Planning a healthy diet can seem like a complicated task, but if you start with the essentials, you know you always have the basics in the house to make healthy food and plan meals. Not only does this keep your diet under control, but it also keeps your weekly grocery budget controlled.

Plenty of Lentils

Whether you are on a meat-based diet or a plant-based diet, it’s a great idea to have plenty of lentils in your kitchen as a staple food item. Lentils are extremely healthy; they are packed fiber, protein, and healthy carbs to ensure you stay healthy and strong whatever you plan to cook.

The other reason to have plenty of lentils in the kitchen is that there is no shortage of things you can make with them. Whether you like lentil soup, chilli, curry, or you want to make a cottage pie or lasagne, include plenty of lentils to boost your protein intake and lower your cholesterol.

Quality Meats

If you eat meat, it’s easier for you to get the proteins and minerals you need to support a healthy body and brain. Meat is a rich source of protein, but it’s also an excellent source of zinc, iron, B vitamins, and vitamin B12. However, you need to make sure you are eating high-quality meats.

While all meats contain levels of nutrition, some are better than others. Processed meats, for example, are made up of additives and meat combinations that reduce their nutritional value. Alternatively, the quality meat used to make this chicken parmesan recipe is wholesome food.

Frozen Veggies

We all know that a healthy diet consists of vegetables, but it’s not always easy to include vegetables in your meals because they are highly perishable. Unless you eat vegetables within a couple of days, they start to rot, and you have to throw them out, but there’s an alternative.

Don’t buy fresh vegetables; instead, buy bags of frozen veggies and store them in your freezer. Any time you need nutritious veggies for your home-cooked meals, all you have to do is open the freezer and defrost them in some hot water. It’s a convenient, practical, nutritious system.

Plenty of Grains

There’s a reason why grains were such an important part of the human diet historically; it’s because they are excellent for health, and they last for months or years without going bad. Not only that, grains taste nice, and you can make all kinds of meals from them during the week.

Some of the best grains to include in your kitchen are brown rice, which is nutritious and tasty, oats that are excellent for your morning meal and can be made into various snacks and baked goods; and quinoa which is a super food capable of withstanding many months unopened.

Frozen Fruits

As with frozen veggies, it pays to have some frozen fruits in your freezer as well. Frozen fruits can be kept indefinitely, so you always have a selection of nutritional foodstuff to make morning smoothies and for baking. You can buy specific berries in bags or mixed fruits for summer.