Food Show me your grocery list.

I looked around and I found threads such as this saying that if you wanted to add lean muscle, you should eat healthy fats. That is a completely alien concept to me. I only recently started working out and I believe I need a more adult-like stocked fridge. No more gatorade and ketchup packets from McDonalds.

So, my new grocery list is as thus

• Orange Juice / Apple Juice
• Apples / Strawberries / Grapes/ Bananas
• Beans(Black beans/Lentils/Peas) - If I get the mixture pack that would be great.
• Rice
• Carrots
• Tomatoes
• Beef
• Onions
• Canola Oil
• Eggs
• Bacon

This should be enough to last me two weeks depending on my portioning skills. I want to see if I can go an entire month without buying ready made food. I will also walk a mile and a half to the grocery store. This means that if I forget to cook my lunch the night before, I will just die instead of getting fast food.

I also have to step up my culinary (non-existent) skills. Something tells me I'll wind up eating breakfast for lunch and dinner if I'm not disciplined enough.

Show me what your diet looks like.

 

Maybe add some yogurt, so there are quick breakfasts available for busy days?
And while it's summer, add fruits like fresh berries, peaches, plums. There's plenty of time for apples, bananas and grapes in the winter.

 

In terms of gaining muscle, protein is the macronutrient you should be focused on. Get enough quality, lean protein and the fat will take care of itself.

In the interest of fitness, beverages with calories are a waste. Check out the labels on your Gatorade and apple juice - it's a nearly negligible difference. Water alone is sufficient.

Be mindful of the kind of rice you buy, white minute rice is almost Not Food. It's practically soda. What you should be looking for is medium/long grain brown rice or apparently quinoa if it's available (though I can't stand the stuff).

Fruits and veggies are always good - though the extremely starchy members of that club (read: potatoes) can be safely skipped over. I don't know where you live but in the northern hemisphere peaches and other such 'stone' fruit is in season right now and thus can be had for pretty cheap. This week at the local farmers market there was a stand selling 1/2 pecks of 'seconds' for $3. Cut out some of the bad bruises and use the rest in yogurt or on cereal (or in our case peach cobbler).


As for my list, I try to get whatever is in season on the farms near where I live - which means making a list isn't usually a useful exercise. Part of being able avoid making lists is already knowing how to cook and having an idea in my head of the kinds of things I can do with what's in front of me and what I have at home.

 

Good idea. But limited budget. Also, I must establish a regimen.

I forgot to mention that every month I go to the vitamin shoppe & pick up some Gold Standard 100% Whey, con-crete Creatine Micro dosing and some Jack3d.

I agree in the most part.

Did not know that. Returning the rice I bought tomorrow and substituting.

I go to Food Lion, by the way. Tons of coupons. I coupon like crazy. I will not buy "organic" food. I figure even though I get a third of the nutrients organic has to offer (I don't actually believe in that metric but it seems to be widely accepted so meh) I feel I am still healthier than the average joe since I am eating this stuff everyday.

When will I reach this point?

 

I'm ambivalent about the whey, but you're almost certainly wasting your money on the creatine/workout supplements. Proper nutrition is all you need. Take it from a guy who put on 60 lbs in the weight room in 18 months (2-3 hours a day, 4-6 days a week), without so much as scoop of whey, you aren't hurting yourself at all in skipping them all as long as you eat right.

There is also nothing about organic food that makes it worth avoiding (except perhaps the price). To be sure there are industrial organic farms which are capable of producing the same kind of tasteless junk as the non organic farms (particularly if it has to be packaged and shipped 5000 miles). I wasn't really talking about organic though, I was talking about local. Buying food that's grown in the county you live in and was picked the morning you bought it is pretty much the best you can do in terms of nutritional quality.

As for the cooking thing, I spent about 3 years being the primary cook for my family before I really started to get comfortable in the kitchen. I'm now quite comical/terrifying to watch depending on your perspective. I measure very little(except key ingredients in baked goods) and plan ahead even less. It's all about taste and smell, you'd be amazed at how well those two senses can lead you once you learn how to let them.

 

Hi ThePenuriousLickspittle

Breakfast = 1 Ryvita crackerbread with 15 gram low fat cream cheese and an apple. Or two Ryvitas with 30 gram low fat cream cheese and no apple.

Evening meal = combination of roast chicken (120 grams) and ham (60 to 120 grams) and selection of vegetables from carrots, aubergines, cabbage, cauliflower, courgettes, broccoli, celery, chinese cabbage, tomatoes.

Packing in the natural protein is important to me. I have some soya protein powder, and it worked wonders: one scoop of that, and I massively increased my spending on real meat in order to avoid the dang stuff. It's there fore emergencies, whatever they may be.

NO ketchup'n'shit. For strong tastes: Chillies pickled in brine. Pickled onions, Pickled capers. 'king strong taste hits for minimal calories.

I tried to keep up my regime of 500ml of beer per day, but as I got more savvy about the other foods and my overall system, I just could not justify it. I intended to regularly substitute with 35 gram of Single Malt Whisky in 500ml of Diet Coke, but I got forgetful, and have dwindled to about the equivalent of 120ml Merlot per week.

Pasta and potatoes seem to have taken a dive. Months since I've had pasta, and potatoes at about 160 gram once a week, and to be blunt, they don't seem to be doing much for me.

For dessert, I've been going for Grapes, Strawberries, Blueberries and/or nectarines.


For emergency mad-binges, I go for salad ... lettuce, celery, tomatoes, capsicum green/red/yellow peppers, with selection of pickles: They give me a lengthy munch-experience with powerful taste-hits, and are nutritious.

For late-night comfort nibble food, I'll have cereal ... a mix of coco-pops, cornflakes and muesli with dried fruits in it. This works out at about 200 cal of carb for a 50 ml bowl, so use with caution. Typically I'll have it while watching a film. The trick is to forget that coco pops are so small ... treat each 'pop' like it was the size of popcorn. Eat one at a time, and the bowl becomes massive and will last through a 90 minute film.


My 'workouts' are 10 to 12 miles walking per day. Average 'best' = 3.5mph.
At the moment, my aim is weight loss rather than building up, though I am working the muscles to slow down their 'loss'.
Seems to be working. Fat has gone down from 32% to 17%.

I do take multivitamins, megadose of Vitamin C, Omega oils (I hate fish), and for my joints: Glucosamine/chondroitin/MSM mix. The latter have very mixed study results, and the studies are suspect, so I reluctantly judge this to be my pandering to superstition.

I don't consider myself an experienced of intelligent exerciser or 'healthy lifestyle practitioner'. I'm taking my first steps. My grocery list is working very well for me .... remedial from nearly bed-ridden jabba the hutt last year to won who can walk unaided and un-noticed by other bipeds.

Only thing I'd presume to offer as advice advice is: Get into calorie counting and reading labels. I've been doing it religiously for about three months and it has turned from OCD weirdness into a well practiced habit that I can do almost without thinking, and shall continue to do for the rest of my life. Bit like learning to drive a stick-shift car. Once learnt, easy. It's a brilliant feedback system for balancing and exploring your input-output, and is necessarily tailored to your own specific needs and environment.

 

I'm with Hektore. Unless you have a hankering to pay for out of season goods shipped from the other side of the world (e.g. Apples/Oranges in summer), then buy whatever fruit is in season locally. The reason things are cheaper in season is because there is a lot more of them and they don't need to be shipped far.

I also think supplements are a bit of a waste unless you have a deficiency in your diet OR you have a specific professional advice to the contrary.

I'd suggest finding a simple meal or 2 that you can cook and like to eat and start there - learning to cook other things is basically working out what goes with what and this is Hektore's other point - buy in season and then fill in the gaps to make healthy meals.

 

I usually buy groceries weekly. They are mostly for me (I eat at least 80% of my meals at home), but some gets eaten by my roommate. I eat primarily paleo (low carb, low grain), but I suppose you could call it primal since I usually include dairy. Anyway, my normal weekly list:

Dairy:
Half gallon of milk (1 or 2%)
String cheese (half-skim)
1 dozen eggs (usually these last a couple weeks)
4 little tubs of greek yogurt

Frozen/refrigerated:
Half gallon of orange juice (+calcium)
8 breakfast sausage patties
1 lb of thick-cut bacon (sometimes I get this from the meat counter if it is on sale)
Approximately 4-5 lbs of chicken (breast or thighs, whatever is on sale)

Dry goods:
Spices if I need them, otherwise I don't shop this section. I have rice, flour, etc. at home, so occasionally I will venture in if I am running low on almond flour, flax seeds, walnuts, or some ingredient for making baked goods to share.

Meat counter:
Pork chops (usually 2 thick-cut chops)
Pre-made burgers (usually 3 1/2 lb. turkey or beef burgers - these are cheaper and more convenient than buying good lean ground and making them myself)

Produce:
Berries/peaches/plums if in season and on sale
Apples if on sale
Zucchini, squash, eggplant, beets - whatever is in season and on sale
Bell peppers (not buying these right now because I have them in my garden)
Onion (usually lasts a couple weeks)
2-3 sweet potatoes (may last a couple weeks if I haven't been doing endurance training)
Kale
Lettuce
Baby carrots
Mushrooms if I want them on a given day
(For this week, I bought kale, zucchini, cucumber, beets, strawberries, blueberries, lettuce, spinach, and celery since the rest I either had already, wasn't on sale, or didn't think I'd get through it in a week)


I end up spending more money on meat, but I don't buy anything pre-made. I roast the chicken to use in salads/lunches for the week, the other meats are for dinner. I cook 2 sausage patties and stir fry them with kale every morning I have class - breakfast on Friday and the weekend is usually eggs and/or bacon with veggies. My lunches are usually either a salad (topped with bell pepper and baby carrots) with roasted chicken and some fruit on the side, or cut veggies (carrots, zucchini, celery) with a little cup of roasted chicken to eat separately.

I feel that I eat pretty well, and I don't spend a ridiculous amount of money on food even though I'd love to. It's a big part of my budget, but the aim isn't to eat cheaply - it's to eat healthily and enjoy what I'm putting into my body. Sure, I could go back to cheap and do lentils and beans and rice all the time, but it didn't satiate me the same way as my current diet.

When I buy groceries weekly, it costs about $35-50 depending on how much meat I buy on a given visit. When I catch meats on sale, I buy more but freeze some, so I don't have that expense for the following few weeks.

 

PonyPotato - Hi

Your list - apart from the dairy, it is so in the direction I am moving toward. As you know, I've been changing my eating and exercising with emphasis on lifestyle change (and thanks for your support). I can't see myself going back to my old ways of eating, partly because it was not good for me, but especially because I simply Was not Enjoying it as much ... did didn't know it!


So far, sweet potatoes have slipped under my radar, and remembering how much I ehjoyed them when I last had them, I'm now on the lookout to get some asap.

Also, you mentioned sweet potatoes and endurance training ... please could you say a bit more on that?

Take care

 

When I do endurance training, I need to ingest more carbs to restore muscle glycogen. So, after I go on a long run or a long bike ride (like my 47 mile ride last weekend), I add sweet potatoes (or, occasionally, white rice) to my next meal. I don't really enjoy eating many other carbs, and sweet potatoes are still considered "paleo" by those who are strict with the diet. I don't usually eat sweet potatoes or other carbs, though - it is only after endurance training, before an endurance race (like a triathlon), or if I am noticing difficulty in recovering from another workout.

 

snowy, you're a vegetarian?

 

Her husband is.

 

I'm pretty sure I'd reach some magic character limit before I could post it all.

Who knew two mini-me's could eat so goddamn much

 

Our list changes from week to week. We sit down on Saturday morning and come up with a menu for week and then buy what we need for that menu. We keep reasonably well-stocked on staples.

We are eating less meat but not no meat. I am also trying to cut down the amount of bread I am eating. For example, if we make burgers, I will eat it without a bun. But I will still have toast for breakfast.

Here is my list from this week:

1 can chick peas
snacks (for my daughter's lunch, usually granola bars)
Organic UHT milk for my wife and daughter
Fruit (I just get what looks good, this week was: Apples, Oranges, Pineapple, Passion Fruit, Grapes, Blueberries, Bananas)
Arugula
Spring Onion
Zucchini
Red and Green Peppers
Iceberg Lettuce
Salad Lettuce (this week: baby kale and mixed greens)
Cherry Tomatoes
Dill
Chinese Parley (Corriander)
Bitter Gourd
Tomatoes
Eggplant

Organic Tofu
White Fish
Ground Beef
Bread

Sour Cream
Cheddar Cheese
1L Fresh milk (for my coffee)
Greek yogurt

Staples:
Olive Oil
Ketchup
Pinenuts

 

Roast Sliced Chicken Breast
Ham
Soya Protein powder to mix with water.

Courgettes
Tomatoes
Carrots
Broccoli
Cauliflour
Mushrooms

Celery
Chinese Leaf Lettuce
Red Capsicoum Peppers

Ainsley Herriot's Wild Mushroom cup-Of-Soup

Pickled onions
Pickled Capers
Pickled Red jalapenos

Pitted Black Olives

No Fat Greek Yoghurt
Strawberries

Cheerios
Coco Pops
Corn Flakes
All Bran
Toasted Oats with mixed dried fruit.

Islay Whisly
Diet Coke

These are kept continuously stocked up ... replace whatever's missing.
Special treat = rib-eye steak once in a blue moon.
Extra special treat, once in a millenium Roysters BBQ Beef flavour, and Chilled Banana Bread Beer.

Hyper extra Special treat, once in a geological epoch: Take Away Pad Thai with Deep Fried Chilli Beef and Tom Yum Soup ...
hang on ... I've strayed off the grocery list.

 

Bananas
Frozen berries an peaches, or fresh of they have them
Tomatoes
Avocados
Green onions
White corn
Edamame
Garbanzo beans
Leeks
Visalia onion
Apples
Potatoes
Broccoli
Asparagus tips
Artichoke hearts in water
Garlic
Black olives

Quinoa
Wild rice
Amaranth pasta
Multigrain Cheerios
Illy Coffee
Arnold Palmer half and half zero
MacCann's oatmeal or something like that

Wild salmon fillets
Cryopreserved duck breast
EVOO
Peppercorns
Organic Beef broth
Organic Chicken broth

 

Everyone eats quinoa? Personally I don't think I'll ever buy the stuff again as soon as I run out of this batch. I'm glad I didn't buy a big bag though.

 

Montreal Smoked Meat
Whole Wheat Bread
Provolone
Cracked Peppar and Olive Oil Triscuits
Wheat Thins
Blueberries
Head of Broccoli and Cauliflour
Red Potatoes
Spicy Italian Sausage