A Mediterranean diet shopping list

[ComeBackPeterComeBackPaul]

Please write me a shopping list of your essential store cupboard items - the ones that allow you to cook a meal at short notice without detailing all your good work. Thanks.

Oooh interested (sorry not helpful!) I keep reading how good a Mediterranean diet is... i find it easier with meals to work towards to plan a list but Im imgaining olive oil, tomatoes, lots of fresh veg...

Always keep chopped tomatoes on the cupboard.

I did a Mediterranean chicken in tomato sauce last week.
The sauce was chopped tomatoes (I brought fresh small on the vine tomatoes and chopped them into quarters), chicken stock, basil, capers, olives, opinion and garlic. I butterfly a chicken breast and cooked before making and finishing in the sauce.

I then sliced a courgette in half, brushes with olive oil, seasoned, sprinkled with paprika and roasted on the oven.

Selection of tinned tomatoes (whole, chopped, crushed etc)
Pasata
Anchovies
Capers
Jars of olives
Dried tomatoes in oil
Herbs - fresh where possible. Or dried. (Oregano etc)
Cannelli beans
Salami/Procuito
Oil (for salad and for cooking)
Vinegars
Pasta
Almonds

Wait - is that a specific diet? If so sorry, ignore my post.

Tinned toms
Tinned chickpeas
Pasta - basics spaghetti linguini tortiglioni or large penne.
Olive oil
Capers
Black olives
Thyme
Oregano
Hot smoked paprika
Pine nuts
Garlic
Pizza dough mix - some are great and take very little time.
If I were not vegetarian I’d include Anchovies possibly tuna
Risotto rice
Tahini
Tinned artichoke hearts
Some balsamic
Bottled pimento of some sort
Chilli flakes

Fridge/freezer - stuff I always have - not including fresh veg/herbs
Feta
Parmesan
Mozzarella
Spinach - fresh blanched and frozen - I have ‘spinach days’ where I do loads.
Split small baguettes frozen - for bruschetta type things.
Frozen green beans
Pita

I always have these things in as basic med-type stock items.

Oh I’d add filo but freezing can be hit and miss so I tend to buy fresh.

Add risotto rice, olive oil, frozen fish or seafood, garlic.

To answer a PP, the med diet is low in meat (especially red meat) and dairy. It’s high in seafood, fruit and veg, nuts, seeds, pulses, healthy fats and whole grains. Typically, Mediterraneans don’t eat a huge plate of pasta the way we do. Instead, pasta is usually a side dish. The rest of their plate consists of salads, vegetables, fish or a small portion of meat, and perhaps a slice of bread.

Tinned tuna
Frozen prawns
Brown bread/pasta/rice
Salmon fillets
Avocados
Red lentils
Chickpeas
Borlotti/flageolet/canellini/Butter beans
Olives
Pine nuts
Pesto

I find those freezer packs of mixed mediterranean veg and of soffritto are really handy.

Thanks all, some useful info here. Need to start a list..........

Med diet has a very wooly definition.
Something to do with consuming above or below the median (of specific things) of others in your community or just your research study participant group, is the basic working definition.

See A-Med scoring system which has become popular.
It doesn't mention chickpeas or even beans.

We live in Spain, so I don't know if our general shop will be of any use, but anyway. I did a shop yesterday.

Fish (merluza, tuna & salmon)
Chorizo
Chickpeas (jarred/cooked)
Lentils (jarred/cooked)
Eggs (24 - we make savory roulade a lot)
Cheese
Butter
Oat Milk
Oats
Courgettes
Peppers (red/yellow/green)
Carrots
Broccoli
Cauliflower
Spring Onions
Mushrooms
Peas
Sweetcorn

We have loads of different herbs and spices at home.

Oh forgot Spinach and Olives. We got through loads of both.

I buy bags of frozen fish fillets for store cupboard meals.
Use good quality ones so it feels like a treat

Isn't the med diet supposed to be mainly fresh produce? So buying tins wouldn't help.

Then op
Asked or store cupboard items. That’s why many of us didn’t include our fresh stuff.

Med diet is supposed to contain lots of things like pulses, veg and fish, nothing wrong at all with dried or canned pulses, or frozen fish (and veg for that matter).

Eating fresh is all well and good if you have time to go to the shops a few times a week, but for many it's not an option.

Sorry didn’t mean that to be so abrupt if it was !

No, no, thanks for all the suggestions. We are thinking of really overhauling our diet and like the sound of the med diet, very much as a way of life, not a strict regime. I wanted to start from the bottom up with all the essentials and then I am going to try and find 14 good meals to get me started (I am chronically uncreative, so need to actually plan these things!)
Please, keep all ideas about everything coming. Really appreciated.
Oh, and do things like humous have a place in this way of life?

Humous has a place in every way of life if you ask me 😁. But technically it's from the middle east I believe. I always eat lots of paprika and tomatoes when I'm in the med. Also fennel, aubergine and little fish like sardines.

www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/collection/mediterranean

When I was in Yugoslavia (so long time ago) they never served pasta but always bread with bits and bobs. So something like a tomato-red onion-feta-olive-cucumber salad, roasted fish or grilled meat or cold cuts of meat that's like chorizo or parma ham, roasted paprika's or aubergines. Stuff like that. Easy to prepare beforehand and just put it on the table when you get home.

In portugal they make a lovely fish stew, called cataplana like tge pan they make it in. I don't know if this recipe is traditional but maube worth a try: fussfreeflavours.com/how-to-make-a-portuguese-seafood-cataplana/

A paella type meal is a good base, obviously rice and then you can add lots of vegetables and then small amounts of meat or fish, so good for incorporating lots of veg into a meal and then just a bit of meat.

Another option would be a bean based tomatoey stew with just a small amount of bacon, chorizo or similar.

Veg like peppers and onions can keep quite a bit longer in the fridge than many other vegetables.

Meditteranean diet as healthy is not lots of pasta and risotto,but lots of seafood, olive oil, veg, wholegrains.

It's probably more of a Middle Eastern Meditteranean diet than what we immediately think of as with lots of pasta, Parmesan and carbs.

I'd suggest getting a good inspirational recipe book like Zaitoun where all of the recipes are accidentally healthy and work from there.

You are looking at bulgar wheat, loads of herbs, chickpeas, olives and olive oil, lentils, tahini, pine nuts, yoghurt and a lot of veg.

It's also really yummy which helps a lot

Paella rice isn't wholegrain.