Sometimes I find myself in a grocery store without a plan. And sometimes I find myself in a grocery story without a plan and hungry for dinner. In these cases I will gravitate towards the deli cases and areas where they have prepared meals. Things that you can throw in the Microwave quick for a meal and maybe even use to accompany another part of your meal.

In one of these instances I stood before the packages dinners in all of their glory and as they did not judge my laziness I found that my hands reached out and grabbed what looked like the prettiest of packages at the time. Hormels Herb roasted Italian Style Beef Roast. The image on the cover looked so wonderful and home cooked that I couldn't pass it up.

I will say that what came out didn't look as pretty as the image on the cover, but it still tasted pretty good. It's an easy enough thing to make too. You stick it in the microwave for a couple minutes and it's ready to go. In our meal we ate the meat with some freshly cut tomatoes and olive oil over a small batch of low carb noodles(yes I know they don't really exists).

The meat added great flavor and the broth it came it was very well seasoned. I think that this is a great choice for people needing something to finish a meal. This would be delicious on a salad, severed up with some fresh veggies, or even with a little fresh tomato sauce on the side.. I cant say that its not as easy to simply put a roast in a crock pot and let it go for hours, but when you are needing something quick to enhance your meal, this might do the trick,

When you're looking for a snack to have with your veggies, hummus can be a great way to change things up a bit. My wife and I both enjoy using peppers and broccoli with hummus for a treat. It's a healthy snack that is a great substitute for unhealthy dips and high carb snacks. Most hummas can have a serving size of anywhere from 5-10 Net carbs a serving.

The only issue that I have is that I tend to like to use a lot of hummus on my veggies, and the amount can collect up pretty fast causing the serving size to double or even triple. Eight carbs can seem reasonable for a serving size, but when your serving size doubles because you aren't paying attention to how much you are eating, then that can be a problem.

If that sounds like you, I suggest measuring out your serving size in a small cup then eat out of that cup. If you are dunking your veggies right into the container, you are going to increase your chances of going over board on the hummus. It will help you to take your time and savor your snack a bit too before it is gone.

If Macho Man Randy Savage was here, I would bet he would high five us all for even taking the time to write/read a blog post about Slim Jims.

"Oh Yeaaah, way to use technology to better yourself...punk!"

It's worth mentioning that Slim Jims are mostly meat and spice. Therefore its a great little snack when you are one the road or have to get gas and are needing a quick bite. I like to get the small pack and will occasionally put on in a lunch I bring to work. Its a great litte filler, and also I don't like having pro wrestlers body check me in the middle of my work day, so its a win-win

 5 Carbs in 4 sticks.

We decided to give another go at one of the Campbell's Slow Cooker sauces since the last one we tried was such a hit.

We had a little get together for my moms birthday and it seemed like going the taco route was a great way to get everyone together. Plus using the slow cooker is a great way to make some food and guarantee it wont take much effort on our part, which is a win in my book.

Campbell's Slow Cooker Mexican Red Chili sauce is pretty simple to use. Just get a beef roast, pour the sauce over it, and let it sit for several hours on low in your crock pot.

The flavor was really tasty on this and had good spice to it. It was a good Mexican flavor but different from any other tacos you may usually have. This would make great nachos too or filling for enchiladas. The carb count is low, so if you use low carb tortillas you will probably keep the meal down on the carbs for yourself.

Currently Campbell seems to be hitting it out of the park with their sauce mixes. Good flavor and not too high in carbs. Great for people like us that don't have time always to make a fancy meal, but don't want to sacrifice flavor.

I once heard a stand up comic say that the great thing about pudding is that you can stick it in your mouth, chew on it, and spit it out and it still looks the same. While that is true, I think that the great thing about pudding is that it is delicious and reminds me of childhood.

Its not like you go to a lot of fancy four star restaurants to find pudding on the menu. You will find it in kids lunches however. But man, if we as adults did eat pudding more, I best we might all just get a long.

So Snack Pack has some sugar free puddings. I don't know that I need to say much more about them than that. They taste good are made with Sucralose and are a great little snack for when you are craving something that is sweet but not going to set you back in carbs. Great for lunches, or those late night cravings. I would probably have these on hand more often if my wife didn't cut back my pudding budget so much.

Sugar Free Chocolate Pudding - 4 Net Carbs

Sugar Free Vanilla Pudding - 3 Net Carbs

You had me at Cinnamon.

Ok, Apple Straws are pretty awesome. They remind me of those Cinnamon Twist that I used to get at Taco Bell as a kid. Only not as sugary, much healthier, and still just as tasty. 

Apple Straws are great if you are trying to fill a craving for something crunchy and sweet. I don't know that I would put these in the potato chip category, but they are pretty close. 

14 Carbs per 38 straws is a great number. Not perfect, but 38 straws goes a long way when you want to do some munching. 

Not for people doing induction, but everyone else, if you limit yourself they are a perfect snack. 

I am a big fan of curry. I love it when its got a little spice to it and a nice sweetness. It's a great chilly day meal and if you live in the Midwest like me you will have a bunch of those. Curry is where it's at for me. 

That being said, I have no idea how to make a great version of curry on my own. I know I could look for a recipe, but I love things that are easy and help the lazy cook like me achieve his mealtime goals. Sooooo...when I saw Campbell's Thai Green Curry Skillet sauce on the shelf I knew I had to give it a try. 

You just add chicken. It's that easy. You could add veggies too if you wanted to, but chicken is all you need. The flavor is pretty great. It has a great balance of sweetness and spice. Some curry sauces are bland and lack the kick I like, this was pretty good. And you could taste the slight use of coconut in it too. Thats a major plus for me. It brings great flavor and helps to keep that sweet taste. I would use this stuff again for sure. 

So far, campbell sauces have been pretty good and I have been happy with them. And the fact that there are a couple with low carb options are great news for us. 

Here something healthy and lower in carbs to nibble on. Dried young coconut has great flavor and what's really awesome about it is the amount of fiber that it packs into each bite. As you know getting fiber on a low carb diet is essential and so this is a great snack to have around. I know not everyone likes coconut, but I encourage people to try this anyway because unlike other coconut treats this is very soft and chewy and has a great sweet taste. No bitterness at all. Give it a whirl. 

These ones have 14 grams of fiber per serving!! Wowzeers!

The problem with a soup meant for drinking is that for to be drinkable that means there's not much in it. That is the unfortunate case with Campbell's Cheesy Chicken Tortilla soup. It's taste is tomatoey, has a little bit of spice, and cheesiness, but not much in terms of chicken. When I have a soup, I want it to have some chunks and be something that can fill me up. This does not have that.

Perhaps what I need is a soup that comes in a actual can and not something that is easily microwavable for on the go purposes. Unfortunately most of the soups that I looked at in the store that come in cans and have more chunks of meat in them also have much higher carb counts. So if low-carb is what you want unfortunately no flavor is what you get.

Probably won't have this again unless I am on a road trip and want to burn my mouth while driving.

If you are looking for a protein shake that is low in sugary and may be a better substitute for the Atkins drinks, look no further. Premier Proteins Shake are really ow carb.

What may be my personal favorite is the Premier Protein Strawberries and Cream flavor. It does a great job of offering a sweet taste without having that chalky taste that some other protein shakes have. It almost tastes like strawberry milk. Its very cream and goes down smooth. 

At two carbs per shake you can't beat that and it has a bunch of vitamins in it to help you get what you need. It's probably not going to fill you up by itself, but with a small snack you could easily make this a meal. 

I should mention that the Costco near us stocks these in bulk if you want to save a little money and stock up.