Food shopping. What’s on your list?

Mrsindepenant1
Mrsindepenant1 Posts: 196 Member
edited November 2024 in Food and Nutrition
I struggle with finding low calorie stuff and for the past two weeks fell off the wagon. Mostly due to a number of birthday celebrations and family get togethers.
But tomorrow is the start of a new week and I’m determined to start right. I normally plan my meals and wing it but I struggle to keep my calories low. I don’t want to live off brocolli and salad every day.
So can anyone please share with me the general foods you buy to fit into your calories. Low calorie pastas and grab and go snacks.

Replies

  • Lounmoun
    Lounmoun Posts: 8,423 Member
    This is the sort of stuff I eat.
    Breakfasts- Greek yogurt, granola bars, cereal with milk, sandwich, dinner leftovers, fruit, cottage cheese (about 200-300 calories)
    Lunches- sandwich, salad, or dinner leftovers (about 300-500 calories)
    Dinners- something different every night of the month. (about 500-600 calories) I have soup once a week usually.
    Snacks- things like fruit, chips, popcorn, pretzels, chocolate, cookies, granola bar, carrots, celery, cucumber, tomato, broccoli, trail mix, deviled eggs, pickles, cottage cheese (about 100-300 calories)

    I prelog my food for the day in the morning and adjust portion sizes to fit my goals. I try to eat several servings of vegetables or fruits a day. I generally have 100-300 calories for snacks. Prelogging has really helped me make better choices. I eat pretty much what I always did just different portion sizes.

    I would make small changes over time and learn what you like rather than thinking you need to eat specific foods.
    Look at your weekly calorie goal rather than just one day.
  • apullum
    apullum Posts: 4,838 Member
    I eat the same breakfast every day: 0% Greek yogurt, fiber cereal, protein powder, and PB2. Sweeten as needed and thin with milk/water to your preferred consistency. This gets me a lot of my protein and fiber.

    Lunch is usually leftovers.

    Dinner is usually a lean protein—I’m vegetarian, so my most common proteins are tofu, seitan, tempeh, and beans. The protein will usually have some low calorie sauce. With that are veggies, either fresh or frozen, and a small amount of carbs (rice, pasta, or bread).

    Snacks are often protein bars, nuts, low-calorie ice cream, or dark chocolate.
  • Leannep2201
    Leannep2201 Posts: 441 Member
    I just did my grocery shopping yesterday.

    I always get plenty of eggs- have egg every day for breakfast, plus a hard boiled one for afternoon tea.

    Lunches- can be cruskits (I know you’re a fellow NZer!) with a topping, with miso soup on the side, and either a tomato, piece of fruit or a little Greek yoghurt. Sometimes I have dinner leftovers or soup, a sandwich with heaps of salad stuff and ham, or a Tuna Snackit.

    Dinner- Usually soup one night, a stir fry, eggs on toast (I love poached, with lots of veggies and a laughing cow cheese wedge to go with it), steak and salad, some sort of chicken and veggie meal, or Pad Thai made with Wok Creations stir fry sauce and lots of grated veggies cooked in with the noodles to add a bit more bulk. We also have homemade burgers one night with kumara fries.

    Snacks- apart from the boiled egg, I generally choose from fruit, veggie sticks with a laughing cow cheese wedge, Greek yoghurt, Fibre One brownie bar, a gingernut, and cruskits and a laughing cow wedge.


  • kommodevaran
    kommodevaran Posts: 17,890 Member
    I think the complete opposite way now. I also don't go on and off wagons anymore!

    I don't try to do it "right" - well, actually I work hard to not try to do it "right", because I know "right" is just an illusion, and what I want is to get it good enough.

    I look at my total calorie target, and what I want to eat that fits into it.

    I stick to ordinary meals on ordinary days. Special occasions call for unusual foods and maybe even excessive amounts.

    There are so many foods that can be put together to create delicious and healthy meals, that I have no trouble eating a varied and nutritiously balanced diet.

    I don't do "diet" of "low cal" foods anymore, unless of course an item happens to be delicious (but I can't think of any right now).

    Some other reasons this works so well for me, is that I eat satisfying sit-down meals, and no snacking.

    I think "food groups", I buy whatever I want, and rotate and combine things so that the result is appetizing to me.

    I also don't care too much about what other people eat and buy. (I'm just really amazed of some of the novelty items that pop up; who buys that stuff?)
  • rainbow198
    rainbow198 Posts: 2,245 Member
    edited September 2018
    I don't eat low calorie, but I have ideas in my head of what I want to eat for the upcoming week. I plan out and work my calories and meals around that, then build my grocery list.

    I get the majority of my food each week from the farmers market (fruits, veggies and greens), but I also check out the circulars to see what's on sale for the week at the grocery stores.

    The bulk store is great for getting small amounts of things I need for recipes, powders for my smoothies or for small treats.

    Also I make a lot of things from scratch and on a normal week I cook almost all my meals at home except one, maybe two meals per week. So I make sure I have plenty of one ingredient items on hand such as eggs, potatoes, rice, beans, flour etc.

    I almost always make a protein smoothie everyday, but other then that I have a wide variety of meals that I eat, but for me meal planning is key.

    Good luck!
  • 23rochelle23
    23rochelle23 Posts: 269 Member
    edited September 2018
    My food shopping for the month:
    Meat: chicken breast or thighs (thighs are higher calories though), low fat sausages, 5% mince, steak, low fat beef and chicken burger patties, prawns, turkey meat balls, low fat bacon medallions
    Other protein: protein bars, eggs, cheese (low and high fat depending on what it’ll be used for)
    Veges: baby spinach, mushrooms, cabbage, cherry tomatoes, pickled onions, gherkins, peppers, raddish, broccoli, cauliflower, zucchini,
    Fruit: berries, apricots

    As an example

    Yesterday I had:
    Breakfast/pregym: turkey meatballs cooked in tinned tomatoes and herbs with cheese on top and a chicken broth soup, plus a pre- workout fizzy cola drink.

    Post gym: 150gm prawns cooked with garlic

    Snacks: a birthday cake flavoured protein bar, 2x light babybels

    Main meal: bacon wrapped chicken breast stuffed with light cream cheese, spinach, mushroom and broccoli with a salad made from spinach, peppers and cucumber

    Plus black coffee and water.

    Total of just under 1200 calories (usually I eat a bit more and might add in a couple of eggs, fruit and whipped cream or add some mayo to my salad but was on nights and it messes with my eating patterns).

  • livingleanlivingclean
    livingleanlivingclean Posts: 11,751 Member
    I pre plan my meals to fit my macro goals, I eat food I like.... It all has calories, I don't look for specific low calorie food.
    I don't really eat pasta or snacks so this may be of no help:

    Meals this week (same every weekday)
    -Coffee with collagen protein and coconut oil
    -overnight zoats (oats, zucchini, protein powder, Pb and yogurt topped with frozen berries, nuts and chocolate cereal)
    -salad of spinach, baked chicken, capsicum, steamed Beetroot, roast mushroom and Cauliflower, avocado, cheese, and roasted chickpeas.
    -salmon, potatoes, broccoli, green beans, zucchini and Cauliflower.
  • earlnabby
    earlnabby Posts: 8,171 Member
    My typical weekly shopping list:
    • Fruit
    • Eggs
    • Yogurt (a quart of plain and some individual serving containers of flavored)
    • High fiber bread
    • Sandwich meat
    • Meats and vegetables for my entree's. I do a lot of stews in my crockpot so it almost always includes onions and diced tomatoes and can include bell peppers, celery, turnips or potatoes, broccoli, cauliflower, etc. The meat can be chicken, beef, or pork.
    • Broccoli slaw if I am doing lettuce wraps.
    • Wasa crispbread and Neufchatel or Laughing cow cheese for snacks
    • Protein bars (I like Elevation bars from Aldi)
    • Salad fixings
    • Frozen microwaveable veggies if my stash in the freezer is low.
    • Some kind of hard cheese
  • Evelyn_Gorfram
    Evelyn_Gorfram Posts: 706 Member
    edited September 2018
    I don't eat lo-cal as such, but try to fit the ordinary normal food I like into my restricted calorie/respected macros eating plan.

    My standard weekly grocery list:
    - Fruit (whatever strikes my fancy)
    - Pre-washed greens (as above)
    - Multigrain Bread
    - Flour Tortillas
    - Peanut Butter
    - Chicken Sausages
    - Eggs
    - Milk
    - Butter
    - Yogurt
    - Nuts
    - Dried Fruit
    - Coffee
    - Granola
    - Instant Oatmeal
    - Frozen Chicken Thighs
    - Cinnamon Graham Crackers (a favorite treat)
    - Ice Cream, Frozen Yogurt, Cookies, Cake, or Nothing (depending on mood and recent rate of weight loss)
    (I don't always buy all of these every week.)

    I'm a food bank customer, and every two weeks I usually get:
    - rice
    - canned tuna
    - canned tomatoes
    - frozen meat (beef, pork, or chicken)
    - potatoes
    - onions
    - carrots
    - apples
    - summer squash
    - beet greens
    - kale
    - fresh tomatoes
    - a day-old bakery goodie of some kind
    - day-old bread (I like to slice, freeze, & toast this)
    - an absolutely amazing selection of various government commodities and donated odds & ends

    Every so often, I swing by my local speciality Asian grocery for:
    - Soba (buckwheat) noodles (they're easy to cook, and buckwheat is very high in protein)
    - Seasoned rice vinegar (for my soba noodles)
    - Furikake (a Japanese seasoning blend, also for my soba noodles)
  • CatL1911
    CatL1911 Posts: 50 Member
    edited September 2018
    For grab and go snacks I like bananas, apples, cucumbers, bell peppers sometimes with peanut butter or hummus. I think in the US they make little portable PB and hummus packs so you could buy those or just make ahead yourself. I also like preportioned nuts mixed with parve chocolate chips, popcorn at home, and I really love some of the FiberOne bar varieties.

    For meals I usually buy some variation of the following:
    -Meat- chicken, turkey, lamb or beef
    -Fish - canned tuna, salmon
    -Eggs
    -Dry/canned goods - chickpeas, quinoa, coconut milk
    -Produce (fresh or frozen) - green beans, broccoli, spinach, sweet potatoes, onions, fresh herbs, garlic, beets, carrots, lemons, brussel sprouts

    All the meals for the week will be some variation of the above. I've learned to never underestimate how much flavor things like lemon and rosemary can add to meat and vegetables. I try to make enough dinner that I can have some for lunch the day after at least, or even a second dinner in case I don't feel like cooking two nights in a row.


  • shaf238
    shaf238 Posts: 4,022 Member
    Banana 12 each
    Lettuce 1 each
    Apple 4 each
    Pear 2 each
    Sweet Potato 300 grams
    Sweet Peppers 1 pack
    Vine Tomatoes 1 pack
    Avocado 4 each
    Protein Bread 1 pack
    Bread 1 pack
    Fage 5 each
    Wholemeal Wrap 1 pack
    Brown Rice 100g 300 grams
    Egg 9 each
    Milk 1000 ml
    Tuna 7 cans
    Heinz baked beans 5 cans
    Sweetcorn 1 can
    Bolognese 1 can
    Kidney Beans 1 can
    Chicken Breast 2 kg
    Salmon 100 grams
    Cous cous/quinoa 1 pack
    Leg Quarter 4 each
    Fries 300 grams
    Peanut Butter 1 pot
    Fuel 10k Liquid Breakfast (banana) 2 each
    Fuel 10k Liquid Breakfast (choc) 2 each
    Fuel 10k porridge 3 each
    Protein Brownie 2 each
    Medjool date 9 each

    My actual shopping list.
  • VUA21
    VUA21 Posts: 2,072 Member
    Yesterday:
    -Eggs
    -Avocado
    -Green chillies
    -Salsa
    -Dannon Light & Fit strawberry cheesecake yogurt
    -Steaks
    -Milk (Almond & cow)
    -deli turkey
    -Capri Sun's
    -Asparagus
    -Brocolli
    -Cinnamon Toast Crunch
    -White peaches
    -Carrots
    -Pickles
    -Pudding
    -Cheetos Hot Fries
    -Chicken thighs
  • HereToLose50
    HereToLose50 Posts: 154 Member
    edited September 2018
    Avocados
    Tomatoes
    Onion
    Jalapeno
    Lime

    I've gone 2 days in a row for this stuff above 😊

    Lean meats and some chicken thighs
    Rice - really fills me up for hours
    Corn tortillas - low cal food holder
    Variety of greens
    Carrots
    Radishes - make slices when craving crunchy
    Other fresh and frozen veggies
    Plain nonfat Greek yogurt -high protein
    Frozen fruits
    Fresh fruits
    Eggs
    Eggs
    Eggs
    Hot sauce
    Sugar free jello
    Mustard
  • emmamcgarity
    emmamcgarity Posts: 1,594 Member
    Fruit (whatever is on sale plus strawberries and grapes)
    Veggies
    Eggs
    Low carb low fat yogurt
    Mini kind bars
    Honey Nut Cheerios (one cup per day as snack)
    Low-fat string cheese and/or light Babybel cheese
    One bag snack sized Hershey bars (one per day in my lunchbox keeps me away from the vending machine at work)

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