List of necessities and pricing

[Jane1979 270]

Happy Saturday everyone!

So, my insurance is going to be covering the surgery (once approved) and now I'm sitting here wondering what the grocery shopping bill will be like for me. What is the average epic that you all spend on necessities for this surgery? Protein Shakes, Vitamins Etc. I know this kind of seems like an odd question, but I don't want to going to sticker shock right after surgery LOL

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[OutsideMatchInside 10,166]

A lot less than food. It depends though. Where I live there is a chain called supplement super store and they sell supplements at whole sale, so I can get a container of Syntrax nectar for $27.99

In the beginning I kept 2 12 packs of Premier, that cost is going to vary but I catch them for $16.88 at Sams

One container of Syntrax Nectar 27.99 Lasted a month or so

Unflavored Protein $37 I never finished that container and ended up throwing it out at 9 months so it lasted a long time. There was nothing wrong with it, but once I got on soft foods, I just didn't use it anymore.

If you break it out by meal cost, Protein shakes are $1-2 per serving.

My Vitamins at first came free with my B-12 script, so I didn't pay. I used Vitamins before surgery so that wasn't a new expense.

[Inner Surfer Girl 12,015]

Happy Saturday everyone!

So, my insurance is going to be covering the surgery (once approved) and now I'm sitting here wondering what the grocery shopping bill will be like for me. What is the average epic that you all spend on necessities for this surgery? Protein shakes, Vitamins Etc. I know this kind of seems like an odd question, but I don't want to going to sticker shock right after surgery LOL

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supplements can be expensive, so I highly recommend you try samples and single serve packets until you find what you like, then be sure and look for sales. Also, keep in mind your tastes may change after surgery.

You can order sample packs of Protein supplements directly from the manufacturer (Syntrax nectar, powders?utm_source=BariatricPal&utm_medium=Affiliate&utm_campaign=CommentLink" target="_ad" data-id="1" >unjury, Quest, etc.) and some stores (GNC, Vitamin Shoppe), and even online stores like Bariatric Choice and BariatricPal. My surgeon's office also had some products (like ProtiDiet).

Since it was hard for me to get out and shop pre-op, I liked drugstore.com for Vitamins and supplements, too. I buy Quest bars by the box from them now. Drugstore.com also carries GNC products.

Some of the manufacturers will also send you coupons.

[AvaFern 3,516]

I pay exponentially less for food now than I used to. Immediately after surgery, I had Jello and Protein shakes- sort of. I didn't like Protein shakes so I didn't drink them much, but I did buy them. It was a lot cheaper to just get the big vat of powder and mix it with ice and milk and it tasted less gross. If you blend Protein Powder with milk, or almond milk, a cup of frozen Greek yogurt (the kind that comes as regular Greek yogurt and then you stick it in the freezer) and throw in some PB2, mmmmm....so much better than the pre-made shakes.< /p>

I'm a little under 3 weeks short of being 3 years post-op and my grocery bill is really not at all like it used to be, so even if it's a little pricier to start off with until you find what you like in Vitamins and healthy food, in the long term, it's less expensive. Don't take my menu as a sample of what you should eat- it works for me, but I've never been a rule follower. I've stayed at goal for almost a year and a half and I've been within 4-5 pounds of goal for almost 2 years (the last 5 pounds took months). For Breakfast I had a handful of oatmeal square Cereal, lunch was a snack bag of goldfish, and a cup of onion Soup from Panera (technically it's French onion Soup, but I don't add the cheese or croutons), snack will be a Fiber One Bar, more goldfish, and dinner will be the other part of my Panera Pick 2- a Mediterranean flatbread. Most days I don't order Panera, and I'll have a sandwich- half for dinner, half for lunch. So, my food bill for the entire day was less than $10, which I used to be able to eat for a snack, lol.

[Jane1979 270]

@@OutsideMatchInside thank you for all the info. Think I will be mooching off my cousins SAMs club lol

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[Jane1979 270]

@@Inner Surfer Girl omg so much info! Thank you!!! I'm going to start requesting the samples Monday. Start stock piling. Actual food bill doesn't bother me. I have a rather small family. Just me hubby and a picky teen son.

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[Jane1979 270]

@@AvaFern congratulations keeping the weight off!

When you say mix, I assume you mean in a blender (another item I need) I have seen so many mixed reviews on the ready made shakes. I guess it's simply trial and error. Or in this case, hold it down or puke it up lol. Looking at your menu, I am really looking forward to being able to eat so little and be full. I'm like a bottomless pit example: yesterday hubby and son left for a over night golf trip. I ordered a thin crust pizza and within 6 hrs managed to eat the whole damn thing. I try telling my self I'm full and not to eat. But I break down and eat anyway. I can't wait to have this done.

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[#9grammy 274]

You don't have to buy a blender, can use one of the blender jugs they have for sale at Walmart or any other store. It has a wire ball sort of in bottom to blend up the mix. I found some by the protien/energy/meal replacement items.

[AvaFern 3,516]

@@Jane1979

The other person who commented was right in that you can use the blender ball cups...I don't love them because I like things that are frozen. I really just don't like Protein shakes that don't have add-ons in them. Last spring I went through a kick where I made about 10-15 Protein Shakes over the course of a few weeks, but before that I had less than 5, mostly because the pre-made ones are gross and just mixing powder and milk, or gag, even worse, powder and Water was disgusting to me. You can get a blender that works fairly well on Amazon for cheaper than other places. An example of the only Protein shake I have ever really made and drank a lot of (as in 10-15 of them, lol) would be the vanilla ice cream flavored Syntha-6, a half scoop of PB2, a frozen cup of the Yoplait Greek yogurt cupcake flavor, and enough vanilla almond milk to get all of that to blend into the consistency of a milk shake. In the end, it has a reasonable amount of Protein, for a reasonably low amount of calories and you end up with a pretty big cup of it. I usually drank about half before I was really full. It tastes like a cupcake batter vanilla milkshake, and while it takes a lot more effort to make, it is so much less disgusting than the pre-made kind.

As for feeling full- I am consistently amused by this even now. Like you, I could easily eat an entire pizza by myself, although my preference was more for bakery items. I also really liked Lean Cuisines and Lean Hot Pockets, which I could eat 2-3 boxes of them as one meal. Now, for whatever reason Lean Cuisines takes gross to me, and while I still like lean hot pockets I rarely eat them because they are something that makes me gain weight fairly quickly. This past week I had mandatory things scheduled all week (I work at home so I'm not used to having to be someplace every day all day), and most days I totally didn't care that I got no food. I had a Benita bar around 10am most days, either half a sandwich or a pack of goldfish crackers for lunch, and then dinner was whatever I found in my house, which was pretty much goldfish and the vegetable steamers I keep in my freezer for when I want real food but don't want to leave my house to get it. One day I had 3 wings...they were the bad for your, Ranch flavored wings, they were good, but after 3, I have zero interest in eating any more. One day my sandwich was a fried chicken slider thing from Target- also not very good for you, but something I eat very rarely and I had half around 4pm and half around 7pm.

Last week I actually lost 2 pounds because I didn't have time to eat and I wasn't very hungry. It's really nice though, once surgery is over and you're at your goal weight, to be able to have a few bites of food that is bad for you and then have no need to eat any more of it. I usually avoid sweets, but the other day I had about 2/3 of a mini scone from Panera. It was good, but once I had a few bites I was completely content. I am lucky that my stomach doesn't have a high tolerance for junk, so that helps me avoid unhealthy food too, but overall, my food bill is not only much less now than it used to be, but I still get to eat some of the junk I had before, I just have no interest in eating any more of it than an average person who didn't have to have their stomach cut out to be able to be thin.

[Inner Surfer Girl 12,015]

@@AvaFern congratulations keeping the weight off!

When you say mix, I assume you mean in a blender (another item I need) I have seen so many mixed reviews on the ready made shakes. I guess it's simply trial and error. Or in this case, hold it down or puke it up lol. Looking at your menu, I am really looking forward to being able to eat so little and be full. I'm like a bottomless pit example: yesterday hubby and son left for a over night golf trip. I ordered a thin crust pizza and within 6 hrs managed to eat the whole damn thing. I try telling my self I'm full and not to eat. But I break down and eat anyway. I can't wait to have this done.

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Personally, I don't use a blender very often. I don't make Protein shakes/smoothies with lots of ingredients, so a shaker bottle is just fine for my needs. I think I own 3 blenders and haven't used any of them in months.

A food scale is much more important in my opinion.

[Jane1979 270]

@@AvaFern I'm a big fan of flavor. So I really like your approach. I've actually screen shot the stuff you listed so I don't forget.

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[Jane1979 270]

@@#9grammy never knew these exist! Thank you for sharing!

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[Jane1979 270]

@@Inner Surfer Girl food scale. Good idea! I'm so thankful for all of you. This is giving me a chance to gather all these things before hand so I am not overwhelmed once the process actually starts. I'm viewing this the same way I prepped for having the kiddos. I need lots of stuff lol

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[Inner Surfer Girl 12,015]

@@Inner Surfer Girl food scale. Good idea! I'm so thankful for all of you. This is giving me a chance to gather all these things before hand so I am not overwhelmed once the process actually starts. I'm viewing this the same way I prepped for having the kiddos. I need lots of stuff lol

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I bought all kinds of things pre-op, too!

Small food containers

Good measuring tools (cups and spoons)

Food scale

Heating pad

shaker bottle

Water bottle(s)

Decaf and herb teas

Mio drops, crystal light

[chycky 671]

Good food scale is critical. I bought some two ounce sized containers as well.

Amazon is great for almost everything you will need and makes it easy to shop around. I bought both my personal scale and food scale based on recommendations on this forum and Amazon reviews.

I also get Best Buy on Isopure at Amazon and premier at costco.

Here are scales