I love cooking and trying out lots of new recipes, I meal plan each week and try to include at least one new dish however, a lot of the time, life is busy and hectic and a lot of the meals we eat are simple, quick to prepare and we repeat a lot of dishes week after week.
When I do my week’s meal plan, I also do my list at the same time but most weeks, about 75% of what goes on my shopping list is the same stuff. I have a lot of ‘staples’ which form the basis of many of our meals so I thought I’d share what I class as my ESSENTIALS – the things that I buy week after week and that I always have in stock. As soon as I run out, they get added to next week’s list.
From these essentials and what else I’ve got in the fridge or freezer in terms of protein sources, , I can pull together loads of different meals so that even if life throws a spanner in the works and I’m not able to cook what’s on the meal plan for that day, I’ve always got other options for lunch and dinner using up what I know I’ve always got in.
Tinned foods
Having a good stock of tinned goods that you use regularly means you’ve always got the base of several meals in your cupboard plus the long shelf life means you can stock up if things are on special offer.
I would also recommend buying own brand or value items as in my opinion, there’s very little difference (if any!) and it’s a great way to keep the shopping bill down.
My Tinned Essentials (and a few ways I use them)
- Chopped tomatoes – I always have at least 4 tins in my cupboard and if I use one in the week, I add a tin straight away to next week’s shopping list to ensure I keep my stock at 4. I use chopped tomatoes in so many dishes and particularly in batch cooking (meals like chilli, bolognese, curry, tagines etc) and adding in 2 or 3 tins of chopped tomatoes bulks out the meal with very little cost.
- Beans – I love beans and have a variety of tinned beans at all times. Beans are a cheap and quick way to add protein to meals so I add these to currys, chillis, tagines etc. I use them in soups. I also add them to salads to add extra filling power
- Chickpeas – we get through a lot of chickpeas in our house – I cook a lot of North African dishes in which the chickpea features heavily (again, a cheap source of protein) but I also make my own hummus quite often which is great to have in the fridge for a snack with some crudites (click for my recipe)
- Tinned fish – tinned tuna is one of my favourite toppings for jacket spuds as well as added to salads, pasta or rice dishes and one of my faves – a tuna melt sandwich. I also love tinned mackerel or sardines in tomato sauce, these are often a quick and easy lunch with some leftover or packet rice and some salad.
- Tomato puree – I use this in lots of dishes or with a small splash of water to make a thick sauce for pizza toast
- Tinned potatoes – as they are already cooked, they are so easy to add to salads to bulk them out. They are also delicious roasted or put in the actifry.
Vegetables
Fresh vegetables probably make up the biggest part of my weekly shop and I try, wherever possible to shop seasonally and also look for the best special offers that the supermarkets have each week so each week, my vegetable purchases can differ quite a lot however, there are some staples that I purchase or have in stock all the time as these are the basis of a lot of the meals that we eat and are really versatile and can be used in multiple dishes through out the week.
My Vegetable Essentials
- Onions – we get through a lot of onions each week and I buy both red and white onions. I think pretty much every meal I eat contains onions in some way or another.
- Peppers – I always buy a huge bag of peppers as again, I use them in so many dishes and even if I’ve got lots left or they look like they are about to go off, I’ll make a batch of my homemade salsa (click here for the recipe)
- Bags of prepared salad and spinach – even in winter we get through a lot of salad so I always have a bag of spinach and rocket
- Courgettes – I used to grow these in my allotment when I had it and each summer we had more courgettes than we could ever possibly eat so I added it to so many dishes and continue to do so. I put courgette in my chilli, bolognese, curries, omelettes, soups and pasta dishes to name just a few.
- Carrots – these are great snacks as well as things we eat in a lot of our meals. They last a good couple of weeks too
- Jacket potatoes – one of my ‘go-to’ lunches on busy days and with a variety of toppings, I could actually have a jacket spud for lunch every day of the week and not get bored!
- Broccoli – steamed in a couple of mins, broccoli is one of the simplest and quickest way to get veg on your plate if you’re in a hurry for dinner
- Mushrooms – I love mushrooms and add them to omelettes for lunch or just cook up with some onions and wilt some spinach into them for a nice tasty side dish. Mushrooms are great in pasta dishes but I’ll throw them in any dish if I’ve got some that need using up
- Butternut squash – I always have one of these in the cupboard, they last for ages (and I mean weeks and weeks) so you don’t need to worry about it going off quickly if you don’t use it right away. I love butternut squash chips, it forms a great base for soups but is also delicious roasted and in curries too.
Dried Goods
I buy these in bulk to bring costs down but they are things I use on a daily basis.
I recommend buying some large storage containers if you are buying in bulk as they are a lot easier to manage in your cupboards than the large bags they come in and it’s also a lot easier to see when you need to stock up.
My Dried Goods Essentials
- Rice – I have a nice Tilda storage tin but I rarely buy Tilda rice (far too expensive) – instead I head to the world foods aisle and buy a 15kg bag of rice for about £15. We eat rice at least three times a week and this size bag lasts us for months
- Pasta – again, buy a huge bag and I’m not really fussy on the shape or follow any particular instruction on which pasta to use in recipes.
- Lentils – red and green. I’m quite new to lentil cooking but they are cheap, filling and healthy and I’m enjoying trying more plant based dishes so am using lentils a lot more in my cooking. I always add red lentils to any veg soup I make in my soup maker, it adds protein so fills you up more!
- Noodles – I love a stirfry and it’s such a quick and easy meal to cook using up whatever veg you’ve got in so having dried noodle nests that only take a couple of minutes to prepare adds that extra filling power
- Bulgur wheat (not photographed) – this is one of our favourite grains and I make a lot of lunches using bulgur wheat as the base ingredient.
Packet Goods
These are what I classify as ‘Emergency Meals’ – I’ve written a whole blog post on these if you want to read more – click here to read but in essence these are for days when things don’t go according to plan or I’m really short on time. Rather than ordering delivery, these are things that can be ready with minimal preparation and in very little time.
Other Essentials
I’ve not photographed my fridge or freezer Essentials or my herbs and spices but I’ll share what always goes on my weekly shop list:
- Eggs – we use a lot of eggs and we love them in all ways, for breakfast, lunch and I often have a boiled egg for a snack if I’m feeling hungry
- Natural fat free yoghurt – I buy a big tub of this each week as it’s a staple feature in most of my breakfasts but I also use it instead of mayonnaise in things like egg mayo or tuna mayo
- Milk – I don’t drink much milk but hubby does!
- Reduced fat cheddar – I’m a self confessed cheese addict and it’s not something I could ever give up completely so I have portioned amounts each day either in my meals or as a snack.
My staple herbs and spices are: chilli powder, garlic, cumin, cinnamon, tumeric, generic curry powder, mixed herbs and black pepper and I can make a lot of my favourite dishes using a combination of these!
I hope this has been helpful to see that healthy eating doesn't have to be expensive, complicated or time consuming!
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