Everything you need to buy for Thea Baumann’s Week of Meals recipes

Week of Meals is a weeknight dinner series that brings you five, easy-to-prepare weeknight recipes from one shopping trip that costs less than $100. Here’s your grocery list and the prep work to do on the day of the shopping to make Thea Baumann’s recipes and set yourself up for effortless cooking the rest of the week.

BUY FRESH
These ingredients will need to be purchased if you don’t already have them.

Meat
1 pound ground lamb
4 chicken legs (drumstick and thigh attached)

Dairy
1 cup plain Greek yogurt
1 wedge Parmesan (6 to 8 ounces)

Produce
15 garlic cloves, plus 1 whole head
8 scallions
1 small onion
5 lemons
1 large head cauliflower
1 small fennel bulb
1 medium zucchini
2 Yukon gold potatoes (about 8 ounces)
6 cups baby arugula
1 bunch escarole or lacinato kale
1 bunch spinach
1 large bunch cilantro
1 large bunch flat-leaf parsley

Pantry
1 pound penne
1 quart low-sodium chicken broth or stock
1 can (14 ounce) whole peeled tomatoes in juice
1 can (14 ounce) chickpeas
1 cup French green lentils (or other lentils)
¾ cup jasmine rice

Bakery
1 large ciabatta loaf (about 1 ½ pounds) or sourdough or crusty Italian loaf

AT-HOME STAPLES
We’re expecting you to already have these ingredients. If you have to buy them, you will use them again and again in other recipes.

Oil and vinegar
1 ¾ cups everyday olive oil

Spices
1 teaspoon ground cumin
½ teaspoon crushed red chile flakes

SUNDAY PREP
This is the cooking you’ll want to do on your shopping day, preferably Sunday, to get more of the laborious or time-consuming tasks out of the way.

One ciabatta loaf will be used in three different recipes throughout the week. Here’s how to break it down:

For the Roasted Chicken and Bread With Fennel-Arugula Salad, cut off four ¾-inch-thick slices and let the slices sit at room temperature to go stale.

For the Lamb and Zucchini Burgers With Yogurt and Arugula, cut off four ½-inch-thick slices and wrap tightly to keep fresh.

For the Chickpea and Escarole Soup With Crispy Bread Crumbs, tear the rest of the loaf (at least 6 ounces) into bite-size pieces and spread out on a baking sheet to go stale for at least 1 day, preferably 2. Once stale, blitz the bread in a food processor until it forms rough-textured crumbs (do not process them to a fine powder). Store in an airtight container at room temperature until ready to use.

Thea’s neighborhood grocery store
Whole Foods Market, 2520 Glendale Blvd., Los Angeles, (323) 378-3891