So my wife complained that my diet food was taking up too much room in our fridge. I am using a shelf.

So I have bought a mini-fridge for said diet food that I will park in our basement.

If it works out, I will buy another for my office as I also use a shelf in our office fridge but some of my stuff has recently gone 'missing'.

Great idea!

It really is amazing how much room all that good, healthy food takes! Buy all the dorm refrigerators you need.

great solution Ian! Funny about the office fridge, they don't want to bring in their own healthy stuff, but yours looks good lol seriously, that could get ugly, your idea is great for defusing potentially rough situation.

Best to all

Really? I have the opposite. I buy less food and have much less to store. I have a refrigerator in the basement that has actually emptied completely and I unplugged it. One thing that I do religiously now is to walk to the market every day and buy only what I need for that day. And since we've really cut down on carbs my pantry is kind of empty too. I only have a few cans of tomatoes, tuna fish, some rice and nuts. Gone are the cereals and flours and boxes if popcorn and chips and bags if bread or crackers. My fridge only has root veggies and various types if mustard, cheese, yogurt and some leftovers.

What's in there?

For me, veggies often take up over half my fridge space. When our weekly CSA box shows up, BOOM. It looks like green leafy things exploded all over the inside of the fridge.

I decided this week to try out Elladorine's salad recipe, which meant buying even more produce at the store. Veggies on top of berries on top of more green things. (Gonna go put it together right now, actually - and hoping that I get some fridge space back once I've chopped everything up!)

He he.

In my fridge at this very moment (it changes a lot) I have fresh fish: smoked trout, cod, anchovies, mackeral, pollock. In the freezer there is alaskan halibut, mahi mahi, lobster, scallops and cod. There are about 10 tubs of hummus, 5 tubs of french onion dip and 6 tubs of tsatsiki. Then there is all the veg for my salads, some of which I chop to save time in the evening when I prepare it for the next day: olives, tomatoes, lettuce, argula, onion, corn, black beans, kidney beans, lentils, hemp seed, raspberry vinigrette, light caeasar and ranch dressings, honey dijon dressing. And then there are the pickles: garlic, onion, brussel sprouts, beets etc.

When I started my diet I used to eat like a mouse. Now I eat like a king. A thin king! But it all requires a lot of chilling.

No wonder your stuff goes missing Ian! I wouldn't be able to resist either probably

We live in a pretty rural area so going to the market every day isn't really an option, that would be great to be able to eat the freshest, we keep a lot of canned diced tomatoes, beans, chickpeas, fish steaks and such in the pantry.

There's an older Rachel Ray book for 30 minute meals where she gives you a list of staples to have on hand and it actually works pretty well to make sure you always have stuff available for a healthy meal...anyway sorry for rambling...thinking about Ian's scallops now.

Oh I like canned kelijpa!

I like canned because: i) it's cheap; ii) healthy; iii) keeps for ages; and iv) portioned out.

My canned supplies (get ready) comprise:

lentils
sweet corn
kidney beans
black beans
butternut squash
sardines
mackeral
crab
salmon
rainbow trout
eel
scallops (yes)
snails
albacore tuna
kippers
sprats
shrimp
clams
oysters
mussels
sturgeon
...

My transformation mostly came from a can. And most people have a hard time accepting that.

I can accept it I just wouldn't do it. It's hard enough to find canned beans with low sodium canned stuff is usually loaded with it.

You love that fish, don't you! Lol. I didn't know you could get rainbow trout in a can!

OMG, Ian! I love the content of your fridge/pantry!!

I am happy to hear that can food can indeed aid in one's transformation. I've been concerned on the sodium level of them things... so now I'm thinking that I've been worrying too much...

And I love the idea of the mini fridge. Ours is packed with diet caffeine free ice tea, and a ton of diet pepsi, dew, etc. And they complain that my veggies are taking up space?! whatever.

I do not worry too much about sodium. Yes, I worry about its impact on blood pressure so I rinse stuff well and monitor by BP. But for weight, it's a temporary effect.

Love the frig in the basement......gives a way to add a little exercise into the eating routine.

The sodium in canned fish is not that bad. For example, tuna or sardines can have 70mg in a can, or they can go up to crazy amounts depending on what they're packed in and how they're seasoned.

Right now I have some canned roasted eel, sardines (my emergency meal at all times!) and a few other random canned seafood that I picked up at the Asian market.

Even canned chicken can be without added salt - Hormel is one easy to find brand that does it.

So many brands now are making their canned items with no added salt, but if you're not on a super low sodium diet, reduced sodium items won't be too bad.