The NO storecupboard challenge...

debbym

No storecupboard?
Well I am about to move house to another country and will as a result be giving away any stocks I don't manage to use between now and the move. Not a situation I have been in for about 20 years (since I went to uni in fact) only this time it will be no storecupboard and a family of 5 to feed :eek:

I have been looking at the stuff I normally cook (and the many excellent recipes on this site) and realised that most of the costing for the HM from scratch stuff use a bit of this and that from the stores. I mean think about the number of times a recipe will use a splash of oil, or a pinch of herbs, or even just a pinch of salt. Normally I use the unit price approach to compare recipes, you know where you use 1 egg so you take the pack price of the 6 you bought and divide by 6 to give the unit price and so the pinch of this and that usually gets put down as say 5p here or there but imagine if you wanted to cost out a chilli and had to put the price of the whole pack of chilli powder - 89p instead of say 9p for a tsp and oil at £1.19 for a litre instead of a few pence. It can easily blow most of the weeks grocery budget on just a few meals. I thought maybe this is why the infamous "feed your family for a fiver" is so expensive, but no, I check the Mr S website and these recipes also have notes like "add 1 egg from storecupboard" (what a cheat!:mad:).
I suppose costing out the weeks recipes in this way is more realistic as if you want to try a recipe and it uses something you don't have you can't exactly walk into MrT and ask for 8p worth of ground coriander...But at the moment I have a feeling that we will either have to overspend in the first week or so to build up the storecupboard or live on relatively bland stuff for a week or so and build up gradually. Maybe this is where the money really goes every week:o
So my challenge to you all is this. Put yourself in my situation; if you were denied your emergency stores/herbs and spices/freezer contents/garden (grown yourself) produce etc etc etc and had to start from an absolutely empty cupboard what meals would you produce. Just to level the playing field we'll add a few groundrules - no cheap from market or asian supermarket etc either (not all of us are lucky enough to have this facility - where I am now is standard supermarkets or nothing!) go on scare yourself silly on how much your shopping could really cost! Any suggestions welcome.....

Mellika

I would stick to simple, down-to-earth food.

Most things you only need to put a bit of salt on, and maybe keep a small bottle of a sauce that you like that will go with anything? (soy sauce, worcesterchire sauce, etc)

most veg you only need to boil with a bit of salt, some meats you can just grill - so no need for oil there...

I will have a think and come back. BTW, where are you moving to?

debbym

We're moving to the Netherlands. It was supposed to be this week that we moved (kids are due to start school on Monday) but we found out from DH's HR dept that it will now be halfterm (thanks for the notice guys GRR)
The older kids (6 and 5) are "fussy" so stir fries and pasta type of things go down better than meat and veg - I'll try and post some ideas with frightening costings to give you guys a better idea...

meanmarie

You can do one of two things....bite the bullet and find yourself an Albert Heijn or some such and stock up on all the herbs, spices sauces etc you normally use...although some may be difficult to get in Netherlands, or as Mellika has advised, stick to plain food, salt and pepper and buy one of something else every time you go shopping.

Good luck in Netherlands....my eldest son and his family have just returned to Ireland after 10 years there and I will miss my visits....

Marie

fff_2

i turned up at uni this year (as a fresher) with NO storecupboard supplies. This is what i ended up buying (in this order) and will be taking back next year:
salt and pepper
soy sauce
oil and vinegar
veg stock cubes
mixed herbs
coriander, cumin, curry powder
cayenne pepper

i cook from scratch virtually all the time but tend to eat only a few different meals on rotation if i'm honest.

i'd think about things you cook a lot and what herbs/spices etc they have in them, also think about the kind of easy meals you'll want in the first hectic period of moving in (for me this would be lots of eggs on toast).

x

Toonie

Well, I'm not sure about meals, but I thought I'd have a look at the things I use to flavour my meals and this is what I came up with

99p Monari Federzoni Balsamic Vinegar of Modena (250ml)
24p Tesco Table Salt (750g)
£1.98 Tesco Whole Black Peppercorns (100g)
58p Tesco Bay Leaves (3g)
68p Tesco Dried Mixed Herbs (14g)
66p Tesco Dried Oregano (14g)
85p Tesco Ground Cinnamon (40g)
68p Tesco Ground Ginger (38g)
89p Tesco Mild Chilli Powder (50g)
39p Gold Plum Superior Dark Soy Sauce (150ml)
47p Tesco Tomato Ketchup (340g)

£8.41 from Tesco

As for meals, I would probably stick to simple things to begin with and look at your meal plans and buy those ingredients-so if you need a certain spice or herb one week, add that to your list and it will build up.

Good luck for when you move!

Allegra

Vegetable oil
Salt and pepper
Paprika
Tomato puree
Pots of living parsley and basil
Onion
Garlic

Add any veg or meat you manage to get hold of, a bag of pasta and a bag of rice, and you don't need anything else.