Part of making your meal planning and cooking easier, is having the right utensils and knowing which ingredients to add to your shopping list. This is especially handy when it comes to meal planning, so that you know you have what you need for the week’s meals. You really don’t need a long list of fancy equipment or expensive ingredients to cook delicious (and healthy) meals.
Below is a basic format of a shopping list, that you can print, or just look at it for some inspiration when creating your own shopping lists. Everyone has their way of doing it, but keeping things together on the list, that are typically in the same shopping aisles, makes the shopping trip so much easier – less running back and forth between different sections in the store.
My favourite pantry staples
I have also created a list of the basic pantry ingredients that I try to have on hand, to make my cooking practical. You can also print, these or just keep it in mind as a reference.
These are just a guide and some of my go-to items, so you don’t need to shop for all of this at once. Gradually add some of these to your shopping list over time and according to the kind of recipes your family enjoys. These are the seasonings and pantry ingredients I often use in the recipes on my website.
Everyone’s preferences, needs, menus and shopping lists are different. My aim is to help you make good choices, keep things balanced and get creative with what you have in your fridge and cupboard.
Focus on buying ingredients that you can use multiple times, so that something doesn’t sit in your fridge or kitchen cupboard for months, without being used regularly.
Planning your weekly meals goes a long way and will make shopping and cooking as cost-effective as possible. See my blog on Meal planning and the Basic plate model, to help with this weekly task.
The Recipe pages on the website is a treasure trove of ideas for delicious family meals.
Here are a few basics I usually have in my pantry:
OTHER SEASONINGS and PANTRY items:
Salt and a good pepper grinder are a must. I prefer to have coarse salt in a grinder and finer salt for when I cook pasta or rice, for baking and when I need to measure a specific amount of salt in a recipe.
A jar of wholegrain or smooth mild mustard can be used for dressings, marinades, sauces and even as a condiment with any meat, it’s great on a sandwich or burger as well.
Tomato paste is a wonderful base for a sauce or marinade, adds lots of concentrated flavour to a soup, mince mixture or one pot meal.
Tinned tomatoes can be used in a multitude of ways, from a delicious tomato sauce to the base for mince, meatballs or pasta. See the list of other tinned foods I often use, below.
I have been using strong Rooibos as an alternative cooking liquid, instead of shop-bought stock for many years. It adds lots of flavour (and goodness), without the added salt and unnatural preservatives which could be much higher in shop-bought stocks, than you may realise. When I do need stock but don’t want the colour of the Rooibos to affect the dish, I will season hot water with some of the fresh or dried seasonings or create a homemade stock from the cooking liquid when I prepare a whole chicken.
VINEGARS: A variety of vinegars like balsamic, apple cider or a grape or wine vinegar are staples that is ideal to use in dressings, marinades and sauces. A flavourful vinegar is a delicious seasoning for different forms of protein and even seasons veggies very successfully.
HERBS & SPICES: Few things can beat the fabulous flavour of fresh herbs, garlic, chilli, ginger and lemon. These ingredients will make a meal tastier and boost your general health and immune system too. Buy these when they are in season and more affordable, and if it’s something you use regularly, you can be creative with these in many different recipes. A range of dried herbs like parsley, thyme or mixed herbs and dried spices make it easy to keep meals interesting. I always recommend to preferably use salt-free spices, in other words a single spice, like ground cumin, coriander, paprika or cinnamon, or a spice mixture, like curry powder. Many preprepared spice mixtures can contain a lot of salt, which it not ideal. I would rather add salt to taste or as needed, as there are so many ways to season food the healthy way. If you do enjoy using a pre-prepared spice, remember to read the label to determine how much salt it contains.
OILS: A good quality oil is essential and although olive oil is more expensive, you can use it as a seasoning as well – not just for cooking and it’s really healthy too. I love to drizzle some over salads, when I don’t have a homemade dressing on hand. It is delicious over lightly steamed green veggies or warm pasta. Other alternatives for healthy oils include avocado oil or a nut oil like macadamia oil. Purchase the type of oil that your budget allows. I mostly bake with a pure sunflower oil. Sesame oil has a very unique and special flavour. It is more expensive, but you only need a few drops at a time, so if you enjoy the flavour, it’s delicious in salad dressings, marinades, sauces or just drizzled over veggies.
Seasonings and other pantry basics:
- dried mixed herbs
- dried thyme
- dried origanum
- bay leaves
- cumin seeds and ground cumin
- coriander seeds and ground coriander
- ground cinnamon and cinnamon sticks
- ordinary paprika
- smoked paprika
- Dijon mustard
- wholegrain mustard
- apple cider vinegar
- balsamic vinegar
- red wine vinegar
- olive oil
- macadamia or avocado oil
- sunflower oil (for baking)
- sesame oil (for a special flavour)
- honey
- cocoa powder
- vanilla essence
Tinned and dry foods
- chopped tomatoes (I prefer the unseasoned options, as these are more versatile and contain less salt)
- chickpeas
- red kidney beans
- butter beans
- cream style sweetcorn
- pilchards in tomato sauce
- tinned tuna, I prefer the ones in brine, not oil
- ordinary and rolled oats
- brown rice and brown basmati rice
- dry, uncooked brown and red lentils
- bulgar wheat
- white or red quinoa
- pearled wheat
- wholewheat couscous
- pasta in different shapes
- tomato paste