Thinking about coming back to the beach... but a question

[Aetheana]

Hi all,

I'm seriously considering trying out South Beach, again. Last time I couldn't stick with it and I think it's because I failed to plan. Fail to plan = bad for me!

So, in thinking about the meals and snacks and the increase in veggies, I have a question:

How often do y'all go to the grocery store? I'm concerned that if I only go once a week (sometimes once every two weeks) that the veggies I need to get are going to go bad by the time I get to eat them. I can get my husband to pick up a bag of salad on his way home from work once a week or so, but anymore than salad and he protests. ;)

That being said, if it is the case that the veggies will go bad, what frozen veggies do you think are good? I usually stick with broccoli (my personal fave) and peas, but other than that, is frozen asparagus good? What other quality frozen veggies can I get?

Also, is it usual to eat two salads a day? One with lunch and another maybe side salad with dinner and a cup of other veggies? Or is it usually salad for lunch and then two cups of another veg for dinner. Two salads a day might not work for me. :(

Ok, I'm going to go read some more about how to do this (my book is at home and will be reread shortly) and if I have more questions, you'll hear from me!

[Charran]

Aetheana,

I go grocery shopping once a week. I wash and chop up my veggies for the week in a container and they last with no problem. I also keep an assortment of frozen veggies around too, broccoli, green and yellow beans, cauliflower, asparagus and brussel sprouts.

You can eat as many salads as you want per day if you really like them. Sometimes I don't eat salad, depending on what I feel like. I think you're thinking like Atkins there with the salads and 2 cups of veggies. We aren't limited like that on SB. You'll find the food lists and menu ideas on the SB Weigh in thread right at the beginning.

Hope that helps! :)

[donnaliz67]

I shop for a family of 6. I'm the only one in the family on SB, but we ALL eat a lot of veggies. If I'm good about my meal-planning, I can get away with one major shopping trip per week, plus maybe a mini-trip to restock my salad stuff mid-week. I eat salads almost every day for lunch, and usually some sort of cooked vegetables with dinner. Very rarely do I eat salad for both meals.

Fresh veggies that seem to have a long enough "shelf life" to stock up on - celery, zucchini, cucumbers, onions, peppers, carrots. I find I have to restock the lettuce, fresh spinach, mushrooms and tomatoes mid-week - if I buy what I think is enough for the week, my contrary family goes "on strike" and decides not to eat salad that week, and I'm left with a lot of spoiled veggies.

What I've started doing lately is checking the status of the veggies every day - if they look like they're starting to get past their prime, but aren't spoiled yet, I'll throw them in the freezer in a ziploc bag and save them until I'm ready to make soup. Less-than-fresh veggies work great for making stock, then I strain them out and throw them away but I feel like I didn't totally waste them.

Frozen veggies that I always have on hand are broccoli, cauliflower (which is great mashed), Italian green beans (they're wider and flatter than regular green beans, and my family likes them better), spinach, and sliced carrots. I sometimes buy frozen asparagus from Trader Joe's. (theirs seems to be better than the frozen variety I can get in my regular supermarket)

[Aetheana]

Great responses! Thanks a ton! I forgot about brussel sprouts. I only had them for the first time a week or two ago. They were pretty decent. :)

I'm going to read more, stock up at the grocery store tonight, and start out on the beach tomorrow!!! :)!

I'm so excited!

[donnaliz67]

Cool - good to have you with us on the Beach. Don't be afraid to ask any more questions you might have - there are lots of us here who are happy to help you figure it all out.

[belinda207]

I get all my veggies once a week from the local farmers market. Much cheaper than the grocery store. a bag of veggies costs me about 20 bucks in the grocery but for 20 bucks at the farmers market i get like 4 bags!

[Rebecca A]

Donnaliz, I'm just cpming back to SB and noticed to Flylady quote. Have you read Body Clutter? I'm reading it now and find it helpful and interesting!