Can someone help me with a starter grocercy list?

If you don't have a crockpot, get one!! They are very handy for doing meat and potato type foods, and you can make a large enough quantity that you will have enough for two meals, which will save you prep time.

Assuming you have that crockpot, get yourself a beef roast. Since crockpot cooking will tenderize it, you don't have to use an expensive cut. You can use low sodium beef broth, and seasonings other than salt, such as Mrs. Dash. Brown the meat in a frying pan, then place it in crockpot on high for 3-4 hours, depending on the size.

Then turn it to low and add a package or two of frozen stew vegetables, or you can get fresh carrots, potatoes, onions, celery and add them instead. The stew veggies are handy because they can come out of the bag and into the pot and they usually don't have any added salt, just veggies. Check the potatoes with a fork and when they are cooked, you should be ready to eat...probably about 3 hours after they are added.

You can get some crusty french bread and add a salad, and you will have a meal that your hubby should like. All you have to do is go heavy on the salad, light on the bread and eat a sensible portion of meat and go for the veggies and it should work for you as well.

You can also do quick stir fries with boneless skinless chicken. I like chicken tenderloins, rather than breast, because the tenderloins seem to be moister after cooking and don't get stringy like breasts can. You can get fresh chicken tenderloins, or frozen.

Use a minimal amount of oil, and stir fry the chicken. Once it is cooked, remove it and set aside, and add a bit more oil and add the veggies.

Again, you can prepare your own fresh vegetables, or choose one of the many stir fry vegetable options in the frozen food department. Be sure to read your labels. There is at least one brand that sneaks sodium into their veggies while others do not. You can again use Mrs. Dash seasonings to avoid sodium.

If you want soy sauce, there are low sodium versions available. And if you want to add some broth to your dish, low sodium chicken broth is always a good bet. After the veggies are cooked, you can toss the chicken back in, add a little more seasoning and let them cook together for a couple of minutes.

You can use quick brown rice, or if you are really rushed, Uncle Ben's makes rice in a pouch that heats in 90 seconds in the microwave BUT--there is only one kind that I recommend--the plain brown rice. All the other "flavored" ones are loaded with sodium, but the plain brown is handy if it is too much trouble to cook rice.

Again, you can eat this, just less of it than hubby, and go easy on the rice.

In a perfect world where you had nothing else to do but cook all day, using long grain brown rice and waiting the length of time it takes to cook, and preparing all your veggies from fresh is fine, but I am offering options that will allow you to fit some healthier fare into your diet without a major upset of your routine.

You could make variations on both the options I mentioned by substituting a pork roast in the first example, or boneless pork chops in the other.

If you don't have a crockpot, the first option can still be done, but I would make sure I got a fairly tender cut of roast, and after the meat is browned, you can put it into a large pot and cook it alone with the broth for a hour or so, depending on the size of the roast, then add the veggies and lower the heat..

If you are not familiar with all the sites that have recipes, I suggest you do some googling. There is one site that keeps getting mentioned around here--hungrygirl.com. That would be one place to start.

I hope this will give you something to start with.

Good luck.

Get LOW LOW cheese triangle if you like cheese. They are only 62 cals each and you can freeze them and grate them over food or use them to make pasta sauces or spread them on food. Ryvita Crackerbread is also a must (19 cals a cracker)!

Good Luck


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