Healthy food shop basics - help please

Weetabix.! Breakfast, dinner, tea or snack. Filling and healthy at any time of day

In terms of stuff that fills you up that's low in calories then Weetabix, Ryvita and low fat yoghurt are all high on my list. I'd also recommend finding some kind of herbal tea that you like as it's 0 calorie and fills you up if you've got an urge to snack.

As far as general ingredients go I'll put a big shout out for courgette and marrow as they're both ridiculously low in calories and can be put into all kinds of things. The other thing that really surprised me recently was how low in calories eggs are, going the opposite way I was gobsmacked by how many calories are in chickpeas which I'd previously assumed were a great low calorie option.

If it has a nutrition label it probrably aint all that nutritious.

Healthy food is obvious.

Just my opinion but forgoing all processed food (including wheatabunx) and eating real food only sure does help control the appetite, ensure you get all the nutrients you need, and saves money!

Definitely agree!!!

Hmmm, not so sure. So what about if i buy some eggs that come in a box with a nutritional label on? Or a bag of apples? Or a carton of milk? Or a tray of chicken breasts? Or a bag of brazil nuts? Everything has nutritional values, wether they come in a packet that has a nutritional label on or not.

I prefer to go organic when I can (I think it tastes better and I like to avoid chemicals where I can) but go with what suits your budget - I'm mostly vegetarian so you'd want to add meat if you like that but my staples are:

Fridge:
Eggs
Milk
0% Fat greek yoghurt

Freezer:
Oven Chips/Spiced Potato Wedges (less than 5% fat ones, Mccains are good in the UK)
Bagged peas & sweetcorn

Cupboard:
Tinned tomatoes
Beans (kidney/haricot/pinto/black eye etc) - mostly bags of dried but some in cans for when i'm lazy
Chickepas
Split red lentils
Green lentils
Basmati & Wild Rice (any rice will do but I love this combination)
Pasta (in many shapes & sizes)
Arborio risotto rice
Quinoa
Cous Cous
Corn Tortillas

Fruit: banana & apples as staples & I treat myself to something nice each week (melon/grapes/pears etc)

Vegetables: I get an organic box delivered each week with 8 different veggies in it, usually staples are potatoes/carrots/onions and then some more interesting stuff like courgettes/peppers/mushrooms and seasonal like squashes

Cereal: Granola is my personal favourite (Jordans super berry)

Also, I think spices & herbs are important for interesting meals, it would take ages to list them all but I have about 15-20 of each in jars in the cupboard!

For meals I tend to have granola & a banana for breakfast, homemade soup for lunch ( I make batches at the weekend and freeze them) and then for dinner I have a basic weekly plan of

Monday: Pasta
Tuesday: Eggs
Wednesday: Beans
Thursday: Rice
Friday: Quinoa/Cous Cous
Saturday: Lentils
Sunday:Seasonal (squash atm)

And I make a recipe based on my daily staple so I get variety but don't have to think too hard in the evenings!

For snacks I subscribe to Graze's low calorie plan which delivers me 4 little snack boxes each week (about 100-150kcal each) with a variety of nuts/seeds/dried fruit etc. I could buy these cheaper in bulk from the supermarket but for me it's worth paying a little more to get lots of variety.