Mediterranean diet- Shopping List Part 2

The first item on my list is olive oil. Now olive oil is probably one of the most important ingredients for the Mediterranean diet. So you can cook with it, you can drizzle it on salads, you can use it in just about anything. You probably don’t need to have any other oil in the house besides olive oil.

You also need to have eggs around. Even if you eat eggs maybe once or twice a week for breakfast, where you may use them in a recipe or two. But they are not something that you have to go through that often. So it’s not something that you have to buy every week.

Beans are also an important ingredient to have in the Mediterranean diet. You can buy them in cans and keep them on your shelf to keep around. Cannellini beans, chickpeas, pinto beans and black beans are all really healthy for you. And as you know the Mediterranean diet limits the amount of meat that you can eat. So beans are a healthy substitute to offer fibre and protein and all the good things that you need.

Celery, onions and carrots are pretty much the basis for any soup.  So you can keep those around in your pantry all the time. You can buy a bag of onions they can keep in the pantry for a long time actually. And things like carrots, you can keep with the refrigerator and celery then you know you don’t use them all the time. But they are things that you want to have around. And they’re good flavourings for soups and stews or even to put in salads and things like that.

The next item on the Mediterranean diet shopping list is mushrooms. You can use mushrooms in pasta dishes, again in salads and soups. There are so many things you can do with mushrooms, you can make a little mushroom omelette for breakfast. They are really good for you. Yet another thing that you don’t need to buy all the time but it’s good to have them to have on-hand.

Next up are potatoes. Don’t be afraid of potatoes we talked about carbs in the first part of the Mediterranean diet shopping list and how you don’t really need to fear carbs. A lot of people are afraid of white foods. Potatoes are good for you and you probably not going to eat them every single day. So it’s not something that you have to buy weekly. And they last a long time in the pantry so keep potatoes around they’re very filling. You can use them in a variety of ways. You can just roast them in the oven with some rosemary and they’re so good.

You can also keep around chicken broth and vegetable broth. And use them as flavourings or other things that you are making or sometimes you can use them as a soup base. You can use them for all kinds of things and they last a long time as well. And you’re not going to go through it like every week. But you know you can open them you can keep them in the refrigerator. You can pour a little into your pasta sauce or if you’re gonna make a one-off pasta. Where you’re not making tomato sauce, you’re making something with like a vegetable base. You can put in a little vegetable broth and add a little flavour and moisture to your meals.

If you want to make soups you can start with the base of chicken broth or vegetable broth whatever you prefer. If you like to be more vegetarian you can use vegetable broth. Chicken broth adds a great flavour to soups even if you’re using different vegetables to make a creamy carrot soup. You can use chicken broth and it’ll add a nice flavour to it. So keep broths on hand as well and you’re not gonna go through them again super rapidly. But they’re nice to have around.

Pasta, oh don’t be afraid of pasta we’re all carbs crazy in this country. Bur actually you really don’t need to be. I was just reading a study about pasta, it’s very important how you cook it. So the package instructions always say how to make it all done. And really it’s healthier for you if you make it authentic. If you overcook pasta where it gets kind of soft and mushy. That’s when it becomes something that’s more high glycemic. It’s really about the quantities of it and how it’s prepared. So don’t be afraid of pasta there are all kinds of fun things you can do with pasta.

Just like pasta do not be afraid of rice, I keep rice around. There are different kinds that you can buy. You can add rice to vegetable dishes to fill you up a little bit more. You can buy brown rice, you can buy whole grain rice, and you can buy wild rice. There are all kinds of varieties of rice out there that you can buy to add to your meals.

Cheese, it’s another thing that you don’t have to buy weekly. But if you love cheese you can buy different kinds of cheeses. You can put cheese in your food to add more fun and goodness to regular food. Parmesan cheese, Romano cheese, Cottage cheese, there are all kinds of cheeses out there. That you can buy to enhance your meals.

Dried herbs are also great to have around. Now we talked about fresh herbs in part 1 of the Mediterranean diet shopping list. But you can keep dried herbs in the pantry for a long time. Things like oregano and basil and garlic powder are great to have on hand. And you can also buy a blend that’s an Italian blend that has a lot of things mixed. These are the kind of things you want to have in your pantry that you can flavour your meals with. And they can really enhance a dish. So, have some dried herbs around and get used to using them.

Another item that you can have around in the pantry is honey. Now we don’t use honey often but it’s great on breakfast cereal. It can be used in cooking and in salad dressings. It’s important to buy raw honey and to be careful that you really are buying honey. Because some of the honey that you find in the supermarket, it’s not really honey. It’s a combination of corn syrup and high corn syrup. So make sure you’re buying real honey. And I think it’s a great way to add a little sweetness to your meal. Without just putting sugar on everything.

Last up on our Mediterranean diet shopping list is vinegar. You can buy red wine vinegar, white wine vinegar, and balsamic vinegar. There are all kinds of vinegar you can have them left for a really long time in your pantry. You can use them in salads of course, but you also use them to flavour things. You can marinate chicken in them you can marinate fish. And you can sprinkle them on things and just add a little flavour.