Storecupboard basics to stock
Keep your storecupboard (and freezer) well stocked with basic ingredients in cans, jars, and packets that can form the foundation of a healthy diet.
© DK
If you choose wisely, these basic items can be transformed into healthy meals, either alone or with the addition of other fresh products. For example, if you have wholemeal pasta and brown rice - rather than regular pasta and white rice - then you are already halfway to nutritious meals.
Copy our healthy shopping list, amending it to fit your food preferences, and stick it to the fridge door. Get your family to add to it, then take it with you to the supermarket every week.
Healthy shopping list
Stock up on these healthy basics so that you can prepare a nutritious meal at any time.
Cans, jars, and cartons
- Apple sauce (no added sugar)
- Beans
- Fruit in fruit juice
- Fruit juice (no added sugar)
- Lentils
- Low-salt chicken broth
- Low-salt soy sauce
- Low-salt vegetable juice
- Peeled whole or chopped tomatoes
- Salsa
- Sardines in olive oil
- Sweetcorn (sugar- and salt-free)
- Tomato passata
- Tomato pasta sauce
- Tomato purée
- Tuna in water
- UHT (long-life) skimmed milk
- Vegetable juice
Frozen foods
- Chicken and turkey breasts
- Low-fat ready meals
- Low-fat frozen yogurt
- Mini wholemeal bagels
- Part-baked bread and rolls
- Pizza bases
- Prawns
- Salmon steaks
- Sorbet
- Summer berries
- Vegetable or bean burgers
- Vegetables (no added salt)
Grains and cereals
- Brown rice
- Bulgur wheat
- Couscous
- Muesli
- Porridge oats
- Whole-grain cereal
- Wholemeal pasta
Desserts
- Digestive biscuits
- Fromage frais
- Fruit jelly
- Gingernuts
- Low-fat fruit yogurt
Snacks
- Baked potato crisps
- Baked tortilla chips
- Dried fruit
- Fig bars
- Plain popcorn
- Pretzels
- Rice cakes
- Unsalted nuts (almonds, walnuts)
- Wholemeal crackers
Oils and spreads
- Low-sugar preserves
- Margarine
- Non-stick vegetable oil spray
- Olive oil
- Peanut butter
- Rapeseed oil
Drinks
- Bottled water and herb teas
Lisa Hark, PhD RD & Dr Darwin Deen
Nutrition for Life Copyright © 2005 Dorling Kindersley Text copyright © 2005 Lisa Hark and Darwin Deen
Posted 14.02.2011
Get more on this subject…
