Cooking from scratch – a shopping list

Use this page when you’re next in the supermarket and tick off the ingredients as you go.

Food for the cupboard

Tinned tomatoes
Tinned tuna (in water)
Herbs and spices
Tinned pulses (beans, peas and lentils)
Sunflower, rapeseed or olive oil
Tinned fruit (in juice)
Potatoes (regular or sweet potato)
Wholewheat pasta and noodles
Wholemeal bread
Brown rice
Reduced-salt stock cubes

Food for the fridge

Onions
Carrots
Salad vegetables (like cucumber, tomatoes, lettuce and peppers)
Eggs
Low or reduced-fat milk and unsweetened yoghurt

Food for the freezer

Frozen fruit and vegetables
Frozen reduced-fat mince or soya mince
Frozen pulses

Tips for cooking: trim the fat

• Choose lean cuts of red meat or skinless poultry (such as chicken and turkey).
• Cut down on the red meat (and fat) by adding in pulses or meat substitutes such as Quorn, tofu and soya.
• Choose lower-fat or reduced-fat dairy like low-fat natural yoghurt and reduced-fat cheese.
• Swap butter or ghee for smaller amounts of olive, sunflower or rapeseed oil and lighter spreads.
• Choose cooking methods which don’t include a lot of oil or fat such as baking, steaming, poaching or grilling.
• Or, you can measure the oil into a teaspoon, or use an oil spray.