Hi All!

I am doing a big (well as big as I can) grocery shopping this weekend so I can switch my pantry/fridge over from the carb loaded cave it has become to a more CALP friendly locale. I was hoping to pick your brains and see what suggestions you had for staples I should be sure to get and any bargain shopping ideas you might have!

Thanks,
Mike

Load up on meat and veggies, since you will be low carbing it most of the time.

If you can have your favorite things for RM in the house then get those too. I can't, wish I could, but I eat everything til it's gone.

cheese, meats and eggs! I keep almonds and sunflower seeds on hand as well. Easy peasy- cheese sticks with slice salami wrapped around them. Canned tuna is always a go to for me.

I love costco for some of these things. (if you have a winco in your area, they also have mad low prices).

Staples for us:
water pack (truely, no veggie broth) tuna
celery, scallions, romaine or salad mix
sugar-free bacon(out here, the safeway chain's store brand of low sodium bacon is actually sugar free)
a roast - be it pork or beef, that you can get slices of to use as lunch meat, and get several meals out of.
ground beef in bulk
eggs!
cheddar cheese (if I could only have one flavor in the house, we'd pick cheddar)
cabbage (I make a mean cm cole slaw), plain boiled cabbage tastes sweet and good to me - plus you can add it to homemade broth with a bit of meat and call it soup
plain ground pork - to make your own pork sausage - you can then adjust the salt to what you prefer/can have, and season it as breakfast sausage (I have recipes, sure there are lots on here) or Italian seasonings.
a whole chicken - boil up the back and wings for broth, use the thighs as their own meal, chicken breast - can roast up, carefully slice for sandwiches, or make a cm chicken salad, or shred and make a rm dish with. Drumsticks can be made up as fat cm chicken wings with hot sauce, butter and bit of garlic (or however you want to season them)..plain tabasco, or Frank's hot sauce have no sugars.
green bell pepper - nice for salad, or sauteed with eggs, or as part of a chicken dish..just lots of uses.
when all else fails, if you find steakums on sale, though quite greasy, they are quick, easy and delish.

hth!

Thanks all! Your suggestions were pretty much on track with what I ended up getting. I have a fully stocked fridge packed with veggies, meat, cheeses, etc for my CMs and for my RMs I got some non-CM veg I like, some fruit, a box of pasta, a few russet and sweet potatoes, and because I know I will be craving that treat the first few days I got some mini-ice cream cups, just 2 or 3. I know if I keep more in the house I will not resist it, at least this early on.

As I posted in my journal, I feel like I should have done a before and after on my kitchen. Sunday morning, I had shelves and cabinets packed with junk food/carbs/sugar and two small shelves in the fridge. Now I have half of the fridge packed and I am only using one shelf. lol. Hope my roommates are ok with it!

Thank you again!

hi -
sorry I didn't reply but I was out of town!
Sounds like you got a great start. I am doing a COstco run today. I get lettuce, peppers, cucumbers, eggs, turkey bacon, chicken, eggs, cheese,fish,spinach, H&H, and ground meat there fresh. Canned I get tuna and salmon. Also buy all of my olive oil there!

I get most of my other veggies at the farmers market or local stores- lots of cabbage, broccoli, kale and other greens,cauliflower, brussel sprouts, eggplant, mushrooms, frozen veggies (spinach!), bok choy, squash, green beans, okra- when stuff is in season.

Butter and cream cheese I buy when it is on sale.

Have fun and it sounds like you have agreat start.
E

More good ideas, thanks Eno! It's funny, when I was not dieting I tended to eat the same few things all of the time, yet now I feel almost overwhelmed by all of the options I am giving myself.