survey-spending your caloric buck wisely...foods that are a great value

So...i was just thinking...what are your favorite low calorie items in the following categories...[personally trying to gain...but eventually that won't be the case so just wondering.] what foods make it possible for you to endure your diet, and you have successfully substituted for higher cal items?

cheese:

yogurt:

ice cream:

milk:

cereal:

oatmeal:

pasta:

crackers:

tortillas:

bread:

chips:

fruit snacks:

cookies:

100 calorie pack:

english muffin:

bagel:

snack bar:

pastry:

So, basically just fill it in with your foods of choice in these categories that allow you to still meet your calorie target.

cheese: uuum...laughing cow wedges

yogurt: i like yoplait light

ice cream: dreyer's slow churned

milk: rice milk

cereal: fiber one honey clusters

oatmeal: regular old fashioned oats

pasta: ronzoni healthy harvest

crackers: wheat thins fiber selects

tortillas: mission carb balance

bread: sara lee light and delightful 

chips: baked lays

fruit snacks: fruitabu fruit leathers

cookies: animal crackers, plain

100 calorie pack: the cheesecake bars are the best in my opinion

english muffin: thomas's honey wheat

bagel: mini sara lee

snack bar: fiber one oats and caramel or quaker chewy

pastry: 100 calorie pack banana muffins

cheese: laughing cow light

yogurt: nonfat, any 80 or 90 cal one

ice cream: i ask the coldstone worker to mix 1/2 sinless, 1/2 sweet cream

milk: soy light unflavored, love it.

cereal: cheerio

oatmeal: plain, or starbucks perfect oatmeal

pasta: ... there's no "light" pasta, unless you count shirataki or squash "noodles."

crackers: don't really eat these...

tortillas: low-carb ones, whole grain

bread: sara lee nutritional wheat one, 45cal per slice.

chips: olive tortilla chips, a tiny bag.

fruit snacks: STRAWBERRIES. 

cookies: homemade oatmeal cookie

100 calorie pack: hostess twinkie

english muffin: n/a

bagel: n/a

snack bar: snickers marathon!!! Or luna.

pastry: croissant... Okay okay that's not diet, but it's true.  Yummm

cheese: Sargento natural reduced fat cheddar or swi

yogurt: Light and Fit vanilla mixed with Dannon Natural Plain nonfat

ice cream: SKINNY COWS!!!! Oh so good!

milk: Omega enriched Silk soy milk

cereal: Honey Bunches of Oats with Almond

oatmeal: Quaker  weight control or fiber enriched

pasta: don't touch it, but one of my indulge foods is Kraft shells and cheese mac and cheese (actually not too bad calorie wise if you stick with 1 serving)

crackers: Keebler reduced fat club

tortillas: Mission 98% fat free or this one off brand that is whole grain that you can get at Sam

bread: Sarah Lee 45 calories and delightful multigrain

chips: NOPE... too tempting! If I am craving chips and salsa, I take one of my reduced fat tortillas, microwave it with a bit of reduced fat cheese, and top it with some natural salsa.  Portion control!

fruit snacks: um, fruit?

cookies: HA!

100 calorie pack: don't do it

english muffin: I have no idea what kind I buy, but they are at walmart

bagel: don't eat these either

snack bar: Kellogg Fiber Bar chocolate and almond

pastry: none

cheese: sargento light string cheese, regular sliced cheddar (i can't find it in a lower fat form, but if i could, i'd switch in a heartbeat!)

yogurt: yoplait light

ice cream: edy's slow churned

milk: skim

cereal: honey nut cheerios, triple berry cheerios

oatmeal: i don't really eat oatmeal.  i like it, but i'd rather have my cheerios.

pasta: healthy choice or smart ones meals.  i don't trust myself to measure out the right portion of pasta.

crackers: not a big cracker person

tortillas: not really into tortillas, but when i do have them, i get the smallest ones i can find.  i used to get manny's fat free, but i can't find them anymore at my store.

bread: pepperidge farm light style oatmeal bread.  not sure if there's any benefit to it being oatmeal, but it's 45 calories a slice and it tastes really good.

chips: baked doritos.  they need to make these in cool ranch flavor!!!

fruit snacks: i don't eat them

cookies: i eat the regular cookies, but limit myself to one serving (usually 2-3 cookies).  or i'll go for a 100 calorie pack.  nothing beats the real thing though.

100 calorie pack: keebler chips deluxe, little debbie snow puffs, keebler sandies

english muffin: i hate english muffins

bagel: i avoid them.  not a big fan to begin with.

snack bar: special k mocha bliss bar.  i don't think these have any nutritional value, and i hate special k.  but these bars are so good!

pastry: these do NOT fit into the diet.  at all!  i love them too much and i can't be trusted.  my favorite is the chocolate croissant from whole foods.  panera's chocolate pastry comes in a close second (not gooey enough to win).  but it's too many calories.  i have to save these for cheat days.

cheese: parmesan sprinkle cheese, laughing cow light wedges

yogurt: yoplait light, dannon light n' fit, colombo, weight watchers, bryers

ice cream: EDY'S LIGHT!!!

milk: week's farms skim or hood skim

cereal: multigrain, plain, and yogurt burst cheerios, kashi honey golden puffs, puffins

oatmeal: just plain old oats with sugar free maple syrup and blueberries

pasta: barrilla whole wheat 

crackers: all bran multigrain crackers 

tortillas: Joseph's low carb (70 cals per tortilla), also they have these lavash wraps which are really big and whole wheat and only 100 cals for one big one!!

bread: martin's whole wheat potato bread its really soft and smooth

chips: multigrain tortillas, quaker mini rice cakes, plain pita chips

fruit snacks: they have 100 cal packs of raisins and dried cranberries and stuff

cookies: kashi makes some good oatmeal raisin and dark chocolate chip ones

100 calorie pack: orville redenbacher smart pop. a whole bag for 100 calories!!

english muffin: thomas whole wheat

bagel: thomas cinnamon raisin

snack bar: kashi cherry dark chocolate and fiber one bars are both awesome

pastry: hmm...no really low cal ones that i can think of lol i dont really eat htose

cheese: part skim mozzarella is yummy; I also like to use strong cheeses (old cheddar, Parmesan, etc. because you can use very little and still get lots of flavour)

yogurt: any low fat plain yogurt with a small spoonful of honey or jam (I use double fruit) on top; for fruit flavours, I've been going with Yoplait Source

ice cream: it won't sound low-cal, but I find 1/4 cup of Ben and Jerry's infinitely more satisfying than a whole cup of any other kind of ice cream; the small portion size keeps the calories reasonable and the richness allows me to stretch out the time it takes to eat (small bites)

milk: skim milk

cereal: Alpen is yummy; I also quite like Post Selects Date and Pecan Crunch; they're higher calorie than something like Special K, but they leave me full/satisfied; many other cereals leave me hungrier than when I started eating

oatmeal: rolled oats cook up fast in the microwave; mix in berries or raisins during the last 30 seconds of cooking

pasta: whole wheat is good, but sometimes I just use enriched; to make the serving go further, cook at least as much asparagus/broccoli/etc. as you do pasta; then toss them together and top with a little grated cheese

crackers: Ryvita Dark Rye; very tasty; I am also addicted to Triscuits so have to ration them out

tortillas: no preference; aim for whole wheat or flax or corn rather than white

bread: I've found the stuff from the bakery that doesn't have nutritional info. listed (but is still whole grain) tends to weigh less per slice than the pre-packaged loaves of bread.  Since bread has a fairly consistent calorie content per gram, that makes fresh-from-the-bakery bread lowest calorie as well as cheapest.

chips: rarely; I do, however, portion out 25 g of Bits and Bites on a regular basis; they make a much more filling/satisfying salty snack than chips (either potato or corn); 25 g = 100 cals

fruit snacks: fresh fruit; apple sauce is quite nice too - get unsweetened and top it with plain yogurt; much nicer than it sounds

cookies: homemade or not worth it

100 calorie pack: the only ones I bother with are Nutrigrain Granola Bites (Brown Sugar and Cinnamon flavour is best) and, even then, I only eat them occasionally

english muffin: not often enough for me to bother; if I was going to have an english muffin, it'd likely be cinnamon raisin

bagel: generally avoid these; I occasionally get a 12 grain one from Tim Horton's for breakfast, but that's about it; they're just not as good when you're not in Montreal

snack bar: am weaning myself off these, but I do like Quaker's Oatmeal to Go Bars - especially the Maple and Brown Sugar flavour (Bars NOT Squares)

pastry: fruit pies; I'll eat any pastry that's touched fruit (since it's turned gooey and yummy) and leave the edge crust; small slices are completely possible to work into your calorie allowance if you're only having them once a week or so; if you make the pie yourself, forego the top crust and just have a bottom crust

I try to substitute healthier low-cal options instead of going immediately to the lowest-calorie fad diet items =]

cheese: Babybels are delicious, imo

yogurt: Yo-plus

ice cream: dryer's frozen yogurt with granola

milk: skim

cereal: fibrette!!  although all-bran comes in a close second with trader joe's high fiber

oatmeal: I want to try steel-cut because I heard they're healthier, but I do definitely prefer the old-fashioned to the quick oats

pasta: Don't eat this that often....but I do love eggplant parmesian as a sub for actual lasagna noodles

crackers: wheat thins, reduced fat?  Don't eat these that much.

tortillas: hate tortillas

bread: oroweat high fiber

chips: not necessarily lower-cal, but more nutrition per calorie: jackfruit chips!!

fruit snacks: do dried mangoes count?

cookies: don't like prepackaged cookies that much, so can't really find a lower cal/healtheir sub for freshly baked.  And I don't think there are lower calorie versions of cookies I actually do like freshly baked XD

100 calorie pack: ugh, the only two I've tried weren't worth eating at all

english muffin: don't eat these

bagel: don't eat these either

snack bar: pecan pie larabar

pastry: These can be low calorie? O_o

tortillas: Joseph's low carb (70 cals per tortilla), also they have these lavash wraps which are really big and whole wheat and only 100 cals for one big one!!

fruit snacks: they have 100 cal packs of raisins and dried cranberries and stuff

where do you get your tortillas? also, the raisins and cranberries..i've never seen them in the stores. hmmm...have to keep my eye out for them.

cheese: laughing cow light cheese wedge, low fat cottage cheese

yogurt: fage 0%, any non fat yoghurt really

ice cream: mcdonald's ice cream cone!! also, i buy mini icecream cones for about 120 calories each..just like a regular cone except about half the size.

milk: low fat almond milk (35 calories per cup), or skim milk

cereal: don't eat cereal

oatmeal: flavoured instant oats, comes in packets of about 120 calories each 

pasta: emm. does shirataki noodles count? also japanese soba noodles

crackers: Ritz :) with cheese:)

tortillas: i use mountain bread wraps, they're bout 70 calories

bread: regular white bread, high fibre though

chips: mini packets of lays

fruit snacks: that would be fruits.

cookies: chocolate chip cookies by danone that's about 90 calories for 5. 

100 calorie pack: used to be quaker's  mini delights (so good!) but i tend to eat 2 or 3 packs at a go, which defeats the purpose, so i stopped buying them.

english muffin: don't really eat these, except for when i get an egg mcmuffin.

bagel: don't really eat bagels, either.

snack bar: i love nature valley's granola bars. also almond,coconut and apricot bars

pastry: krusteaz fat free muffins or chocolate brownies- doesn't taste like fat free stuff, and only bout 120 to 130 per serving

cheese: low-fat string cheese.

yogurt: stoneyfield farms, i hate all diet versions of yogurt.

ice cream: ice cream bars; way better portion control.

milk: light soymilk.

cereal: cheerios; a big serving for a smaller amount of calories.

oatmeal: wildeberry medley instant oatmeal.

pasta: i can't find a lower-cal version of pasta anywhere :(

crackers: ryvita crackers.

tortillas: weight watchers tortillas.

bread: country harvest.. not low-cal, but good for you and pretty tasty.

chips: popcorn.

fruit snacks: none.

cookies: tea buscuits, or aeroroot cookies.

100 calorie pack: cereal.

english muffin: no-name?

bagel: tim hortons.

snack bar: interactive lo-carb protein bar.

pastry: dunno.

cheese: hard goats cheese <3 not especially low fat/cal but the only cheese I can eat without killing my stomach.

yogurt: fage 0%, always. So versatile.

ice cream: not ice cream per say, but mini milk lollies.

milk: skimmed goats milk.

cereal: fruit and fiber.

oatmeal: golden syrup instant oats.

pasta: I hate pasta so not much help there.

crackers: ryvita dark rye <3

tortillas: we don't get much variety over here, so Tesco healthy living usually.

bread: regular WW bread.

chips: snack a jacks salted popcorn.

fruit snacks: just fruit.

cookies: party rings!

100 calorie pack: I love the reeses ones, I buy them on ebay. So good.

english muffin: Tesco WW english muffins with cheese. SO good.

bagel: Just plain bagels.

snack bar: Nak'd bars.

pastry: not a huge pasty fan, though like the occasional small chocolate eclair (160 cals)