Whether you are a seasoned healthy eater or starting a fresh new way of eating, having a well stocked store cupboard is an essential way to help keep you on track with your nutrition goals.
From things you use all the time to things that you can throw together to make a quick and easy meal when time is short or life gets in the way, being able to turn to your cupboards / freezer and know that you have the ingredients to make a meal from stops you from grabbing the phone to order in!
I’ve had a rummage through my cupboards and pulled together a simple list which you can use as a base to start off your healthy eating store cupboard.
Tins and cartons
- Chopped tomatoes
- Baked beans
- Other beans such as butter beans and kidney beans
- Potatoes
- Mushy Peas
- Sweetcorn
- Chickpeas
- Lentils
- Passata
- Tuna
- Mackerel or sardines in tomato sauce
Tins are great to have on hand – the shelf life means that you rarely have to worry about them going out of date and they can form the basis to a lot of meals. I did a survey in my Weight Loss Support Facebook group and by far the outright winner of the most essential Store Cupboard item was tinned tomatoes
Dried goods
- Pasta
- Lasagne sheets
- Rice
- Cous Cous or Bulgur Wheat
- Noodles
- Red lentils
A cost saving tip here is to buy the family size or large value packs if you have the space. I use all of these at least once a week in our planned meals but also, knowing I have them in my cupboards at all times, means I can throw together a quick and easy meal which will also fill us up.
Herbs and spices
- Garlic
- Mixed Herbs
- Chilli Powder
- Cumin
- Ginger
- Tumeric
- Curry Powder
- Low calorie spray oil
- Olive oil
- Stock cubes
If you are starting out cooking from scratch or getting into trying new recipes, you can spend a fortune on the many herbs and spices that are mentioned – for me, I have a base supply of the ones I use the most – I buy them in the larger packets from the World Food aisles in the supermarket which is a lot cheaper than the small individual pots and then just keep them in large glass jars in the cupboard. I’ll swap herbs around for specific recipes (eg, I’ll use mixed herbs in place of single use ‘green herbs’ such as basil, thyme, parsley) – this saves both money and space.
Sauces
- Balsamic vinegar
- Teriyaki sauce
- Marmite
- Worcester sauce
- Soy sauce
- Reduced sugar sweet chilli sauce
These are my essentials to add a bit of flavour to meals like stir fries, salads, fish – you don’t need to have hundreds of different bottles and jars, just find a few that you really enjoy and that can be versatile to add to different meals and just keep those in stock.
I would say that about 90% of the meals we eat each week include at least 3 of these items and as soon as I use the last one I have in the cupboard, I automatically add it to the next week’s shopping list to ensure I never run out of them.
Other essentials
There are lots of other things which I rely on for our meals each week and which pretty much always appear on my weekly shopping list and used with the store cupboard essentials, I can feed the family filling and nutritious meals (as well as keeping my eye on my own weight too). You can tailor these to your particular tastes, but I thought I share my list of ‘essential fresh’ stuff to give you some ideas. This list is not exhaustive and will have other things added to it each week depending on what meals I’m cooking but I will always have the below items in the house as again, I use these to make a lot of different dishes
Fridge
- Natural fat free yoghurt
- Reduced fat cheddar
- Milk
- Eggs
Vegetables
- Potatoes
- Onions
- Spinach
- Peppers
- Courgette
- Carrots
- Mushrooms
Fruit
- Bananas
- Apples
- Kiwi fruit
- Plus whatever is on special or in season – a well stocked fruit bowl is a non-negotiable in our house as we eat fruit at breakfast and for snacks too
Use your freezer!
Keeping some essentials in your freezer is also really helpful particularly for days that don’t go according to plan or when funds are low. My suggestions would be:
- frozen vegetables of your choice
- frozen fruit
- some low fat ‘cook from frozen’ protein items – I have veggie sausages, fish and some quorn products which can all just be thrown in the oven and cooked quickly without having to wait to defrost them.
I definitely see a future blog post coming with some of the meals I prepare from my store cupboard essentials but knowing I have all of these in stock at all times means simple meals like tomato and veg pasta , tuna bake, lentil daal, veggie curry, soups, jacket potatoes can be thrown together very quickly with little thought of effort. Your store cupboard essentials list will be individual to you but its definitely worth working out what ingredients you rely on the most and ensuring you never run out of them!
As a weight loss coach, I love helping people discover the best ways to reach their individual goals – from working on their mindsets and habits to help with nutrition and healthy eating advice and recipes. If you would like to find out more about my programmes or how I can help you, please do get in touch.
Email me or phone/message: 07834 442607
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