We recently also had to go low sodium. It’s been a real learning curve, but I love to cook, so it has also been a fun challenge.
Read all labels. Ezekiel breads makes a sodium free sprouted bread that is good for toast. They also have a Tortilla that is sodium free. Healthy Crunch makes a sunflower butter that is also sodium free, and it tastes pretty much like peanut butter. Chosen Foods makes an avocado mayo that is low in sodium. Swiss cheese is generally the lowest sodium cheese.
Most canned and jarred foods are going to be too high in sodium, so expect to cook fresh foods daily.
An example for a lunch I pack my husband is Greek yogurt, frozen berries parfait (I add honey, chia seeds & flax powder). He also gets a wrap, usually made with tortilla, leftover chicken breast, avocado mayo, spinach/lettuce and Swiss cheese.
Make your own mushroom stocks or onion stocks to use in recipes. Same with tomato sauce products. You can control the sodium if you are cooking everything.
Acids like vinegar (balsamic, red wine, apple cider) and lemon are going to bring the most flavor with the least amount of sodium. Start making your own salad dressings.
Libraries usually have a really good selection of cookbooks. One I really like is ‘Start Simple’ by Lukas Volger (hopefully that linked correctly..). Look at vegetarian cookbooks. You can always add a lean protein like grilled chicken. The best part about borrowing them from the library is that there is no commitment. I borrow 5 at a time, flip thru them at home for recipes and meals and then return them and borrow another 5.
An easy meal idea is Grain Bowls - cook farro, roast some vegetables (I like sweet potatoes, red onion, cauliflower), add mixed greens and top with a honey mustard vinaigrette.
Another easy meal is White Bean salad. It’s a can of drained/Rinsed low sodium cannelini bean, minced shallots, minced fresh dill, sliced cherry tomatoes all tossed with red wine vinegar and olive oil, served on top of romaine lettuce.
We are on a “red meat once a week” diet, and eat vegetarian about 2 other nights. The rest of the nights are chicken, pork or fish.
Good luck!
I really liked Start Simple by Lucas Volger, which is a vegetarian cookbook basically themed around a couple of ingredients and several ways to use them. I have found a lot of the recipes to be more practical for everyday home cooking than many other cookbooks.
I am vegetarian, and all of these meals are part of the regular rotation for us:
baked tofu with rice and roasted vegtables - There are tons of great variations on baked tofu out there, and many vegetables work well with this. Broccoli is my personal favorite, and there are lots of other great ways to use it.
We eat a lot of pasta with chickpeas (basically this, although without the herbs most of the time). Pasta is also nice to have around for when I'm feeling lazy and just want to eat it with jarred tomato sauce. Chickpeas are good for homemade hummus, in salads, and many other things (we eat a lot of chickpeas)
"American-style" omelettes are pretty simple and work well with a wide variety of vegetables as fillings. We basically never have problems going through eggs