I watch this stuff like a hawk and read labels at the market like it was a flipping library. The thing with water and sodium enhanced meats is this.... These procedures are mostly done at the packing plants, and not the meat departments of stores. So, it only seems obvious that you will find this in pre-packaged cuts who are frozen when they get off the truck to your market. You don't want it in your chicken? You still have the option to buy fresh chickens or chicken pieces. The more basic you buy your food products, the less alterations you find in them. So, if you want convenience, you really need to read labels. Many moons ago, the meat departments of groceries ordered in whole sides and quarters of meats and did all their trimming and cutting to their own specs. Then came the trend to the primal cuts, where the meat suppliers shipped smaller cryovac units and the meat departments still did the cutting and trimming. That is when things like soup bones, kidney suet and long bone sirloins disappeared from the daily offerings in the case. Those items were no longer part of the primal shipped in and had to be ordered seperately. Now, I heard the trend is going to meats already in their finished cut and sent packaged for sale by the meat packing companies. IOW, the meat departments of stores getting smaller and smaller, because the cutting and trimming and sometimes even the packaging is done by the time they reach the grocery. In the long run, what it means to me as a consumer is less options. I am obliged to go to local butchers who use local slaughterhouses so I can get cuts the way I want them and not what the suppliers think 99% of the market is willing to settle for. On the same thought, I was angry when I got back from the market last week, and an half gallon of ice cream isn't anymore. Most of the brands are going to 1.75 quarts in a fancy rounded tub. They don't think we notice at all.

Elisa, My DH has health problems and we actually have a slightly lower target than your brother's. It seems insurmountable at first, especially when it can't be eased into. If you've got a low-salt diet order, and judging by the ICD implantation, kidney issues, etc., I can guess what you're dealing with, you need to get it in place ASAP. Or your brother will be right back where he started from. The need for rapid change is one of the biggest challenges because it takes awhile for a lowered-salt diet to taste good again. It will get better as you will adjust, but most people eat four or five times that amount, daily. So even thogh 1500 mg/d doesn't sound much less than official ideal for non-impaired people, it's a huge functional and taste change for most people. I know, because we've BTDT. OK, here's some quick tips: almost all prepared food will put you in trouble, unless you only eat once per day. And if he's got diabetes that won't work. By prepared food I mean almost all restaurant food, especially fast food. Almost all canned and frozen prepared stuff, including most stuff marketed as "healthy" prepared food. (There are exceptions, you'll have to read label after label to find the keepers.) Often the lowered sodium product isn't either truly low (300 mg, or less, per portion) or they make it up by loading it with carbs. Here are a couple of good things that are mainstays in our house for fast eats: some of the Imagine Organic aseptic packaged LOWER IN SODIUM soups (corn or sweet potato=140 mg/cup). Other lower in sodium aseptic packaged soups may or may not work for you. (We like some tomato, some roasted pepper, etc. you have to read the labels.) Muir Glen makes a good line of no salt added canned tomato products which are great, esp. the fire roasted ones. Most commercial low or no salt bread sucks, to put it plainly. This is where making your own really is better. But salt has a functional role in bread-making, in addition to its taste role, so you will need to expect to have some trouble adapting "regular" recipes simply by leaving out the salt. Try some of the specifically low-sodium bread recipes for starters. Also if you buy unsliced bread, you can slice it thinner than normal and work the total sodium down that way, at least a bit. No-salt cheese is mostly bad; swiss is naturally low (60-80mg/oz) so it's a my go-to cheese. I do use (sparingly) higher sodium cheeses (e.g. Piave cheddar which can be as high as 500+ mg/oz when all I want is to grate some up as a topping. Then the portion is so small it's OK, and the sharp, rich taste really makes a difference.) You can make good grilled cheese sandwiches with Swiss cheese, too. Use a sharper mustard, for extra taste. For cottage cheese get some no-salt added tubs and cut it 50% with the higher salted product. That produces an acceptable level. Watch frozen veg. products, even some of the un-sauced ones often have baking soda (aka SODIUM bicarbonate) added to preserve the green color, which turns a nearly sodium-free item into something you have to "count". If you need to eat out, go to a restaurant and ask for plain grilled chicken, never seasoned and grilled on a scraped grill. Ask if the veg. were precooked, if so ask that they be rinsed in a hot water and then briefly re-nuked. Most pasta is out because it often has been parboiled in salted water. (You don't need to add salt to pasta if you cook it at home. Never mind what the cook books say.) For nation-wide family restuarant chains when ttraveling, we've had good luck with Ruby Tuesdays. They are usually quite accommodating, and the big salad bar is good, too. There are many, if not most, recipes that you will read in cooking mags and books that will have a sodium content that's way out of your range. But you can always bring that salt way down by not adding it, or adding a lot less. You will have some big recipe failures this way but you will learn what works for you. Your brother's Dr. probably told him this: DO NO USE LITE-SALT or SALT SUBSTITUTES. These usually contain potassium "salts" instead of sodium and they will mess things up on the other end (as well as possibly interfere with some of his meds - ACE/ARBS, diuretics, etc.) These products are meant for people who are just "cutting down" salt, not for people at risk of CHF. It's no picnic dealing with a low-salt, most likely very low-fat, diabetic diet (And maybe also low Vitamin K, as well?). It takes a huge , constant vigilance to put it in place successfully. Your brother will need a lot of help, especially if these are sudden changes, in order for it to not become overwhelming. As JohnLiu says most things that are "too salty" can be made at home. But it's a completely different culinary regimen, because even many certifiably homemade dishes contain ingredients that are very salty to begin with. And it takes a lot more time and effort. Can you give me some idea what you're trying to accomplish, right now? What sorts of meals are you trying to prepare? I may be able to make some specific suggestions. In the meantime, you can't go wrong with broiled chicken or fish, steamed veg, small baked sweet potato and salad for dinner. For lunch a truly lower-salt soup (or big salad), and an egg or tuna or chicken salad sandwich, and fruit for dessert. And maybe regular oatmeal and fruit for breakfast. This would leave you some pretty useful lee-way to add some other tasty, higher-salt add-ons: cheese, lightly salted pop-corn, regular (not homemade low salt for the time being) whole-wheat bread, etc. Possibly some diabetic-OK cookies or icecream; prepared chocolate soy-pudding is a nice snacky-thing, but I'm not sure if it fits with diabetic diets. I remember standing in my supermarket when this was a new thing for me and feeling that nothing I could make would be safe for my husband. I actually cried right in the aisle, I was so upset. We ate pretty simple, even primitive, meals for awhile early on - and I've thrown out a lot of tried-but-turned-out-to-be ghastly recipes. But it does get easier when you learn how to cheat out the excess salt and still go for the familiar flavors. While the prospect of learning a whole new taste-profile can be interesting, in the abstract, familiar tastes and dishes are very comforting and even necessary, IMO for healing. You just need to keep tweaking it until you've got it right. It does get better. L

I have come to agree with you. So I have gone a different way, one much like you describe. I get some three to 5 meals out of a major skillet full of various veggies, and some small amount of meat. I use the reuseable screw top small plastic containers and get a single serving in each and then as you suggest freeze them. I also rely on the microwave. I do have a slow cooker and some recipes from my sister who uses hers a lot. But I more tend to rely on the nuker and a good skillet. Since I live by myself, once I get a good selection of vegetables in the pan, I end up with several meals. BTW for potatoes I like the fingerlings, a couple or three or four nice ones getting about a minute in the microwave are done enough to slice or chunk up and can go right into the mix. I don't peel em either, just scrub em down real good, and by the time the initial onion(s) has sauteed, the potatoes are ready to go into the skillet for a little browning along with the mushrooms. I like to brown the green beans and the kernel corn, too, a bit before the liquid goes back in and the garlics get crushed. I like my stews thick. Creamed corn or refried beans will either one thicken the skillet. If you are on a low salt diet like I am, there are quite a few low and no salt canned vegetables in small sized cans that allow quite a few different ones before the skillet gets full, and even some low salt condensed cream-of- soups. This week I think I will add some fresh Anaheim peppers and some fresh cauliflower to the early browning. I do not salt or pepper this either in cooking or in eating. I do like a bit of sweet and tangy BBQ sauce though, but that is about the only spice I use besides onions and plenty of garlic. This all comes out different every batch I make, which is part of the fun of it.

:-) Thanks. One form or another of this is my breakfast, some three or four days each week. I've gotten to the point that I make a week's worth of individual servings up ahead and freeze them. Then set one out in the fridge the evening before to thaw and be ready for the fry pan the next morning. I keep a variety of precooked meat crumbles in the freezer, so I have a choice each morning for a little variety. I suppose one could add BBQ sauce or marinara and perhaps other vegetables such as brazed cauliflower (which I intend to try very soon). Cabbage always goes good with potatoes and onions, too. There are also corn, creamed or kernel and various types of beans, and even refried beans as well as a variety of hot sauces. I haven't branched out to those degrees yet, but there is even making a stew using cream of mushroom soup, I suppose. I like to cook in one pan, though, and just not get all that fancy about it. I tend to end up with one dish meals for myself.