Wednesday, December 31, 2014

this little piggy ...



Good thing this little piggy went to market yesterday, before it got clobbered by a chair. Anyway, injuries aside, welcome to my experiment!

I'm thrilled that I have a few happy campers/January austerity enthusiasts. *Claps hands wildly*

As promised, forthwith I give you the master grocery list for week one, which starts TOMORROW! I know you’ll already have many of these items in your refrigerator/pantry, but maybe not. Also, as far as exact amounts, I’ll leave that up to you. Maybe you’re cooking for one. Maybe five. So.




PRODUCE
Enough greens for ten salads/sandwich stuffings, etc. I like to mix it up. Mache, bibb, red leaf, romaine, etc.
A bag of cuties or another sort of orange/tangerine – type citrus fruit
Three white or yellow onions
Two bulbs garlic
Bunch of baby asparagus
A couple green apples
Fruit for smoothies. Berries/bananas, that sort of thing
At least four lemons
Head of cauliflower of some florets 
Two limes
Enough sweet potatoes for three meals
Kale (you knew that would be on the list, right?)
Chard (colorful!)
A couple carrots
Celery
Mushrooms
Green onions
A couple tomatoes (big)
Grape tomatoes or small tomatoes (8 - 10)
Some red potatoes
An array of colorful peppers: one of each, perhaps

DAIRY
Pearl mozzarella
Feta cheese
Plain Greek yogurt

CEREALS & GRAINS
One box of pasta (whole grain or made from quinoa preferred)
Sprouted wheat English muffins (I like the Ezekiel muffins, cinnamon raisin is my fave)
Rice cakes!
Rice (you can get brown rice but it doesn’t agree with me, so I bought Lundberg Basmati/Wild rice)
One loaf Killer Dave’s multi-seed bread or an equivalent hi-pro, low-carb bread
Corn tortillas or wraps

PROTEIN
Carton of eggs
Two meals worth of fresh fish (cod, halibut, salmon, tilapia… whatever’s fresh)
Two cans of water-packed tuna
One jar crunchy almond butter
Tofu – two packages
Sliced turkey from the deli
Two different types of ground meat (I chose wild boar for one of mine!)
Beans. Canned or dried or ready made. Your favorite types enough for three meals
A bag of raw cashews (bulk section)
A bag of raw almonds (bulk section)

FROZEN
A couple of Amy’s single serving burrito type thingies
Applegate, gluten-free chicken breast tenders – one or two boxes

CONDIMENTS/ETC
Buying jam? Make sure the fruit is listed first
Olive oil
Vinegars (I’m keen on coconut vinegar – it’s like apple cider vinegar. Also, balsamic – but check out the calories/sugars and use sparingly)
Mustard
Mayo (sparingly, of course)
Butter (again, sparingly)
A variety of herbs and spices, particularly curry/turmeric/cinnamon/ginger/basil/tarragon/oregano
Hot sauce
Tamari
Golden raisins
Rolled Oats (for making granola!)
Hummus
Honey
Coffee/tea
Jar of spaghetti sauce
Fruit-first jam (see picture)
Almond milk (a couple of cartons)
Chicken (or veggie) broth – one or two cartons
Quercetin (more on this later in the week, but it’s the one supplement that I think is worth the $)

TREATS
So, I’ve built in three one-serving treats a week. Your choice. Maybe you’re an ice cream fan? Maybe you love chocolate? Maybe just a handful of ginger snaps will do? Whatever your poison, it’s all about portion control, right? Here’s the caveat though. Week one, if you really want to “jump start” your movement away from excess, do without the treats and add them in on week two. Okay?

300 calorie breakfast
THE DIET. DAY ONE. (Jan 1st)
Okay, ladies we’re aiming for this 3/4/5 calorie breakdown (gents, you get to add 100 calories to each meal. Another way in which life isn’t fair). I stole the idea from the 7 Years Younger book.
Breakfast: 300
Lunch: 400
Dinner: 500
(add 200 – 300 calories of snacks in after week one)
Oh yeah, and drink your water! Seriously. Water!

BREAKFAST
1 Ezekiel muffin, toasted
1 tbsp almond butter; 
1 tbsp fruit-first jam
1 tangerine

LUNCH
Garden Turkey Sandwich w/ Lemon Mayo (2 ounces turkey/1 slice bread/1/2 tsp mayo mixed with squirt of lemon/1 tsp dried cranberries/couple of chopped cashews/celery/lettuce)
1 Apple

DINNER
Poached fish (bake your 4 ounce filet in parchment paper with drizzled olive oil/tarragon/garlic/lemon)
Roasted sweet potatoes/red potatoes mixture (3/4 cup)
1 rice cake (you can spread up to 1 tsp almond butter on it, or hummus)
Large salad (greens/red peppers/almonds) with homemade oil/vinegar dressing (below)

Suzy’s Salad Dressing
I’ve made this for years. 85 calories a serving, I usually make 3 servings at a time:
6 Tbsp Balsamic Vinegar
1 Tbsp Olive Oil
1 Tbsp Honey
1 tsp lemon juice
1 clove chopped garlic
1 tsp mustard
(I heat the honey/garlic/mustard in the microwave for 15 seconds, then add the rest of the ingredients)

Happy New Year! Clink your last glass of champagne with me tonight. Comments/hints/other ideas/links are welcome!

4 comments:

  1. Anonymous7:29 PM

    Killer Dave's bread is the best. I love it toasted with hummus, sliced tomatoes and/or sundried ones, and spouts or lettuce.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Sprouts! Add that to the grocery list. I knew I forgot something!

      Delete
  2. This is definitely starting things off right! I really need to get to the store for some Ezekiel bread. I love the low sodium toasted.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank God for toasters, right? Best kitchen appliance. Other than the dishwasher, of course. Happy New Year, Lisa!!

      Delete

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