I like my food, that is no secret! These days I like to try and eat healthy most of the time. I do slip, I do grab a burger sometimes when I am too tired or too busy to cook, but I’ve been trying to eat better and not fall into a fast food rut.
If I do grab something “fast food” it is generally the under 500 calories, low carb Double Chicken Avocado Salad from El Pollo Loco. It’s really delicious, it’s quick, and it’s not expensive. I also choose unsweetened iced tea or water if I get a drink. Another favorite is my local Mexican restaurant. It’s not a chain, and everything is made fresh. I get a couple of pulled chicken tacos with just meat, cheese, cilantro, pico de gallo, and corn tortillas. Simple, but really delicious and fairly healthy.
As a compromise when making home cooked meals, I try to make healthier choices on my store bought convenience food and I wanted to share a list of things that I buy regularly. I know some people will say to watch out for certain ingredients or those artificial sweeteners are bad, or that has preservatives in it and blah-de-blah blah blah… Ya, OK, I got it. I also got better things to do than rice a cauliflower on a Wednesday night after working a 9 hour day on only 6 hours of sleep!
If in doubt about any of these products fitting in with your nutritional needs or restrictions, read the labels. Otherwise, I think these are great for not only making healthier choices but making “instead of type choices”. I personally want to eat “normally”. You know, mash with my chicken and ice cream for dessert type stuff. Mashed cauliflower instead of potato and low carb ice cream bars are working for me. The products below
My healthier choices in no particular order…
I like to chuck’em in the microwave and then on a plate. You’ll find these with the vegetables or the specialty foods in most grocery stores. Aside from the flavored mash, they are just vegetables.
I know I linked on specific flavor of these, but below is a scrolly thing with “more like this”. This is so easy to do a simple salad and one of these for a weeknight dinner. They aren’t quite like regular pasta, but they are much lower in carbs and calories. The one I linked is one I like to mix with a homemade red pasta sauce. I also add cooked crumbled ground turkey, mushrooms and onions. The others I generally serve as a side dish. This brand also makes riced cauliflower and steam in the bag vegetables that I guy from time to time.
I know these are not considered a junk food and that they make tots out of cauliflower, but I want fries or real potato tots. I personally think cauliflower tots taste horrible. These are smaller than traditional tots and 12 (or 11 if you go by the package serving suggestion) is around 13 carbs and 2g of sat fat. It satisfies my craving and makes my turkey burger on a whole wheat bun seem the right amount of naughty I need it to be.
I’m not a fan of ketchup, but my husband is. I like to use it in recipes though. We have been buying this no sugar added ketchup for many years now. It’s readily available at most grocery stores alongside the full sugar ketchup.
It’s just cheese sliced thin, but it’s so convenient for portion control. They do have other cheeses or milder cheddar that’s ultra thin too, but I find that the sharp cheddar flavor doesn’t get lost in a sandwich like the mild does.
Yes, regular milk is cheaper, but I am lactose intolerant. Yes, there is cheaper lactose free milk, but this stuff is the lowest carb and sugar and tastes the best. It’s worth the little bit more, it’s not expensive!
I’m not a big fan of yogurt, but my husband eats it everyday. This is what we usually buy. They are all pretty good about calories, carbs, etc. Strawberry is my favorite and it has 8 carbs and 24g of protein.
This is not a diet food, and the full suggested serving is about the same as other snacks. The reason I choose these is because because they are large, and 15 (half the suggested serving) is just 8g of carbs. Plus, they taste like a cross between a potato chip and a french fry. The individual serving bags are actually the half serving suggested on the large bag, so having a sandwich and chips for lunch feels right and tastes right. I like that.
I don’t eat this that often, like just once every few months as a splurge type treat. I like the oatmeal cookie flavor the best and I confess, I usually eat half the tub in one sitting. And by half, I mean the whole thing. The whole tub is just 280 calories, 8g of fat/4 sat fat, 60g of carbs/24g of sugar. It also has 20g of protein and 12g of fiber for a whole tub. That might sound like junk food (because it is) but compared to real ice cream it’s practically kale.
This is something I eat often. They taste really good and at just 150 calories, 11g of fat/8 sat fat, and 13 carbs/6g sugar I feel like I can eat them more often, and not just as an occasional treat.
These are a bit complicated. I really only like the brownies and the M&M style candies, but, they are by no means good for you. They are just a less evil (so to speak). Better than a candy bar IMO. I don’t eat these often.
You know I like my gypsy toast, pancakes, and waffles, or at least it should be apparent from the number of recipes I have for them. I choose this syrup because it is readily available at nearly all grocery stores, it tastes good, it’s thick, and it does not contain aspartame. Walmart brand sugar-free syrup is also aspartame free, but I find it a bit watery.
I don’t shop at Walmart often, but I make a special trip to Walmart for this. It’s hands down the best turkey bacon I’ve ever had. It doesn’t look like other turkey bacon, it looks like meat, it cooks like meat, and if you lightly spray it with a bit of oil it will go crisp like bacon too! If you don’t like turkey bacon, give this a try. Just remember to cook the living hell out of it with a little mist of oil on both sides.
I rarely drink soda, but my husband and granddaughter like it. We choose this because it is one of the few that does not contain aspartame and there are a lot of choices of flavor.
I don’t personally drink these, but my husband and granddaughter like them. They are portable, the do not contain aspartame, they are good for restaurants because sugar free drinks are pretty limited, and if you put them in sparkling water it’s like having a soda.
If I think of more or find more, I will do another post like this. Please feel free to comment and/or make recommendations!
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