Beans, lentils, grains, vegetables and a handful of well-chosen flavourings turn up again and again across the Mediterranean's many different culinary traditions — and they are a genuinely useful starting point for a satisfying, affordable dinner. This is not a claim that Mediterranean cooking is cheap: some of its best-known ingredients, from good olive oil to fresh fish, are not. It is an argument for borrowing a handful of techniques that several of these traditions share.
There is no single Mediterranean cuisine
Greek, Italian, Lebanese, Spanish, Moroccan and Turkish cooking — to name just a few — are distinct culinary traditions with their own ingredients, history and character. Treating Mediterranean food as one uniform, inexpensive cuisine flattens that variety, and it is not accurate either. What is worth taking from these traditions is not a claim about their overall cost, but a set of techniques that turn up across several of them.
Where the practical value comes from
- Building a dinner around beans, lentils, grains and vegetables, rather than a large piece of meat or fish.
- Using herbs, garlic, citrus, tomatoes and spices to bring flavour, rather than relying on the quantity of a costly ingredient.
- Treating meat, fish or cheese as a smaller, supporting element where a dish calls for it, rather than the bulk of the plate.
- Reusing bread, cooked grains, sauces and vegetables across more than one dinner.
None of this is exclusive to the Mediterranean — similar techniques appear in low-cost cooking traditions worldwide — but it is a useful, well-documented set of examples to draw from.
Affordable ingredients that carry flavour well
- Dried or tinned lentils, chickpeas and beans
- Onions and garlic
- Tinned tomatoes
- Rice, pasta, bulgur wheat and couscous
- Herbs such as parsley, oregano, mint and bay
- Spices such as cumin, paprika and cinnamon
- Lemon
These form the backbone of a satisfying dinner without needing a large quantity of any single expensive ingredient.
Ingredients that can make the checkout more expensive
Good-quality extra virgin olive oil, fresh fish and seafood, pine nuts, almonds, saffron and speciality cheeses can all add significantly to a shopping bill. They can still have a place — used in small quantities, saved for when you want to spend a little more, or swapped for a more accessible alternative.
Four appetising dinner examples
Greek fasolada
A hearty white bean soup, one of the best-known bean dishes in Greek cooking, made by simmering dried white beans with onion, carrot, celery and tomato, finished with a generous amount of olive oil. It is traditionally meat-free.
Roman pasta e ceci
A central and southern Italian dish of small pasta and chickpeas, simmered in a tomato-and-rosemary broth with garlic. The chickpea-and-pasta base needs no meat, although some Roman versions include anchovy.
Lebanese mujadara
A Levantine dish of lentils and rice, or bulgur wheat, built almost entirely around deeply caramelised onions, with cumin as the main spice. The version described here contains no animal-derived ingredients; check stock, packaged ingredients and accompaniments. It is found across Lebanon, Jordan and Syria.
Spanish lentejas con chorizo
A Spanish lentil stew with potato, carrot, onion, garlic and paprika, where a small amount of chorizo is sliced in to flavour the whole pot rather than serving as the main component.
Reusing ingredients across several dinners
A larger pot of cooked lentils, chickpeas or rice can be split across two or three dinners. A batch of caramelised onions can flavour a grain, a stew or a simple bean dish. A tomato-and-garlic base can work beneath pasta e ceci one night and a different bean or vegetable dinner later on.
UK-supermarket substitutions and how they alter the result
- Tinned lentils or chickpeas are already cooked, so they can be drained and added without soaking, in place of dried.
- Use a more everyday cooking oil in place of extra virgin olive oil for cooking. The dish will lose some of the fruitier, more peppery flavour that good olive oil brings, although this matters less for cooking than for a finishing drizzle.
- Widely available cooking chorizo can replace a specific artisan variety. It still gives a smoky, paprika-forward flavour, although the exact taste and texture vary by brand.
- A more everyday hard cheese can replace Parmesan or Pecorino for grating. This changes the flavour but still adds a savoury, salty finish.
- A widely available long-grain rice may replace a specific variety, but texture, liquid requirements and cooking time can differ, so follow the pack instructions.
These substitutions change the character of a dish rather than its core structure, so try the closest available alternative rather than skipping the ingredient's role entirely.
Frequently asked questions
Is Mediterranean cooking always cheaper?
No. Good olive oil, fresh fish, nuts and speciality cheese can be some of the pricier items in a UK shop. The value here comes from specific techniques, not from the region's cooking being inexpensive overall.
Do I need extra virgin olive oil, or can I use something else?
A more everyday cooking oil works for the cooking itself, although the dish will lose some of olive oil's characteristic flavour. If you want that flavour, a small amount used to finish the dish goes further than using it throughout.
Can I make these dinners vegetarian or vegan?
Fasolada and the mujadara version described here contain no meat. Pasta e ceci can be prepared without anchovy where the chosen recipe allows. For a meat-free Spanish-inspired lentil stew, omit the chorizo and build the smoky flavour with paprika, recognising that this is an adaptation rather than traditional lentejas con chorizo.
What is the easiest way to start if I have not cooked much with lentils or chickpeas before?
Tinned lentils and chickpeas are the simplest way in. They are already cooked and only need heating through, so a dish such as pasta e ceci or mujadara is a reasonable first attempt.
How can I avoid the more expensive ingredients pushing up the price?
Use them in small quantities as flavouring — a little chorizo, a modest amount of good olive oil as a finishing touch, or cheese grated rather than sliced — rather than as the bulk of the dinner.
How DinnerByDesign can help
Search DinnerByDesign for dinners built around beans, lentils and grains, and use the Low Cost filter alongside these techniques. Plan my week can help you schedule dinners that reuse a base sauce, cooked grain or batch of caramelised onions across more than one night.
Sources and further reading
The Spanish example uses a preparation reference rather than an official cultural authority and is therefore described in deliberately general terms.
- Visit Greece: Greek pulses to quicken your pulse
- Turismo Roma: Chickpeas and Roman-style pasta with chickpeas
- Lebanese University-affiliated research: Lebanese food exchange system including moujadara
- La Tienda: Lentil and Chorizo Stew — preparation reference only
- Food Standards Agency: How to chill, freeze and defrost food safely
- Food Standards Agency: Allergen guidance for food businesses
Related guidance
Explore low-cost cooking techniques, plan portions and reduce waste, review food-safety guidance or read how dinners are selected.