I am headed to the grocery store after work today. I want to fill my house with tasty, healthful foods. I am just getting started on my weight loss journey so I need some ideas from the pros. If you could share good snack items, lunch items, recipes, filling low calorie items etc. I would really appreciate it. I really need the most help with snacks and lunch....that is where I go way over.
Also, if anyone has dinner items that my husband won't mind eating (meat and potatoes kind of guy) please, please share with me!!
What do you buy when you go to the store?? I need expert advice and I know you all can give it to me.

Thanks in advance for all your help!

Well, I went to the store yesterday to get food for snacks/meals through Friday. I went in with a plan, I knew the recipes for dinner. This is what I bought (off the top of my head):

Tues/Wed dinner (going to Chipotle tonight) - white bean soup with sausage.
Bag of small white beans
Small container of Jimmy Dean sausage
Carrots, onion, celery
Bunch of rainbow shard (I love to add greens to my soup, Jason hates wilty greens, so I just put some in the bottom of my bowl)
Jason got bread (he will eat it with the soup and the chicken parmesan)

Thurs/Friday dinner - chicken parmesan, I am having it over spaghetti squash, steamed veggies on the side:
Spaghetti squash (for me for 2 nights, Jason is having pasta, but we already had some in the cabinet)
Marinara
Chicken breasts (took them out of the freezer)
Panko
(we already had eggs and parmesan cheese)
Broccoli for Thurs night, green beans for Friday night)

Breakfasts:
I got 3 backs of strawberries some yogurt for Mon - Wed
Thurs, Friday I will have oatmeal and apple butter (already have)
Jason doesn't eat breakfast

Lunch - Im having salad with ham all 5 day (made them this morning). I bought:
Romaine, cherry tomatoes, diced ham, carrot shreddies, red cabbage
(I already had salad crunchies and low fat dijon dressing)

Lunch - Jason
He is having peanut butter/honey sandwiches. We already had all the components

Snacks
I am having cherries for 3 days, then tangelos
I also get a latte at work during the day

Snacks - Jason
I bought cheese string and individually packaged cashews
(He already has low fat granola bars and cans of fruit)

That's all I can think of! We're set until Saturday

Snacks and lunch: Definitely pick up some sugar-free jello pudding snacks -- they come in chocolate chocolate/vanilla, vanilla, chocolate mousse, and more. They are only 60 calories and an excellent source of calcium (and again, sugar-free!). I would have not made it this far without them.

Also, some of the fancier deli meats make me feel like I'm indulging when I'm, in fact, dieting. Boar's Head BBQ Chicken or Perdue's Bourbon Peppercorn Chicken are both amazing. Whole wheat bread or 12 grain is about 10 calories more per slice but is way better for you (more fiber and less fat) and keeps you feeling fuller much, much longer.

I also like Pepperidge Farm Goldfish -- but the whole wheat baked kind. You can have 55 of them for just over 100 calories.

Things to avoid: 100 calorie snack packs -- they never fill you up and they are super-expensive. Lean Cuisine and Stouffer's Paninis -- they are like 360 - 400 calories and are super-small. I don't see how they can be marketed as diet food!

One idea for dinner is Turkey Bratwurst/Sausage. At 90 calories a link, they are practically a miracle food. The other day I had Turkey Brats on whole wheat hot dog buns. I ate two of them, was super full, had eaten only 360 calories for dinner. I also chopped a couple up (1 per person) and put them in with marinara sauce and had them with whole wheat penne. I had 3 ounces dry -- a serving and a half -- for about 440 calories.

For breakfast, I like eggo nutrigrain whole wheat waffles (2 for 170 calories), but only if you can stand to not load them up with too much butter/margarine and syrup.

I don't know about the "pro" thing, but I like tasty healthy foods too!

Snack ideas:
-Hummus
-Whole grain crackers (i like Kashi 7 Grain)
-reduced fat peanut butter
-baby carrot sticks
-low & non fat yogurts in individual serving sizes
-sugar free pudding cups
-no sugar added apple sauce in granny smith apple (tastes like a darned green apple jolly rancher - yum!
-reduced fat cheese sticks
-all kinds of grab and go fruits (apples, orange, pears, peaches and berries are in season right now!)
-whole nuts, unsalted

Lunch:
-SALAD greens
-healthy lunch meats
-dressing - low fat/non fat, i just use a little EVOO and balsalmic vinegar
-sandwich wraps (NOT tortillas, they are in the bread section and say whole grain on them) or whole grain double fiber bread
-healthy choice soups to mix it up - look for LOW sodium content on the label
-couscous and whole grain pasta - i use these as a side item with a sandwich or soup and mix them with veggies and spices
-quiche - easy and YUMMM

For dinner I have a meat and potatoes guy too, but i'm slowly introducing him to a concept called a "vegetable". My fave go-to meals are prepped in a crockpot and i like to "hide" veggies in it. Good for my diet, and he doesnt notice! Here's a few links:

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Slow-Co...up/Detail.aspx

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Easy-Sl...st/Detail.aspx
-this one can be altered with different ingredients, pork roasts are very versatile and for my boyfriend and i there are leftovers for lunches!

http://recipes.menshealth.com/homepage.aspx
-this site is AWESOME for guy friendly HEALTHY diet -friendly meals. from Mens Health magazine, everything we've tried has been great!

http://recipes.menshealth.com/Recipe...d-chicken.aspx
-easy and one of our faves! full of unique flavors and lotsa veggies!

Hope some of these help. The internet and planning are your friend when it comes to cooking. Because there are only two of us I will often double the recipe and either freeze it or take it for lunch for a few days! I am just getting into this cooking thing too, and trust me, you will have hiccups! (i.e. the inedible chili i made with too much spice!) But it's fun and you'll do great

Hi WitsEnd!

First of all, congrats on taking the critical first steps on your weight loss journey. I'm sure you will do great once you find a routine that works for you!

It is really helpful to plan out meals in advance, but I am honestly a little bit too frazzled to do that most weeks. Instead, I have a repertoire of probably 5 or so recipes I cycle through for breakfast/lunch, and I'll figure out dinners with what's on hand as I go through the week.

Stuff that's always in my grocery cart:
-Baby carrots
-Salad fixin's (lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers etc)
-Fresh fruit (mostly apples)
-Frozen blueberries (to put on yogurt)
-Tzatziki dip
-Plain yogurt (add crystal light for flavoring)
-Nuts
-Garbanzo beans (AWESOME on salads, for making into dips, etc...)
-Extra lean ground turkey (for taco salads, hamburgers, chili, etc)
-Boneless, skinless chicken breasts (you can easily do a LOT with these)
-String cheese for snacking
-Eggs
-Soy milk (mixed with sugarfree chocolate syrup, this is a surefire binge-preventer for me at the end of the day!)
-Low fat cheese

I hope this helps give you some ideas for yummy staples. I read once that a good way to approach a grocery store is in a big rectangle shape, sticking mostly to the outsides - that's where fresh veggies, meat, and dairy tend to be - and avoid the insides that are filled with processed junk. Good luck!

Well, here is some of what always ends up in our cart:

Whole wheat bread/ tortillas/ english muffins
Non fat vanilla yogurt
Granola
Ground chicken/ Turkey
Tuna in can
100 Calorie pack snacks, we like yogurt covered pretzels
Fiber One bars
Eggs, but we use only the whites
Sliced lunch meat
Mostly Vegies, like cabbage, broccoli, carrots, corn, green beans, and brussel sprouts
Apple Bananas

My husband is also a meat and potatoes type of guy. I make him Meat Loaf with ground chicken, which taste better than ground turkey and holds up better. We also have chicken or fish tacos, no beans just the meat, salsa, shredded cabbage, light sour cream and some lime juice. We make a lot of stir frys too, with shrimp or just vegies over brown rice and with Enova Oil instead of sesame oil.

It's just the two of here too! Fortunately, my man will eat just about anything, but I am the meat-and-potato lover! I read a real good tip the other day, substitute ground turkey breast for ground beef. Been doing that since and so far so good. Turkey chili was yummy, so I made extra and froze.

I usually pick up the following
Skim milk
Fiber One cereal
bananas
Loads of green veggies, brussel sprouts are my fave now!
Romain and iceberg lettuce for salad with shredded carrots and red cabbage
onions and garlic
red potatoes and sweet potatoes
brown rice, matahama it think is the name, takes 45mins to make on stove
Progresso soup with WW points and pea soup
Smart Balance lite popcorn
Smart Balance lite butter spread
Yoshedia sauce

I'm trying to plan dinners on a weekly basis so I try to find some here that are interesting then shop for items i need. I've been looking at the over 50's group and their recipes sound soo good! Good luck to you!

I plan my meals too ^_^ Usually we dont buy snacks (we're poor students lol!) but I found a shop that sells cheap stuff in bulk so my snacks have been fruit, walnuts and dried dates lately. Just gotta be careful with nuts and fruit becuase they can be higher calorie than you expect if you dont check it out first! But I find that fruit is an awesome snack because its filling, gives you a bit of sugar, and you get lots for your calories Dinner wise I've been looking at Jamie Oliver recipes online, there are quite a few on there that arent too bad calorie wise and use fresh produce, that your husband would probably like too.

Thank you all so much for the great ideas!
Glory87: Ummm...How do I fix spaghetti squash? I have always wanted to try it but I just don't know how to prepare it.

Does anyone have a favorite low-fat, low-calorie cook book? The only ones I have ever gotten don't really fit in with my lifestyle. I need one that is good and full of recipes that you might make on a daily basis. Let me know if you have any suggestions. Thanks!

I could scream about this book until I am blue in the face. Eat, Shrink and Be Merry. You can find some of the sample recipes here. I live out of this cookbook. I think it is probably more common in Canada then in the US but you can get it from their website, 2 for the price of one. So if you know someone else who wants one.

I like that a lot of the recipes use the same ingredients give or take one or two, so I usually have most of it on hand. Most of the staples are easy to find things, like soya sauce, lemon juice and basic spices. I have yet to make a bad recipe. I love the pizza dip, chicken wings, mexician lasagna, chicken soup, penne pasta and so much more. I really think everyone needs this book. My boyfriend too loves everything out of the book. My little sister is always telling me she wants to live with me because I cook so good. For Christmas I gave my mom a copy and now my little sister complains that my mom never uses it! lol

Anyway you get the idea. LOVE THAT BOOK! The recipes on the site are different then that is in the book, but very very similar.

As for cooking spaghetti squash. It's been a while - but pretty sure I was cutting in half - microwaving and then shredding the insides. Interested to see what others say because I have on in my fridge.

The other day I shredded a zucchini and added sauce - it was delicious too!