I am about to hit the grocery store pretty soon and still i have NO idea of what is healthy to buy . I end up picking something up reading the ingredients and setting it back down .. I would APPRECIATE it if you guys helped me and gave me an idea on what foods i should buy .

I always buy:

Chicken breasts
turkey breasts
English Muffins (the village hearth ones)
nuts/almonds
frozen veggies (Green beans, carrots, broc) (one thing I really like doing is buying chicken or beef broth and cooking my broc in that rather then water) Gives it AWESOME flavor without extra calories.

i always buy the frozen vegetables with low fat cheese sauce...the 2.5 serving boxes and i eat the whole box its only 150 calories for the broccoli and the brussell sprout ones.

Reading ingredients will keep your cart emptier! What are you looking to buy on this trip? Try to look for items without ingredients lists (like whole fruits, veggies etc.)
I like to stock up on basics (brown rice, lentils, assorted beans) in the bulk food section of my market and then spend most of my time in the produce section filling up my cart with whatever is in season (for example it's apple time!)
Don't forget your protein (lean chicken, cottage cheese, fish tofu, what ever your preference is.)

i buy:
- lean meat (i eat mostly beef and fish)
- raw veggies, tofu, eggs (i rarely eat canned/frozen veggies)
- yogurt, milk, teabags, fruits, (nuts)
- bread, rice

that's basically it. It depends on what kind of meals i want to make that i'll choose what kind of veggie and meat that i'll buy. ^^

Thanks everyone!

Hey Jah- I see you're from Memphis, what part? I was in Memphis last January. I used to live in AR so I'd always be in Memphis.

I usually have an idea of what I want to fix for the week before I go to the store, if I don't I'll not come up with good meals. frozen chicken breast is always a must. Fish fillets and turkey slices too. (turkey slices are really good when you're feeling snacky. 3 slices are normally around 60 cals.)

I get romaine lettuce so I can use the crunchy part as a chip with hummus or salsa. Lots of veggies. (carrots, broc, baby spinach, onions, mushrooms, zuchinni.) One thing I've been getting is refried black beans with no fat. They are really good in a low fat taco bake. I used to think that I couldn't eat anything but once I started experimenting I eat so good for way less calories and fat.

How do you guys cook fish? And what kind do you buy? We aren't a "fish" family but of course would like to try it more often. I DO NOT like salmon!!!!!

I love fish. Sometimes I get Tilapia or Tuna and I'll cover it with seasonings wrap it all in foil put lemon juice on it with a lil white wine close the foil and cook it for 30 minutes or so. It's so good. Sometimes I'll play with the seasonings. Lemon pepper or garlic powder and parsley patch. There's a lot of different things you can do. I also like to grill it.

Foil cooking fish is one of the easiest for me-I stack everything (veggies, seasoning etc) in the foil & throw it in the oven or on the grill. My favorite includes salmon, but other fish could be easily used:
spinach, lemon slices, dill, fish fillets, more lemon slices & dill & a small amount of fat (olive oil or butter about 1 TBS.) Fold the foil into a packet and place on a cookie sheet at 375. Usually takes about 30 minutes or less depending on the thickness of the fish.
Wilted spinach isn't for everyone, but my SO & I love this dish.

salsa can go with pretty much anything you want.
I buy a lot of la tortilla factory whole wheat low-carb tortillas. Only like 50 calories each for the small ones.
egg beaters
frozen veggies
fiber one apple streusal bars are really really good too.
chicken breasts
cheese made with 2% milk (or just avoid cheese if you love it as much as I do)
I'm kind of rambling here.
as far as non-produce snacks go, I've been buying pretzels, ruffles lite, and frozen 100% fruit bars. I like the weight watchers ice cream bars too but they're kind of pricey!

I buy raw fruit and veggies, milk (1%), eggs, laughing cow cheese, granola, oatmeal, soups, coffee, tea, yogurt. That is about it for me. Hope this gave you some ideas ( I had a hard time figuring this out too LOL - it took me a couple trips to actually come home with healthy stuff and no sweets!)

I used to HATE fish and i think i still do , but thank god i fell in love with tilapia.

I'm in Germantown ive been here for about 5 years I'm a New Yorker

A tip I read in the book The Omnivore's Dilemma is this:

Shop from the outside edges of the grocery store. If you notice, things like produce, dairy, meats, etc. are all along the perimeter of the store. Things in the middle are the packaged goods. So aside from things like whole wheat pasta, dried beans and grains, and spices, stay away from the middle part of the store, and shop from the outside edges instead.

Also making a plan BEFORE you go to the store will save you from being confused or impulse shopping.

If you know, for example, that you're going to have oats for breakfast 3 days next week, and yogurt for breakfast 3 days next week, then you can go in, buy oats, buy eggs, and not be tempted to check out cereals or donuts or muffins or anything like that.

I make a weekly menu using an excel spreadsheet, which I then use to create my shopping list from. So when I go to the grocery store, I shop strictly from my list and don't deviate (unless I see something REALLY good on sale, in which case, I have everything with me, so I can make changes on the fly if I need to).

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