Store cupboard challenge

Kataratarina

anyone?

i got all this food and have no idead what to do with it!!

Cazza

Chilli is jumping out at me! Sausage casserole? Chicken curry? Omlettes? Pasta bake? Risotto?

onetomany

try bbc website for recipes hun , chilli con carne, spag bog, chicken curry, sausage cassorole, veg curry, veg chilli,egg freid rice? hope this helps hun

Kataratarina

i will thanks, the thing that annoys me is evertime i go to make something from this board i'm always missing something! but i love chilli so will have a blast at that!

seabright

Don't worry about being missing an ingredient - you can usually substitute.

Many herbs can be swapped around, for instance. I find that peppers (which I hate) can be swapped with mushrooms and/or tomatoes. If I don't have any red or white wine open, I use a mix of cooking brandy and red or white wine vinegar. If it's just something you need a tiny bit of, you can usually leave it out all together

EssexHebridean

From the look of your list there you enjoy spicy food and curries? Why not look in your local library or online for recipes for the sort of dishes you like and then once you've used up your jars of sauces that you have in set yourself a challenge to cook one new recipe a week along those lines? So oit might not be an actual jalfrezi curry, but if it uses the same sort of spices, and some of the other ingredients, you might well create something delicious that will become a family favourite.

One thing if you're relatively new to cooking from scratch and are used to eating sauces from jars etc, always remember your seasoning. As a rule salt should be one of the very last things you add to a dish......taste the food, then add a little salt, and taste again. You shouldn't be able to actually taste the salt, but you will learn what a difference just a little makes to a dish. At first you will need more seasoning to get the same "hit" of flavour that you get from the pre-prepared sauces etc, but you'll gradually be able to reduce that, yet another reason why cooking from scratch is normally healthier!

Kataratarina

the problem i have with cooking is that my oh doesnt like spicy food, garlic etc. he is a plain eater and i'm weird (i dont like steak/pork/peppers) plus our freezer desnt have enough room to freeze containers in so im going to try and freeze in sandwich bags somehow (maybe tied) and they wont take up as much room.

i like curry, chilli and fajitas they would be my fav! oh and now i am ADDICTED so sweet chilli sauce!

rachbc

It might be a more money saving way round to think about and plan what you want to cook and eat then buy food to fit that otherwise you can be in danger of ending up with a kitchen full of food but no meals and no idea what to make

poppet

I agree with rachbc - its better to work out what you want to eat and they shop for the ingredients, but you've made a good start on getting a store cupboard together and from your list you could make:
Tuna and sweetcorn pasta bake
Chilli concarne
saussage casserole
toad in the hole
spanish frittata
chicken curry
bacon pilaf
fairy cakes
muffins
cookies

Cazza

I have the same freezer problem - freezer bags work well. The other thing I do, is to spoon the leftovers into a piece of tin foil, then wrap and freeze in the foil. If it's very liquid, put the foil in a bowl first, then wrap it up. I have a permanent marker pen and then write on the foil so I know whats in it and whether it's one or two portions!!