Building up store cupboard

johnjay_3 · 2 January 2010 at 5:45AM

Hello everyone

I am moving back to the UK in a few weeks and having been an avid reader of this forum for quite sometime thought I'd ask your advice.

I am going to be on quite a strict budget to feed a family of 2 adults and 3 children. I need to build a store cupboard from scratch and would welcome any suggestions of what I should buy.

I should be able to scrape together a fairly decent amount of money for my first shop. This will be my store cupboard shop with a week or 2's groceries and then I will have to cut back quite a bit.

So, what's in your store cupboard that you couldn't be without?

Appologies if this is repeated in another thread, please feel free to move if required or direct me to another thread.

Thank you

no.1swimmum · 2 January 2010 at 6:17AM

Hi, let me extend you an early welcome back to the UK.
I like to cook but time is limited but I always have and could not live with out plain and self raising flour, caster sugar for baking, eggs, pasta, tinned tomatoes, tomato puree, green lentils (make a cheap cottage pie base with tomatoes, mixed veg) , hotdogs (can be used in pasta sauce, my kids love it), vegetable stock, powdered milk, jelly and tinned fruit - for an easy dessert.
I have always shopped at the large supermarkets but in the last 6 months I have started shopping at Lidl it is a lot cheaper than the larger supermarkets and for example the same brand caster sugar is 40p a pack cheaper there. Hope this is helpful

elf06 · 2 January 2010 at 9:16AM

Hi - my advice would be similar to no.1swimmum! I would suggest four of various kinds (sr, plain and strong white), tinned toms,pasta, herbs, red lentils, oats, cocoa powder (i make micro choc puds which are v cheap and also use a teaspoon in bol and chilli), veg stock cubes.
If things are going to be tight try making your own bread etc and it will go a lot further.
Also a must is butter, milk, eggs......

Primrose · 2 January 2010 at 10:54AM

I wouldn't be without:
Dry pasta (various varieties). Lon grained rice. Red lentils. Tinned tomatoes. Various tins of beans (for soups & making mixed bean salads with leftofter ham, chicken, tinned tuna etc.) Stock cubes (chicken & oxo). Large jar of cooking oil. Plain flour. Selection of herbs & seasonings. Tomato ketchup.

viv0147 · 2 January 2010 at 11:43AM

Hi for the last three Sundays I go shopping in Tesco at 3pm and the reductions are brilliant I can buy a loaf of bread for in-between 15p and 40p the fruit and veg really big reductions and meats etc not always but I normally have a few bargains and I occasionally strike gold the week before last I spent £7.96 and had food to the value of £25.56 my freezer is full now Lol

Olliebeak · 2 January 2010 at 11:58AM

Buy a couple of dried herbs/spices in your first shop and then add maybe one or two a month until you have a good assortment - start with Dried Mixed Herbs and perhaps a Mild/Medium Chilli Powder as those will be useful in so many things.

If your family will use it in teas/coffees/cereals, make sure that you keep some Longlife Milk in the cupboard AND some dried milk - these can save you a small fortune mid-week as they'll stop you 'popping to the supermarket' when you run out of fresh. It's those 'quick trips for milk and/or bread' that can absolutely ruin your budget.

Don't be scared of using SmartPrice/Value/Basics ranges of things - I always buy potatoes (£1.36 for 10lbs), carrots (84p for 4lbs), onions (88p for 4lbs), root veg packs (£1.36 for carrots/onion/parsnips/swede) this way.

slummymummyof3 · 2 January 2010 at 12:04PM

Try shopping in Aldi or Lidl as it is significantly cheaper than the big supermarkets. You will have a 'store' cupboard that is far fuller

thriftlady_2 · 2 January 2010 at 12:39PM

This is my basic list at the moment.

Baking supplies
Flour-plain, self-raising and bread (wholemeal and white)
oats
baking powder, bicarb, yeast
cocoa, coconut, sunflower seeds
walnuts, almonds
sultanas, dried apricots, raisins
caster sugar, demerara, soft brown sugar
golden syrup, black treacle
suet

Dry goods
oatcakes, popcorn kernels
long grain rice
spaghetti
barley

dried pulses-chick peas, mung beans (for sprouting), kidney beans, haricot beans, red lentils, green lentils

Tins and cartons- tomatoes, tomato puree, passata, tuna, mackerel, baked beans
UHT milk and dried milk for yogurt making (not essential-can use fresh milk)

Sauces and flavourings
Worcester, soy, mayo, honey, mustard (dijon, English), marmite, ketchup
jams, jellies, chutneys, pickles (all hm)
wine vinegar, olive oil, sunflower oil,
large selection of spices and herbs
sherry, vermouth

tea, ground coffee

Fridge
eggs, milk, butter, lard, yogurt (hm), bacon, ham, cheddar, parmesan

Freezer
pittas, hm loaves and rolls
breadcrumbs -from hm bread
berries (home picked/grown+ blueberries)
peas, sweetcorn
Whole chickens, mince, sausages,
hm chicken stock, whatever fish I've bought for the week

Ladyhawk · 2 January 2010 at 12:58PM

Just wondering why people are buying caster sugar?

There is a premium for it though it is very easy to make your own. Just put the amount you need in a coffee grinder/ liquidiser/ food processor for about 20 secs and there you have it...

Oh and my essentials are:
Salt
Pepper
Cake flour
Self raising flour
mixed herbs
Oxo cubes (I know HM stock is nicer...)
granulated sugar
Spiral pasta
Lasagne sheets
jam ( made a bumper load of strawberry jam over the summer... I was given 7kg of strawbs at once!)
tinned tomatoes
tomato sauce
rice (I prefer basmati)
potatoes
onions
oats
tinned sweetcorn
tinned MSC tuna (I won't eat it unless it is MSC certified as coming from well managed fisheries)
Mrs Balls Chutney
curry spice
Rapeseed oil
Olive oil
Balsamic vinegar
White wine vinegar
Sun dried tomatoes (I turned 3kg of tomatoes that I was given at the same time as the strawbs into oven dried toms)

Good luck with the move!

Juliepink26 · 2 January 2010 at 1:03PM

blend it for a little longer and you can make your own iceing sugar as well!

Olliebeak · 2 January 2010 at 1:10PM

I've got a blender but not everybody has - especially if just starting out again.

I have found that for many types of cake, granulated gives very good results. I often use it for basic Victoria Sandwich Cakes and scones - though if I'm doing something for a present, I always use caster sugar and butter (if it's just for us, I use Sunflower Margarine).

PLEASE READ BEFORE POSTING

Building up store cupboard

Comments

Categories

Get our FREE Weekly email full of deals & guides - and it’s spam-free