Meal planning

It's a good idea to make starchy foods the biggest part of most meals and snacks, alongside fruit and vegetables. Include a variety of starchy foods in your meal plan, such as different breads, pasta, rice and potatoes, noodles, barley, couscous, corn, plantain and tapioca.

Starchy foods are usually cheap and have a long best before date (except bread), so can be bought in bulk if you have space. Most don’t come in pre-packed portion sizes, so you can use as much or as little as you need.

If you can take advantage of a multi-buy offer, you could keep different types of starchy foods in the cupboard. Buying wholegrain and plain versions of foods like pasta and rice in a multibuy offer is a good way to introduce yourself to more wholegrains.

Tips for starchy foods

• Packed lunches don't just have to be sandwiches - pots of pre-cooked pasta work well too, or try different breads like bagels, wraps, pitta or flatbreads, choosing wholegrain varieties where possible.
• Wholegrain (brown) rice is another good choice - if you're not used to it, a packet of microwavable wholegrain rice can be a quick and easy way to try it out, great for busy days when you need something fast.
• Potatoes will keep for a couple of weeks in a dark cupboard and can be used in lots of different meals.
• You can get lots of frozen starchy foods, mainly potato products, check that they can be oven cooked, toasted or boiled rather than fried, and look for lower fat options.
• Porridge, smooth porridge oats or cornmeal are healthy choices for breakfast - try prepping them the night before or portioning out your oats in advance to make mornings quicker and easier.

When planning your meals and snacks, think about how many portions of fruit and vegetables you’ll need across a week. 

Tips for fruit and vegetables

• Consider adding a few extra portions in case of unplanned meals or snacks. Having a mix of fresh, frozen, or tinned options can help make sure you don’t run short.
• Not only are frozen and tinned fruit and vegetables as good as fresh, they are often cheaper, can be bought in bulk, stored longer and save you time on washing and chopping
• Choose fruit tinned in water or juice rather than syrup, and vegetables that are tinned in water, with no added salt.
• Tinned tomatoes, tinned beans, tinned sweetcorn and peas are great for stews and sauces, and can often be on offer as part of a multi-buy deal.
• Fruit and vegetables also make healthy and portable snacks. You can visit our page on making healthier meals and snacks for some ideas.
• Keep an eye on the cost of fresh fruit and vegetables throughout the year. You can use cheaper options in season, in your favourite meals and as snacks.
• Buying loose versions could help avoid buying more than you need and reduce food and plastic waste.

Most people in Scotland eat more than enough protein, so try thinking about the starchy foods and fruit and vegetables parts of your meals first. 

Meat can be a part of a healthy balanced diet, but more people are choosing to eat less meat, adding variety with different protein sources. This can be good for your health and better for the planet. Learn more about sustainable eating.

Try to limit the amount of red and processed meat we eat to 70g a day on average.  You could introduce some meat-free days each week. Planning those meals in advance can make eating less meat easier. 

When planning for the week, think of some of the dishes you like to eat. You could adapt your favourites to swap some or all of the meat for pulses, fish, eggs or other meat free options. 

Sources of protein include: 

• pulses such as beans, peas and lentils are a good source of fibre, vitamins and minerals and are low in fat
  • these can be the main protein in any meal or used to bulk out soups, casseroles and sauces and are usually cheaper than meat and are often on a multi-buy offer
  • dried beans or lentils (in a bag) will need to be cooked for longer than tinned beans or lentils
• other non-meat protein sources like tofu, bean curd and mycoprotein can be used in place of meat in many recipes and often come frozen so can be added to your cooking straight from the freezer
• frozen and tinned fish can be cheaper options that can keep longer than fresh
• a healthy balanced diet includes more fish than most people eat - it's recommended to eat 2 portions per week, with one of those portions being an oily fish (salmon, sardines or mackerel)
• eggs are a cheap, healthy source of protein, with no weekly limit. Boil some in advance for snacks, salad toppers, or easy additions to packed lunches or use them to make healthy, quick dishes like omelettes

If you've room in the fridge, choose meats with a longer use-by date to avoid wasting food. Large packs of meat are often cheaper per portion. You could buy or cook meat in bulk and freeze in portions to save time later. Read the labels and safely freeze meat by its use-by date.

Products like pasteurised milk, cheese and yogurt may feature in your meals and snacks. Dairy or non-dairy alternatives which are lower in fat, sugar and salt, and have added vitamins and minerals are good choices.

Tips to make the most of your dairy and dairy alternatives

• Freezing grated cheese can help reduce waste and save money, especially if you buy a larger pack on offer or buy a block and grate your own.
• Long-life milk and non-dairy alternatives keep longer than fresh and often come in multi-buy deals.
• Prepping snacks in advance by portioning out products like yogurt from a larger container can save money compared to buying individual pots, while making it easy to grab a healthy snack on the go.
• For small-quantity dairy items like soured cream, you could plan meals that use the ingredient across several dishes during the week - such as adding it to dips, baked potatoes, or sauces - to make sure you use it up before it spoils and reduce waste.

We only need a very small amount of oils and spreads in our diets.

What you cook food with can make a difference. Sunflower, rapeseed, olive or vegetable oil are healthier choices than butter, ghee or coconut oil.

There's no reason to choose more expensive oils, like extra-virgin olive oil, unless you prefer the taste. Less expensive oils like vegetable or rapeseed oil are just as healthy.

You can also get oil as a spray which can help to use less and make it go further. If you normally use butter, you could try an olive oil, sunflower oil, or low fat spread instead.