Rebe_J

Chicken feet are loaded with collagen. I've found them in Asian and Mexican markets.

I did my first W30 in August, 2012. I have not been as consistent as I would like in following most of the ideals, but a few habits have stuck: I don't keep non-compliant foods in the house except for special occasions or planned splurges. We eat three meals a day and rarely have snacks. Vegetables are the star of the show at every meal and protein is highest quality available and affordable. I try to find a new recipe or method every week or so I have a routine for weekly meal plan, prep, and cook-up I am loyal to local farmers whenever possible. Now that I'm retired, I am free from the stress of work and the food temptations that ambushed me regularly there. I have quite a bit of fat to shed, and now I'm getting on track with more compliant eating without doing official W30 again.

My first meal of the day is very close to the same every day...since my first W30 in 2012. I always have in the refrigerator: cooked ground beef (or other meat) with onions and mushrooms; roasted Brussels sprouts; fried cauliflower rice; steam-baked potatoes (Instant Pot); braised kale or other greens; and roasted sweet potatoes, as well as other prepped vegetables. In a skillet, I heat up the meat, sprouts and either rice or potatoes; throw in any other veggies. Then I top the whole mess with 2-3 eggs fried in ghee. Some hot sauce adds some zing, and I'll have some sliced tomatoes or other vegetables on the side. Avocado is a good addition, too. I also like to use leftovers like Kalua Pig, and follow the same process. It's the same but different every day. Also, every week, as part of my cook up, I make an 8-serving breakfast casserole. (That's mostly for my husband who, on his own would eat cheerios with lots of sugar and milk every day.) Some days, I'll take a serving of the casserole to work and have at lunchtime, topped with salsa and guacamole. It's good hot or cold.

When I make a larger batch, I add an extra egg yolk (or 2), but not the white. The extra water from the white can make it harder to emulsify; it might require more oil than planned. I usually eyeball it anyway and add oil while blending until I reach the desired thickness. That's been my experience, and I have made mayo nearly every week for 5 years. As an aside, my immersion blender died the other day! This was an emergency situation; I had to drop everything and go to the store immediately for a new one.

My Costco has very nice fresh vegetables and fruit. I get a 2-pound pack of Brussels sprouts every week for roasting. The price is right, too. They also have greenhouse raised tomatoes that are tasty year-round. They used to have my favorite compliant Marinara sauce (Kirkland brand), but my store doesn't carry it all the time. I haven't seen it in months and I'm almost out at home.

There are a lot of great suggestions and ideas here. One thing that helped me stay organized was having a lot of storage containers. I have several of different sizes and they are stackable. I use masking tape and a Sharpie pen for labeling. My refrigerator and freezer have never been neater. When I make a big batch of chili, for example, I freeze it into 2-portion containers. Emergency meals are always on hand; just thaw, heat, and serve.

How to tell when an avocado is ripe and other tips: http://www.thekitchn.com/use-this-simple-trick-to-determine-whether-an-avocado-is-ripe-inside-tips-from-the-kitchn-172933

In addition to the above suggestions: bell pepper strips, cucumber slices... The list goes on. I have used guacamole as a sub for mayo in tuna or chicken salad...quite tasty. I love it on eggs with a little salsa, too. My supermarket had avocados for 39 cents each, so I stocked up.

This is probably not what you're looking for, but... My substitute for hash browns is roasted Brussels sprouts. I roast a large pan of sprouts with bacon every week. For breakfast, I will heat up the sprouts in a skillet--usually with some protein like left-over Kalua Pig--and then fry a few eggs to put on top. I really like the flavor combination of bacon-seasoned sprouts and gooey egg yolks.

This morning, I reheated some of my ground beef mix (onions, mushrooms, red bell peppers), leftover zucchini noodles, and roasted Brussels sprouts. I stirred in some salsa and had grape tomatoes on the side. Very tasty. A fried egg or two would have been good, right on top of the whole mess.

What does my meal prep look like? It's just DH and me, and we're not currently doing a W30. I write out the weekly menu before I go shopping. I usually hit 2-3 stores and the farmers' market if it's in season. I always keep a stocked pantry and freezer, so if I don't have much cook-up time, I can still get a meal on the table quickly. Here's my typical cook-up and prep line-up, sorted by method, but not necessarily the order I do them. Pressure cooker: steam-baked potatoes, kale & carrots, bone broth, beef or pork recipe such as Kalua Pig or Mexican Beef (nomnompaleo.com), boiled eggs. Oven: breakfast casserole (8 servings), roast Brussels sprouts, roast sweet potatoes, meat balls or meat loaf, breakfast sausage patties, paleo cake for DH. Stove top: browned ground beef with onions and mushrooms, steam sauteed vegetables, maybe a big pot of chili to portion and freeze. Wash and prep variety of vegetables: tomatoes, cucumbers, radishes, multi color bell peppers, green onions, etc. Spiralize a few summer squash for "spaghetti." Also prep some fruit--whatever is in season. Make condiments: mayo, salad dressing, Sunshine sauce, Kick-ass ketchup, etc. Some weeks I grind up a lot of meat and freeze what I don't make into meatballs, patties, etc. For variety, I have chicken thighs and tenderloins and fish fillets in the freezer. They are quick to thaw and cook--no recipe required. Most of our meals are mix and match, so it helps to have a lot of stackable storage containers. I use masking tape and a sharpie pen for labeling. Hope that helps. Good luck!

My biggest time saver is my pressure cooker. In the time it takes to prepare one meal, I can have protein for several meals ready. I also use it to steam-bake potatoes, cook kale--tough stems and all, and boil eggs. Batch cooking doesn't have to be time consuming nomnompaleo.com has quite a few pressure cooker recipes that are W30 compliant.

I have roasted Brussels sprouts with my eggs nearly every morning. I enjoy the flavor combination of ground beef w/onion and mushroom, roasted sweet potato, and B.sprouts. I top this with 2-3 fried eggs. I vary the seasoning; turmeric is especially good.

If you're tired of starting over, stop quitting. Two step method for success: Step One: Start. Step Two:Keep going.

This appears to me to be another instance of The Spirit of the Law v.The Letter of the Law. Technically, LARA bars are compliant--Letter of the Law. But they spit in the face of the Spirit of the Law. To me, they are over-priced candy bars. And yes, I had one stashed at work for emergencies during my W30. Getting into the habit of eating a real meal within an hour of rising takes work, and I believe the payoff is worth the effort. I consider W30 to be a self-experiment and I want the resulting data to be useful. Changing the program to suit my preferences is a waste of time, effort, and money, IMO.