weekly staples and good lunches
 

i am living on my own for the very first time and it is incredibly exciting! the past year i've really had a lot of success with get healthy and i found that a lot of it had to do with planning ahead. i lived with a family in germany and they always had certain foods in the house without fail, and i had never had that at home. there werent staples i could turn to quickly and easily so it always just seemed simpler to get in the carand get fast food then to run to the grocery store and pick out something to make or trying to figure out what to make from what was on hand. now that im living on my own i want to try and employ this system of just buying certain foods every week and i want to get ideas of what people consider their 'staples.' that is, what they buy at the grocery store every week. maybe even full meals they try to have on find by preparing in advance and then freezing or waht not. having a lot of these really helps me stay on track so i hope a lot of you will share. these are some fore me:

apples. grapes, bananas, bell peppers, carrots, various frozen vegetables for when i need to throw something together fast, oatmeal, eggs, whole wheat toast, all different kinds of nuts and trail mixes, yogurt, chicken breast, tuna, wheat thins ( i need to portions these the moment i bring them home however, or else i can get out of control) cottage cheese, im sure there are more, and im sure there are great things i should keep around that i havent through of!

another thing i wanted to ask is what people bring in for lunch. i now have a full time job and i definitely want to bring in my own lunch for cost and health reasons, but i feel like ill run out of things to keep me interested (im the type of person who HAS to change up what im eating all the time). im experimenting with salads and that has been great so far, but i know ill only be able to eat that 2x a week max. also i have eleven hour work days, so id also love to hear some portable snack suggestions. i need to avoid vending machines, street vendors and fast food at all costs!!!

cant wait to hear responses!

I eat mainly frozen foods, as it's easier to count the calories...and I don't live on my own just yet, and I can't use the kitchen without being watched like a hawk, so its not worth it. I would say, though, that your staples should be things that you like to eat. For instance, many people might say bread is an obvious staple, but I myself don't really eat sandwiches often enough to bother buying a loaf for myself. Some may say milk is a staple, but I don't eat dairy.

The best thing I can advise you with is to watch how many perishables you buy. I used to buy too much fruit, and I couldn't finish it before it spoiled. Now, I buy less and I am not wasting as much food (and my money).

If I lived on my own, I'd probably be eating a lot of fish and brown rice. I LOVE brown rice...to the point where I will probably have to watch how much of it I eat once I move out. I have my own rice maker, actually, and I haven't even moved out yet...that's how much I love brown rice. I eat it plain, or with a VERY small amount of soy sauce.

I'd be interested in lunch alternatives to salads and sandwiches too. I start back to work in 2 weeks (I work in a school and get all the holidays off) and at the moment it will be good old sandwiches again which just don't fill me up enough to get me through the 3 hours until hometime! Most embarrasing trying to work with kids and hearing my stomach growling with hunger:o

My husband and I take leftovers from the previous night's dinner for lunches when possible. If I do a sandwich or a wrap, I load it with veggies to fill me up. Or I bring veggies on the side. I used to do a simple tuna salad on whole grain triscuits with chopped fresh veggies on the side. I lost my taste for it, though. I also went through a lean cuisine/lean gourmet phase for lunches, but I ALWAYS brought veggies along to eat with or to eat later as the frozen meals never have much veggies, even when they have any at all.

If you're hungry before it's time to go home, take along a yogurt, string cheese, or other protein snack (jerky if sodium's not an issue for you) to tide you over until dinner.

I second the oatmeal. That's a great breakfast staple.

I chop up cucumbers, carrots, radishes, celery. They are great snacks and there is such a large variety of different veggies I do not get bored. I also bring tomatoes and pickles.

For lunch I will mix tomatoes and pickles with cottage cheese.

I struggle with this quite often though and just have to be diligent about planning. Otherwise I end up at Sonic or Jimmy Johns(who knew sandwiches could be so calorie laden).

I eat the same breakfast most days, because it's what I crave. When it's warm I have yogurt and blueberries. When it's chilly, I have steel cut oatmeal and blueberries. Snacks most days for me are fruit and/or veggies with a laughing cow wedge.

Lunches vary greatly, I usually cook 2 things on the weekends to have for lunch for DH and I. This week it's French Onion Soup with a side salad, and a rice and bean salad with a cumin vinaigrette on a bed of salad greens. Last week it was curried lentils without coconut milk and mock chicken salad with cranberries and tarragon.

In my desk at work, I keep Kashi bars, Fiber One bars, roasted almonds/chickpeas, and wasabi peas. That keeps me away from the vending machine if I didn't grab my snacks in the morning, or we've run out of fresh fruit/veggies at home. I work long, wierd hours, so if we are running low on Wednesdays I can guarantee I won't have time to hit the store until after work on Thursday.

I also prep everything I'll need for working hours on Sundays. There's no way I'd have time during the week to chop stuff in the morning, so it works for me to do it in advance and pre-portion everything.