usually have the standards like flour, potatoes, onions, canned soup (cream based) for casseroles, pasta noodles (for days when I'm too lazy to make it from scratch. ) Israeli Couscous, Canned tomatoes & puree for sauce, canned beans for chili, Quick cooking oats, large cooking oats / steel cut oats. Brown/white sugar, popcorn kernels, Peanut butter, molasses, baking powder/soda, various crackers, pre-portioned bags of trail mix/nuts/banana chips/oatmeal Snack bars/granola bars, individual apple sauce snacks, and random other things. I honestly eat very 'normal' food. We have some 'junk' in the house but only in very small amounts.

It used to be that you could go into that cupboard and find at least 3 bags of Nacho chips, 4 different types of bars, and 10 different varieties of crackers - I've cut that way back.

mrscool5

My staples:

Bagged salad mix
Harris Teeter French style dressing
Olive Garden Italian dressing
Boneless skinless chicken breast
Lean steak (if its on sale)
93% lean ground beef
Bertolli marinara
Pasta (the regular stuff, no whole wheat or low carb - I'd rather eat less of the good stuff)
Red, white, fingerling, Yukon (whatever is on sale) potatoes
Del Monte canned green beans
Kashi Go Lean cereal
Frozen blueberries/strawberries
12 pack of 8 oz 1% vanilla flavored milk drink boxes
Arnold Health-full Flax & Fiber Bread
Hellman's light mayonaise
Deli turkey breast or ham (look for the lower sodium options)
3 lb tub of red seedless grapes
Carton of grape, roma, whatever looks pretty tomatoes
100 calorie snacks - pretzels, goldfish, choc cookies, choc pretzels, etc (whatever catches my eye)
Yellow onions
Bag of sweet mini peppers
Celery
Canned no salt tomatoes, tomato sauce, diced tomatoes
Success rice (we only eat it about once a month so I mostly get the white)
Green Giant canned corn (again, eaten about once a month)
8oz Plugra butter
Tub of "Move Over Butter" margarine (takes 1-2 months to use)
Store brand canola oil cooking spray
Panko bread crumbs (fewer calories than cracker or bread crumbs!)
8 oz whole milk mozarella cheese (the part skim tastes like feet to me, LOL)
8 oz colby jack (the 2% goes bad to fast...it may sit around for a month or two before we use it)
Old El Paso reduced sodium taco seasoning (about 1 per month)
Corn and flour tortillas (soft)
Bagged shredded green leaf lettuce (about 1 per month)
8 oz sour cream (about 1 per month)
No salt Veg All
Jar minced garlic
Greek seasoning
Garlic powder
Onion powder
Celery salt



Jeez, we're kinda boring eaters when I think about it. LOL So far it's working okay, though. I've been doing this since August and I haven't wanted to run away yet........



I try to eat from home/at home pretty much every meal. I only drink water cause everything else is like durned crack when I get a taste of it.

KombuchaCat

Apart from the obvious fresh fruits, veggies, etc I would recomend hitting the bulk section for nuts/seeds, a variety of whole grains and rice, shredded coconut and dried beans. Many of these you can cook up in large batches and either fridge or freeze what you don't use right away.

floridachristmas

Thanks everyone. I trained as a chef so love to cook but it's a slippery slope if I'm not careful.
Most of our meals I would say are quite healthy but the downfall is adding sauces, keeping snacks and goodies in (A common thing, especially on the weekend is to crash on the sofa with dips, chips, cheeses etc) and that old faithful, wine.
I'm trying to completely stay off alcohol but my husband has a couple of glasses nearly every night.
I'm not throwing all our food out but I'm working my way through it all, using everything up as healthily as possible, even if we have to eat different meals.

mrscool5

I didn't throw anything out, so the Honey Battered Chicken Tenders were QUITE yummy, even though the fat content was horrible. Kinda made me want to "accidentally" buy them again so I could "discover" them at some later date....... LOL

nikkylyn

Does your husband snack a lot? Maybe at work.. Mine does. He is always eating. LOL. Hes not overweight but he has a very physical job and works out a lot. I keep telling him its gonna catch up to him eventually.

floridachristmas

He swears blind he rarely snacks now. He admits that every time he went to the fuel (gas) station he would grab a chocolate bar or crisps (or both) but reckons now he doesn't. He only likes taking sandwiches to work as he likes to be able to eat whilst moving, so that's a pain.
I'd really like him to lose some weight as I worry about him but even if I give him the same food as me, nothing seems to change so somethings not right, is it?
I can't keep mentioning it as he finds it a bit offensive I think.

Koldnomore

He only likes taking sandwiches to work as he likes to be able to eat whilst moving, so that's a pain.

Wraps are what I use for my guy, he has the same problem.. You can stuff it full of veggies and meat and it will come up to about 500 cals (if you use the big wraps) That's a substantial lunch and you can eat while moving. I also make burritos - both regular and breakfast wrap types. He loves those and you I can control the filling so I know he isn't eating too much.

Also you can make your own crisps in the oven. Way less calories than bagged ones. Just slice the potatoes really thin, put them on a pan lined with parchment, give them a little spray of oil or whatever and put them in the oven. It's a little effort but makes a nice alternative to the bags. You can do the same with pita chips. Split the pita bread into 2 halves and you have a pretty large bunch of pita chips that you can eat with hummus or salsa or whatever for way less calories.

Pop corn is nice too, especially if you have it portioned into little baggies that you / he can just grab and go. Toss some seasoning on them if you like.

The best food I have found to eat a lot for low calories that isn't 'salad' is fish so I try to make more of that now than I used to. I had the same problem as you..I love cooking and it was always the sauces that got me. I had to switch to more 'baked' items and tomato based sauces - My marinara sauce has only about 40 calories in half a cup, that's decent.

floridachristmas

Some great ideas there, thank so much.
To be fair, I guess I'm starting to get a bit irritated. He says he'd like to lose some weight as long as he's not deprived, so I go to the effort of making him healthy food yet nothing is changing so, he has to be eating/drinking stuff I don't know about. Got to be.
:sad:

Chrisschumm

On the weekends i make pizza - dough and all... cut it up and eat 2 slices for dinner with a salad every day of the week... trust me... it does not get old when you eat pizza damn near every night haha..

Fresh Apples, kale, spinach, tomatoes, bell peppers, onion

Canned - black beans, large olives & verde salsa.

Carbs - Wheat Tortillas or low carb wrap's

frozen skinless chicken breast and fish.. (i only bbq my food...even my pizza lol... i live at a bachelor pad)

Vitamins: Flax seed gel capsules, Spiraluina pills, Bee propolis pills & Bee Royal Jelly pills & a good multi NOT Centrum... (sounds wierd but it works for me)

Liquids: Water...lots of water, Good orange juice - NOT SUNNY D garbage. I never drink soda anymore.

pretty much all i eat anymore....

what i've noticed if you make meals in bulk on the weekend, or prep your lunch salad the night before... it gives you alot more motivation to keep on task... at least it does for me... and i'm a lazy mid 20's dude...

Hemptastic410

I didn't throw anything away but the rule when I'm shopping is stay away from processed food. If I cant understand the ingredients don't by it. I cook everyday, so I stock up on chicken breast, shrimp and fish. I feel like you cant go wrong with those and then I get all the veggies that complement them for the dishes I make.I love to stir fry. I usually get red onion, corn, peppers, mixed veggies and then rice or noodles. I also get creative with herbs and spices like curry, cumin, adobo, thyme etc. This keeps things interesting. I hate breakfast food but for my children I get cereal like cherrios, rice krispies, grits, bananas and milk. Lunches are very simple. Soups, leftover dinners or simply sandwiches, but no lunch meat.

mrscool5

He swears blind he rarely snacks now. He admits that every time he went to the fuel (gas) station he would grab a chocolate bar or crisps (or both) but reckons now he doesn't. He only likes taking sandwiches to work as he likes to be able to eat whilst moving, so that's a pain.
I'd really like him to lose some weight as I worry about him but even if I give him the same food as me, nothing seems to change so somethings not right, is it?
I can't keep mentioning it as he finds it a bit offensive I think.

LOL Years ago my father said that he "never" snacked at work. Then one day when I borrowed his car I was looking for something, opened up the glove box and out popped half a dozen "sno balls" (cream filled chocolate cake surrounded by colored marshmallow). Uh huh. Then, when quizzed "not snacking" meant he only ate at his am break, lunch and his pm break. Break time meant a candy bar or snack cake (he LOVED the bread store). Lunch was usually a dollar meal hamburger somewhere and hot & sour or chicken noodle soup from a nearby Chinese restaurant. Oh, and a sno ball or other type snack cake.