What are your essential groceries?

Greek yogurt, Fiber One bars, spinach, diet v-8 berry splash, chicken, turkey, tilapia. Those are my must haves.

I almost always get; fresh fruit (pineapple, watermelon, grapes, bananas) to make my own fruit bowls, fresh veggies (cucumber, salad mix, onions, tomatoes, mushrooms) to make numerous single serving salad's throughout the week for work, light wheat bread to toast and put weight watchers cream cheese on it (taste like a bagel), 100 calorie snacks, canadian bacon (for salad or sandwich), 1% milk, kellogg's cereal. Those are my basic items I get for myself. The rest depends on my menu for the week. I always make a dinner/lunch for work menu on Saturdays for the next week, it keeps me grounded.

Eggs and egg whites, whole grain sandwich bread, lean deli turkey, wholly guacamole, muscle milk protein shakes, ground turkey and chicken, bell peppers, onions, garlic, brown rice, celery, lemons, bananas, apples, grapes, all natural chunky peanut butter, portabella mushrooms, organic canned tomato products, whole grain thin spaghetti, corn tortillas, healthy choice cafe steamer meals, cabbage, romaine lettuce, extra virgin olive oil, skim milk, greek yogurt, unsalted almonds, fiber one bars, all bran cereal

I like to mix it up with the fruit and veg depending on what is in season or what is on special that wk - but always some sort of fruit for snacks!

must haves = Jalna yogurt!!! Oats, baby spinach, carrot, mountain bread wraps, buckwheat (replaces rice, less cals, more exciting)... meats tend to be changeable as do the veggies and sometimes I will hit up Tofu for a couple days as it is so easy :P - I also like to have tomatoes, low fat cheese and pesto in the fridge as so much can be done with these either as the whole meal or as toppings on fake pizza, pumpernickel, with buckwheat etc etc

My must-haves are: berries, spinach, milk, yogurt, eggs, cheese, cereal / granola / Clif bars, V8, OJ.

I really couldn't live without those items.

Protein:
• Tuna or most any fish.
• Cottage cheese.
• Eggs (especially the whites).
• Chicken breast (boneless skinless).
• Turkey breast (boneless skinless).
• Lean beef.
• Low fat or no fat cheese.
• Low fat pork.
• Milk protein isolate.
• Whey protein.
• Soy protein.
• Essentially most any other source of protein so long as it is low in saturated fat and carbohydrates.
Carbohydrates:
• Sweet potatoes.
• Oat meal, oat bran, oat bran cereal (i.e. cheerios).
• Bran cereal.
• Brown rice.
• Wheat bread (try to limit to 2 slices per day).
• Beans.
• Low fat popcorn (low fat butter spray makes this a delicacy).
• Fruits (limit to 2-3 servings per day).
• Malto dextrin (during workout).
• Dextrose (during workout)
• Vegetables.
• Stay away from refined grains and anything that says “enriched” or “high fructose corn syrup” on the label!
Fat:
• Omega 3 capsules (i.e. fish oil capsules).
• Flax seed oil.
• Primrose oil.
• Borage oil.
• Olive oil.
• Nuts (limit to 1 serving per day), peanut butter (as long as it does not contain hydrogenated oils).
• Egg yolks.
• Fish (salmon especially).
• All other fat should come as a by-product of your carbohydrate and protein intake.

If you're on the typical 6 meal a day thing. Which I don't believe in, but that's the standard. A good thing to do is, know what you're going to eat in advance. For weight loss, when I did the 6 meals a day, I would eat the same thing for an entire week, then change it up for the next week.

I like this because you're not constantly cooking, and you can cook in bulk. This saves time. Not sure if you know microsoft excel, but if you do, you can make a 4 week meal plan with grocery list. If you don't, you can just do it on paper.

mealPlan1
breakfast, snack, lunch, snack,dinner,snack

meaplan2
breakfast,snack,lunch,snack,dinner,snack

do 4 of these, eat meal plan 1 for a week, then meal plan 2 the second week and so on, then start back at mealplan1 when you completed meal plan 4.

Laughing cow Light Wedges
Rice Cakes
Miso Soup
Sakata Minis
Fruju Sorbet Iceblocks
Chicken Bacon Rashers
Lite Cottage Cheese
Radishes

hummus, whole grain wraps, feta, tomatoes, salad greens, eggs, fat free Chobani yogurt, skim milk, lots of frozen vegetables and fruit

Just Curious, I feel I never know what to get at the grocery story besides fruit, veggies and meat. Especially at Whole Foods! - Never know what to get!

what kind of protein do you eat. All meat, just poultry? Seafood? Do you eat beans? Any veg you don't like.

Basics:
Potato - I buy Yukon gold because they a good hearty potato & I can eat them without butter
Rice - I would get a variety, but for starters at least get brown rice. If you want to venture out, try wild rice or even red or black rice.
Quinoa - Dirt cheap and the only grain that's a complete protein. I am a vegetarian, but I always encourage my meat eating friends to try to have at least one meatless day one day a week.
if you want protein bars for on the go & snacks I recommend larabar bars. Lots of good fiber and you can clearly recognize every ingredient.
I buy dry beans from WF - black, chick pea and red kidney. Much cheaper than canned
Steel cut oats
Grits
Pasta- I hate whole wheat, and prefer either brown rice or quinoa pasta

Dairy
You choice of milk - skim, rice or almond
Greek yogurt. Brands I prefer - FAGE or chobani. I buy plain and add my own fruit.

Oil
Virgin coconut oil
best Olive Oil you can afford
I've also heard sunflower oil is good, but personally I haven't tried it.

Bread
If you must choice whole grain, not multi-grain which is a misnomer.
Currently I buy Ezekiel 4:9 but use it sparingly since I try to limit my gluten intake.

Produce
Whatever fruit is in season that you like and will eat.
Assortment of greens. I buy Spinach (fresh & frozen) kale, and a variety of salad greens from romaine, to baby romaine to spring mix.
If I buy beets, I eat the beets and the leaves.
I live alone so I never buy broccoli and cauliflower at the same time.
I buy string beans and blanch then shock them. I then freeze them in ziplocks in single servings.
In the fall I buy root vegetable and roast and freeze those as well.
I also buy grape tomatoes, avocados and shredded carrots regularly because like them in my salads.
I buy cucumbers and celery only on occasion when I have a taste for them.
Onions - A variety of them is good' shallots, vidalia and red are my fav

Seasoning
I keep fresh ginger and garlic and well as powdered version I buy from the health food store.
I also have been exploring spice from India and China . I find the more seasoning I play with the less I need salt. however when I do use salt I use seas salt.

Other-
Dried cranberries or apricots, raisins if you like them
365 brand of nut butter. Almond or peanut

I coupon so I make a list when I go shopping. It helps keep me focused. My other trick for shopping at WF is I treat myself to the salad bar when I go in. When I am full I am less likely to buy prepackaged or junk food.