Healthy Cooking Finds

The past two weeks or so have been an eating roller coaster; mostly I've been staying on track but a well-meaning comment on Facebook has veered me off track. I know that there will be times I just can't know the nutritional information of a meal, but I'm not at the point yet where I can stop being careful about what I feed myself. I can acknowledge that I'm going to sometimes eat things that aren't ideal, and I'm learning to be okay with that (besides which, my birthday is next month and I'd like to not stress about the possibility of birthday cake), but I'm not yet at the point where I can spend multiple days not paying attention to what I eat. I've managed to lose 70-75 pounds since I got married - 30-35 of those pounds were even on purpose - but I have another 130 to go.

Just is time for my 20th High School Reunion.

I have no clue what my ideal weight is; I don't think I've ever been at my ideal weight; the plan is to get to 150 pounds and then figure that healthy weight.

In any case, in the meantime, I've been slowly trying to figure out how to cook healthier. To wit:

• Through Groupon, that devlish siren of Internet deals, I discovered The Fresh 20, a budget meal plan that simplifies one's shopping lists and meal planning, such that one is given a list of 20 ideally fresh, healthy ingredients from which one can cook five weeknight meals for a family of four. There are three dinner-time plans - Classic, Gluten Free, and Vegetarian/Vegan - that are updated weekly. (There is also a six-week lunch plan.) Each plan includes a Prep Guide, a shopping list which includes the mention of which meal you'll need the ingredients for, the quantity, and that week's pantry staples; a cost estimate per item, per dinner, per serving, and the shopping cost total; and the nutrition label. (The meal plans are designed to be well below 600 calories for a full dinner.) One can subscribe to a specific plan for three months or 12 months (the latter plan is the option I gifted to my mother), although I found a $59 Groupon for all meal plans for 12 months. 
• Cooking Light has an online 5-Ingredient Cookbook that, so far as I can tell, is free, and which includes different categories: soups, salads, sandwiches, vegetarian, chicken, meats, seafood, and pantry.