Mediterranean Diet – Shopping List Part 1

Starting with the citrus, our first item in the Mediterranean diet grocery list is lemons. You have to buy lemons by the bag and use them for everything. You can use lemons all the time in salad dressings, in dips, sauces you can make lemon water. You can put slices around roasted vegetables and chicken and fish. And they make a great flavour substitute if you don’t want to cook with wine.

So, if you don’t like wine you can just squeeze in a little lemon juice in your pasta. Or whatever you are making. It’s not going to make everything taste lemony. But it will give a nice bright flavour and it’ll enhance the flavours around it so buy lemons.

The second item on our grocery list is avocados. Avocados are a great source of healthy fat. And there is something about their texture that satisfies that craving for something fattening and creamy. They are great on sandwiches and salads and who doesn’t love guacamole, right?

Buy yourself some freshly baked bakery bread. Now, this isn’t something you have to buy weekly you can buy it according to how often you consume it. You don’t have to be afraid of carbs, the Mediterranean diet is not a low carbs diet. It’s not the carbs that are the enemy it’s the highly processed carbs that are your enemy. It’s the quality of food you eat that really matters. So, if you go to the bakery you should get a loaf that was baked that morning by a baker. It will have very fewer additives and is minimally processed.

It’s not gonna last as long. And you can also get whole grain bread such as rye bread for sandwiches and for breakfast. Rye bread doesn’t work in all situations but is one of the healthiest bread you can eat. So don’t be afraid to eat bread just get good quality bread at the bakery.

We can use tomatoes in everything and there’s nothing better than just a simple tomato sandwich. One of my favourite things to do is to take the bakery bread that I talked about earlier. And put a little Dijon mustard on it and a big fat slice of tomato. That makes a wonderful summer sandwich. Now tomatoes aren’t really around in the winter. But you can buy canned tomatoes, crushed tomatoes or whole tomatoes that are peeled. You can even buy diced tomatoes for making salsa at home.

So, tomatoes are a great food for you on the Mediterranean diet. I mean who doesn’t love bruschetta right? So, in the summer you can get fresh wonderful tomatoes. That you can roast or you can eat in salads or you can eat on sandwiches. And in the winter you can buy the kind that comes in the carton or in a can.

 I can’t emphasize enough how important leafy greens are to a Mediterranean diet. Now there are all kinds of salad greens that you can get. But there are lots of lovely greens that you can cook as well. Some of my favourites are Swiss chard, dandelion greens, turnip greens, mustard greens, beet greens, collard greens. There are so many versatile greens out there.  Actually, watercress is a great thing that you can add to salads or soups or you can make watercress sandwiches. So explore your leafy greens I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised.

The next item on this list is coffee. So if you’re a coffee lover like me you probably drink two or three cups of it a day, right? So, seek out a brand of coffee that you really like if you’re a coffee lover it really matters to you what your coffee tastes like. So, when you’re buying it doesn’t always have to be the most expensive brand. Find one that you really love. And use it as a pleasure that you can certainly have on the Mediterranean diet.

Garlic is one of the most important items to add to your shopping list. You can use garlic in everything you can cook with it, or use it raw or you can put it in olive oil and use it as a dipping sauce. You can also put it in sauces and soups and stews. Garlic is one of those things that you can use raw or you can use for cooking. And it’s so good for you so put garlic on your shopping list.

There’s no freshness in life without cucumbers. They are one of the best veggies for snacking, used in sauces. They are a must for a refreshing fresh salad. You can put cucumber and lemon slices in your water and drink it as homemade detox water instead of plain water. They can be used in low-fat dips. They are hydrating, rich in antioxidants and can easily be incorporated into your diet. On average one whole cucumber has only 30 calories. it contains 95% water and is a good source of vitamin K and vitamin A. So if you plan to lose weight adding cucumbers to your groceries is a great idea.

There are different varieties of tuna that you can choose from. White meat tuna, yellowfin tuna and others so go for whatever is your flavour preference. But you can use tuna in salads, you can make spaghetti with it. You can make a little pasta dish where you put a little tuna and some olives a little olive oil into it and stir it up. And it’s a really nice flavour enhancer so try tuna it’s a great way to get your omega-3 fatty acids.

    What we next have on the list is almond milk. You can definitely go for low fat cow’s milk but if you don’t like animal milk, almond milk is a great substitute. So, sometimes. Buy unsweetened almond milk it’s a great ingredient to use just as a substitute for regular milk. We’re so used to using cow’s milk in everything but if you’re baking a cake you can substitute almond milk. It has no difference. It gives a good fluffy texture. Right so why don’t you give almond milk a try?

Once you get used to cooking with fresh herbs you’re going to want to use them on everything. So you can buy them in the store or you can even grow them at home even. When it’s wintertime you can grow them in a pot in your kitchen. Maybe grow basil around and rosemary anything you want. Fresh healthy green herbs can provide lots of minerals and vitamins for your body

It’s just so nice to be able to pluck it off the vine and just put it in your soup or in your spaghetti sauce. Or in eggs or on fish or chicken or anything toss them in a salad. And I think you’ll really enjoy them.

Last but not least on our shopping list is seasonal fruits. It’s really about your preference here and the seasonal availability. So buy whatever you like strawberries and cherries and peaches and grapes and things like that. A tip is to just keep them on the kitchen table. And that way you can see them and remember that they’re there and you need to eat them. Things like apples and pears and they’re just a nice substitute for sweets. So after dinner if you’re looking for a little sweetie for dessert why don’t you try grabbing a piece of fruit.

Instead of a cake or a cookie or something like that, you’ll get plenty of nutrients that’re good for you