Essential Nigerian Groceries for a Successful School Season

Once you’ve got a handy guide of easy-to-make Nigerian meals for your children, you want to cover the next important item: keeping a stocked store. We’ve all had that experience where, while turning efo riro in a pot, we suddenly realized, “There’s no salt!”

This—running out of groceries—happens for many reasons. Sometimes, work and business eat into your shopping window. Sometimes, it’s because you came up with a meal idea off the cuff and didn’t confirm you had all the right ingredients. And sometimes, you simply forgot while shopping that you needed to refill your spices and seasonings.

Whatever your reason, having a list of essential groceries will save you on both rainy and sunny days. Below, we review seven important categories of groceries every Nigerian parent should store at home for a successful school season.

Essential Groceries for a Parent’s Kitchen

As you plan your next grocery run, either online or in-store, check off the categories below to ensure you don’t leave anything out:

Soup Ingredients

The hack behind soup ingredients is this: you don’t wait until you need them before you get them. Think of any full-course Nigerian meal you can make, and you’d see either pepper, onions, or tomatoes nodding in the queue of recipes.

A ready-made bowl of pepper mix is a multipurpose, life-saving resource, covering a range of meal preps, from efo riro to akara.

When shopping soup ingredients, don’t tick this category as done if you haven’t added the following to your cart:

• Tomatoes
• Onions
• Cayenne pepper (sombo)
• Scotch bonnet pepper (ata rodo)
• Red bell pepper (tatase)
• Sweet bell pepper
• Dry cameroun pepper

Don’t know where to start gathering your peppery ingredients? We’ve curated a range of pepper bundles matching different cooking expectations and requirements. For a limited time, you can purchase a Stew Mix bundle, a Rich Tomato pack, or a Spicy Stew pack at cheaper prices. You can also explore other bundles once you sign into your PricePally account here.

Fresh Fruits and Vegetables

Nigerians don’t stock up on fruits at home because many Nigerian fruits are perishable. Hence, a fine mix of both perishable and non-perishable options will ensure you always have enough fruits for your kids’ fruit salads or the family’s after-meal smoothies.

Some options include:

• Apples
• Carrots
• Bananas
• Pineapples
• Berries
• African pear (ube)
• Pawpaws
• Cucumbers

Depending on the season and available type, you should include any fruits from the citrus family—tangerine, oranges, or lime. You can explore more fruit options with our custom Fruit Mix bundle, selling fast on PricePally.

Vegetables complement the nutrients your body extracts from fruits. A fruit-vegetable combo supplies vitamins, antioxidants, essential minerals (calcium, potassium, phosphorus), and dietary fiber. Here are some recommendations:

• African spinach (efo soko and tete)
• Okro
• Scent leaf
• Bitter leaf
• Atama leaf
• Waterleaf
• Uziza leaves
• Ewedu

As part of our efforts to encourage easy shopping, we offer a variety of soup recipe bundles for making vegetable delicacies. Bundles available include Ogbono bundle, Efo riro bundle, Egusi bundle, Edikaikong bundle, and Afang bundle.

Spices and Oils

You don’t want to run out of salt, maggi, thyme, or your favorite jollof spice on a Sunday evening while meal prepping for the new week. It’s why we’re including this category in our ranking of essential groceries.

The spices and seasonings below should find a slot in your kitchen:

• Thyme
• Curry
• Salt
• Stock cubes (maggi)
• Tumeric
• Black pepper
• Nutmeg
• Ginger
• Bay leaf
• Locust beans (iru)
• Crayfish powder.

Beyond their significant role in cooking, healthy oils add flavor to a meal and fat-soluble vitamins to the body. Below are some necessary cooking oils to store up on:

• Olive oil.
• Groundnut oil.
• Palm oil.
• Canola oil
• Sesame oil.

You don’t have to buy all the above-listed oils, but having two or more options will ensure you alternate at will.

Meat, Fish, and Other Proteins

Proteins precede carbohydrates or other starchy foods in our list because they are often overlooked. And in moments of budget trimming, proteins are the first to fall off the shopping list.

Proteins contain amino acids in their building blocks; these organic molecules repair body cells and help you build new ones. Proteins also regulate the body’s pH and drive metabolic reactions. Balancing your children’s meals with proteins will see to their all-round growth and development.

Proteins to buy  include:

• Beef
• Fish (Titus, Hake, etc)
• Chicken.
• Turkey
• Stockfish
• Periwinkles
• Shrimps
• Crayfish

Eggs and milk are two necessary proteins to stock up at home. And if you have a family member keeping a vegan diet, don’t leave out tofu, lentils, and other vegan protein sources.

Carbohydrates

There’s always rice at home. Regardless of the rising living expenses, rice remains a staple in Nigerian households. More than rice, though, you can extend your groceries to other starch sources including:

• Cereals: Millet, wheat.
• Tubers: Yam, cassava, sweet potatoes.
• Tuber derivates: Garri, yam flour
• Pasta: Noodles, spaghetti, and other pasta variants.

As with rice, so is it with bread. There’s almost always bread at home. But resist the urge to store loaves of bread in the house, as they have a short shelf life.

Seeds, Nuts, and Cereals

Nuts and seeds are an underrated component of a balanced diet. Not only do they supply fats, fibre, vitamins and minerals, they also help the body fight diseases. They can help in regulating food intake and body weight.

Some of the best seeds and nuts for your family include:

• Groundnuts
• Cashew nuts
• Pecans
• Almonds
• Tigernuts (suitable for both children and adults)

Since you’re shopping with your kids in mind, cereals should be a priority on your list. They can fit into your meal plan as a quick snack while you work towards dinner.

Options should include:

• Fruits and Fibre
• Oats
• Cornflakes
• Golden Morn
• Fruity cereals

Packaged Foods and Drinks

Wrap up your list of essential groceries with packaged foods and drinks. These items are often paired with other categories of groceries, for instance, bread and butter, or added to a recipe when cooking. Some easy options include:

• Butter (margarine, mayonnaise, or peanut butter)
• Canned fish
• Whipping cream
• Soda
• Wines
• Fruit juices
• Canned veggies
• Energy bars
• Chocolate bars
• Chinchin
• Biscuits

Want more inspiration? Check out our Back-to-school bundle, which includes beverages, eggs, and drinks like Capri Sun. Our Breakfast bundle, which contains a perfect mix of items to run your family’s breakfasts during a school season, is also a good fit.

Frequently asked questions

Here are a few more thoughts on grocery shopping:

How do I preserve fruits and vegetables after shopping?

You can try out a handful of options including refrigeration, freezing, canning, or pickling. For instance, you can refrigerate apples, lemons, or any other citrus fruit, alongside vegetables such as spinach, bitter leaf, or carrots. You can freeze up berries (strawberries, blueberries) and green beans/sweet corn. You can also pickle (by preserving in a brine solution) apples, peaches, cucumbers, or carrots.

What are the best protein options for children?

Depending on their ages, children need between 19 – 34g of protein per day. You can source this across different protein categories including plant-based protein (beans, nuts, and if available, hummus), animal protein (fish, lean meat), and low-fat dairy products (eggs, Greek yogurt, frozen yogurt).

How can I create an effective meal plan?

We put together a meal planner for busy parents, with meal ideas, recipes, and shopping list inspirations. You can access the planner for free. You can also check out other meal plans, such as this one by Sisi Yemmie.