Buy for meals you will actually cook
Start with three dinners and two lunches. Choose ingredients that can appear more than once: a tray of roasted vegetables today can become tomorrow’s salad or omelette filling.
This list is a flexible starting point. Adjust quantities to the people you are feeding, your appetite, dietary needs and budget.
Vegetables for the week
Choose a mix of tomatoes, cucumber, peppers, courgettes, aubergines, leafy greens, mushrooms and cauliflower. Frozen spinach and broccoli are useful backups. Tinned chopped tomatoes make a quick sauce; look for versions without added sugar or salt where practical.
Buy two or three fresh items you enjoy rather than an ambitious basket that will go unused. Frozen vegetables can help you cook the extra serving when plans change.
Protein sources
Fish, eggs, chicken, tofu and plain yoghurt offer different options. Tinned sardines or other fish can make a quick lunch. Rinsed tinned beans or lentils are useful in modest portions, especially for meat-free meals.
Check labels for allergens and think about salt in tinned foods. If you are pregnant or have specific medical needs, follow the advice relevant to you rather than treating this list as a complete plan.
Flavour ingredients
Olive oil, lemons, garlic, dried oregano, parsley, paprika and black pepper go a long way. Plain unsalted nuts add crunch. A little feta or a few olives can flavour a large salad; you do not need a large portion of either.
What to buy less of
Keep pasta, rice, bread and potatoes smaller in your meal plan. Avoid automatically replacing them with expensive “low carb” products. Vegetables and ordinary ingredients are often enough.
Sweetened drinks, sugary yoghurt and frequent sweet snacks can add carbohydrate without making a meal more useful. Check what you regularly buy rather than chasing perfect labels.
A simple three-dinner basket
For two people, a starting basket could contain two fish portions, two chicken portions, six eggs, four courgettes, three peppers, a small cauliflower, mushrooms, salad leaves, tomatoes and cucumber. Add plain yoghurt, lemon, garlic and olive oil if you need them.
Use the fish with roasted vegetables, the chicken with a chopped salad, and the eggs in a mushroom and spinach omelette. This is a shopping example, not a prescribed intake or guaranteed complete weekly diet.
Further reading
For a broader description of the traditional eating pattern, see NHS London: Mediterranean eating plan. Our introduction explains the lower-starch adaptation used here.
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