Autumn weekly menu: 7 days of seasonal food and a shopping list

Who is this autumn menu for, and who is it not for?

Who it is for. Healthy adults who want to eat better, organise their week or lose weight gradually. Without going hungry and without cooking separate meals for the rest of the household. The underlying guidance is in our guide to losing fat and keeping it off.

Who it is not for. It has not been calculated for pregnancy or breastfeeding, or for anyone under 18. It is also not for people with diabetes treated with insulin or medicines that can lower blood sugar too much, or with chronic kidney disease. If you have a condition with its own dietary plan (coeliac disease, a diagnosed allergy, heart failure or liver disease), follow your own plan.

If you have or have had an eating disorder, this menu has not been calculated for you either. The first step is specialist psychological support, before following any menu.

The autumn weekly menu, day by day

The week includes pulses four times, fish three times and seafood twice: prawns and cuttlefish. Meat appears three times and eggs in three meals. Every lunch and dinner includes vegetables, and seasonal fruit is included daily.

For dessert at lunch and dinner, have seasonal fruit or plain yoghurt. Drink water; no day includes alcohol. Have coffee and herbal infusions without sugar or with as little as possible. If you are not hungry mid-morning or in the afternoon, skip that snack.

How to serve portions using your hand

The menu does not include a calorie figure. What you need depends on your body size, activity and goal, and a total calculated for no one in particular would be an artificial estimate.

That is why portions are measured using your hand, which is proportional to your body and always with you. It is the approximate guide we use in consultations to get started .

• Vegetables. What fits in both your open hands, half the plate.
• Protein (fish, meat, egg or pulses if they are the main dish). The size and thickness of the palm of your hand.
• Carbohydrates (bread, rice, potatoes, sweet potato or pasta). Your closed fist.
• Fat (oil, nuts or avocado). The tip of your thumb per meal.

If your goal is to lose weight, the simplest adjustment is to keep the vegetables and protein and moderate the carbohydrate portion at dinner. If you exercise a lot or feel hungrier, add carbohydrates. In stews, pulses already provide both protein and carbohydrates, so with vegetables on the side there is no need for a second course.

The shopping list, aisle by aisle

Calculated for one person for seven days. If you are cooking for two or more, multiply the fresh ingredients. Take a set list and shop when you are not hungry, and cross off anything you already have at home.

Vegetables

• 1 pumpkin of about 1.5 kg (or 1.5 kg in portions)
• 500 g mixed mushrooms and 250 g button mushrooms
• 1 broccoli, 1 small cauliflower and a quarter of a red cabbage
• 300 g fresh spinach and 1 bunch of chard
• 4 leeks, 3 onions, 1 head of garlic and 500 g carrots
• 2 courgettes, 1 red pepper and 1 kg tomatoes
• 1 curly endive, 1 lettuce and 3 artichokes (or 1 jar of artichoke hearts)
• 500 g potatoes and 1 medium sweet potato
• 1 stick of celery and 1 turnip or parsnip for the soup

Fruit

• 1 kg mandarins and 2 oranges
• 4 apples, 2 pears and 2 persimmons
• 1 pomegranate, 1 kiwi and 1 small bunch of grapes
• 1 avocado and 1 lemon

Fishmonger

• 1 hake fillet (frozen is fine)
• 250 g cleaned sardines
• 1 fresh or desalted salt cod fillet
• 150 g peeled prawns (frozen are fine)
• 150 g cleaned cuttlefish

Butcher and eggs

• 1 chicken breast and 1 chicken leg
• 150 g lean beef for stewing
• 6 eggs

Dairy

• 1.5 l milk, or unsweetened plant-based drink with at least 3 g protein per 100 ml (soy is preferable, although it is an allergen).
• 6 plain unsweetened yoghurts and 1 kefir
• 1 tub of fresh cheese, 1 fresh mozzarella and a little grated cheese

Pulses, grains and bread

• 150 g dried lentils (or one 400 g jar of cooked lentils)
• 2 jars of cooked chickpeas and 1 jar of cooked white beans
• 250 g brown rice and 80 g fine noodles
• 300 g rolled oats
• 1 large wholegrain loaf (sliced and frozen) and 1 wholegrain pizza base
• 1 small tub of hummus (or make it with some of the chickpeas)

Pantry

• Extra virgin olive oil
• 100 g walnuts and 50 g almonds, plain or toasted without salt
• Coffee or herbal tea
• Cinnamon, cumin, paprika, bay leaf, oregano and pepper

Why does this menu work?

Because it fills your plate with filling foods such as vegetables, pulses and fruit. The WHO recommends eating at least 400 g of fruit and vegetables a day [2]. With two handfuls of vegetables at lunch and dinner and two or three pieces of fruit, you can reach that amount easily.

Pulses feature in four of the fourteen lunches and dinners, because the recommendation for the Spanish population is to eat them at least four times a week [1]. Lentils, chickpeas and beans provide protein, fibre and carbohydrates in the same dish.

Protein is included in every main meal. Eating a little more protein helps you feel full and, if you lose weight, preserve muscle [3]. Strength training two or more days a week helps preserve muscle. If you are interested in looking after it as you age, see what to eat to preserve muscle and bone.

The cooking methods are baking, stewing, grilling and making soups, without frying. Fruit and cinnamon provide the sweetness. No sugar is added to any dish, and free sugars should account for no more than 10 % of daily energy intake [2]. Autumn vegetables and fruit are also at their best now for flavour and price.

What mistakes do we see in consultations?

Relying on packet soups in autumn. Packet or carton soups often contain a lot of salt and cream. Homemade pumpkin and leek soup takes twenty minutes to make.

Turning seasonal sweets into an everyday snack. Panellets, buñuelos and candied chestnuts fit into a celebration. If they appear every afternoon, they take the place of fruit and yoghurt at snack time.

Drinking your fruit. The sugar in juice, including freshly squeezed juice, counts as free sugar [2]. Whole fruit is more filling, and a mandarin takes a minute to peel.

Compensating the next day. If the menu does not go to plan one day, it is common to want to skip dinner or eat less the next day to make up for it. It works better to pick up again at the next meal as if nothing had happened.

An autumn menu does not have to be perfect to work: it has to fit into your week.

How can you adapt it to your week?

• Vegetarian. Replace fish and meat with eggs, tofu or an extra serving of pulses. Keep the dairy products or plant-based drink from the shopping list.
• Gluten-free. Use certified gluten-free bread and pizza base, rice or potatoes instead of noodles, and oats labelled gluten-free.
• For a packed lunch. Stews, brothy rice and casseroles keep for three days in the fridge.
• Short on time. Use rinsed tinned pulses, frozen vegetables and frozen mushrooms for stir-fries.

If you would prefer a week with fewer seasonal ingredients, try the healthy weekly menu that is easy to prepare. When the cold weather arrives, continue with the healthy monthly winter menu, with four weeks of meals and a shopping list.