Who doesn't have a stock cupboard

Loubell83

Thanks for the advice so far - appreciated.

At the weekend I am going to move my unnecessary plates out of the kitchen and clear room for tins!

GreyQueen

elona wrote: »

GQ

Thanks for the information about premium bonds. I would have felt awful if I had suggested something that got someone into trouble in the future. Have vague feeling that pension savings in offficial scheme might not count but then money is tied up - sigh.

Money tied up in pension saving doesn't count as capital if you haven't got the use of it; obviously when that pension comes into payment it'll be a different matter but pensioners have much higher thresholds for both income and capital than working age people. I've encountered people who have come out the wrong side of the means-test because they have saved in bank accounts intending that money to be untouched as a "pension" but of course, the regs don't treat it as such unless it is tucked up in a pension fund. Something to consider. And ISAs are capital as well.

Loubell83 wrote: »

I dont have a store cupboard, as I live in a tiny flat. Is there any ideas of how to start one with little room?

And what kind of things are best to keep in it? Please dont tell me lots of bulky things! I wish I had a bigger house so that I could stockpile

Hi hun, another one with a very small flat (240 sq feet and kitch is 6 x 8 feet.)

Here's how I do it; kitch has 2 double wall cabinets and 2 singles. One single is for plastics, one is for crockery. The doubles are on the party wall. One contains the mugs and a few random things like the thermos flask and baking requisties, seasonings, scales etc. The other contains tinned and packaged goods. My base units are an undersink one and a single which holds saucepans. The cooking oil stands in the saucepan cupboard as does whichever 5 kg bag of breadflour I have on the go. There's a big bag of pasta in there and some dried fruit.

In my sitting room I have a storage stool against one wall holding 27 cans tinned spuds (layers of 9 tins, 3 deep). In my sewing cabinet, a repurposed CD cabinet, I have some basics toiletries like toothpastes.

In my bedroom, I have a double pine bedstead with a valance on it. That it to hide the rather unusual use to which I place the underbed area.

I have trollies under there, two of them steel grid and wood Argos trollies (£3 the pair from a bootsale) and a home-made trolley from a piece of plywood with a narrow bead of timber glued around the edge to stop the tins sliding off. There are also several strong but flattish boxes under there and room for a couple of pieces of luggage. The floor is tiles and the window always ajar unless it's bitter so it's dry and cool under there. I only keep cans and bottled or tubed stuff under there. I also have a flat banana tray box packed with pasta, all sealed in a bin sack to keep the dust off, on the bedroom trolley.

I keep several packs of loo roll in the storage shed just down the row, where they sit on a high shelf. I wouldn't keep anything particularly valuable in there as they get broken into from time to time.

So that is the where, as to the what, it's harder to quantify. As PAH said, you need to store what you will eat. I'm ignoring the 4p a can mushy peas too as I cannot stand them.

I experimented by sticking notes on bottles and packets and learned that I use 1 litre of cooking oil and 1 kg of porridge oats a month. I do a lot of tomato-based cookery so I have lots of tinned tommies and tomato puree. I like tinned fish from time to time so I have sardines, mackerel, pilchards, salmon and tuna in cans. There is a fair amount of pasta on the premises as I often make a pan of pasta and add a spoonful of mayo and whatever veggies are around to make a packed lunch to take to work.

I have kidney beans in quantity bought at Lidl for 16p a can (my local supermarket wants 69p a can, and they can keep wanting). I also have mixed bean salad in cans, for a fast meal, and sweetcorn. I have canned soups (only my fave tomato soup) for a fast warming meal and am stocking up on tinned rice pud at 12p a go as I cannot make it for that and it is a warming pud on a cold day. I also have tinned basics peaches, because I like them and at 29p a pop they're great value.

I don't have coffee at all as I can't stand it but usually have about 4 packs of the Sainsbugs Basic teabags at 27p a pop. I don't go to that store often as it involves a special journey but I buy a few at a time. I have 4 x litre packs of UHT milk and will use them for when I can't or won't get to the shops for fresh.

Mostly, I eat fresh foods cooked from scratch with supplementary tinned goods. I have an allotment and grow my own where possible but this has been an appalling year. I have my own potatoes (1.5 sacks) but they won't keep in good condition until next year's crop is ready so the stockpiled tinned spuds are to be used then. Knowing what I know from sources in the farming community, I'm estimating that there will be a very expensive time for fresh veggies, esp from Dec onwards, as crops have been poor and potato blight is dreadful this year.

A food commodities dealer I heard interviewed on Radio 4 last week was explaining that there is a 6-9 month lag before higher commodity prices feed thru into price increases at the supermarket so there is trouble incoming.

Given that savings effectively have a negative return because the interest rates are so low, the smart money is at least considering stocking up on food and other consumables with a reasonable shelf-life.

Gosh, what a lot of words for this hour of the day. Hope that may help someone.

PS single person household spending an average of £14.24 a week on housekeeping (food and non-edibles like t.p and cleaning stuff) and that includes the storecupboard.

Loubell83

GreyQueen, that post was so helpful thank you very much for taking the time

GreyQueen

Loubell83 wrote: »

GreyQueen, that post was so helpful thank you very much for taking the time

My pleasure. I learn so much from MSE that it's nice to give back.

I also stockpile some cleaning materials which are under the sink; Tesco Basics cream cleanser at 32p each (as good as Cif), washing up liquid and soda crystals. This is my repotoire, along with scalding hot water, to clean almost anything. The soda crystals were on offer at 68p a pack, which is what they were a couple of years ago but they've been up to the £1 mark for some time.

I have my washing powder under there but it, and opened soda crystals and similar are all in plastic containers. Sooner or later everyone gets a water leak under the sink so it's good to plan ahead so that you don't have a soggy useless carton of something. Waste isn't MSE, is it?

PipneyJane

Peabel wrote: »

GreyQueen Yes it can get pretty hot in summer, 40ish is about right. At night it might go down to 20. In the winter, now, it can seem quite cold even though it was 18 today. It will get down to about five in the night and we have single glazing, no heating and no insulation I know this will seem silly to you folks but it feels really cold. With regards to food storage, I tend to buy loose fruit and veg daily or every couple of days in summer as I find it doesn't keep well even in the fridge. However, things tend to be split into smaller portions, half or quarter melons for example and single sticks of celery. There aren't any Aldi/Lidl type stores but maybe we will get one once we start Sunday opening later in the year.

Don't want to gross anyone out, but the key to storing dried goods here is airtight containers and keeping things clean to discourage the cockroaches. I tend to buy dried good in plastic containers when on offer so I can recycle the containers.

perpareathome Perth is a lovely city, small and very laid back compared to some of the other Australian cities, with a great family and outdoor vibe. The only problem is, it is miles away from anywhere else and quite expensive. You must be really looking forward to the wedding and your trip.

Peabel

Hi Peabel, and welcome!

I'm a displaced Melbournian (been in the UK for 23 years now). No, it doesn't surprise me that you feel cold. Even at their best, Australian houses are designed to keep the heat out and not the warmth in. And most don't even do that well. (I have visions of a classic Queenslander floating through my head - one large, tin-roofed sweat box.)

Regardless of where you live, heavy-duty air-and-water-tight plastic boxes are the best way to store dried goods. As well as defeating invading forces of cockroaches/rodents, it stops cross-contamination if something has an infestation of weevils. It also prevents the dried goods absorbing moisture, if you live in an area of high humidity. (Britain is much more humid/damp than Melbourne, but Brisbane in summer beats both hands down.)

elona

Not sure if this is store cupboard but when basic butter was 64 pence I froze lots of it. That was a couple of years ago and used up ages since so need to be on lookout for offers so I can do this again.

Pops

Should you not be getting a 50% discount on council tax? It may have gone down to 25% discount now for single occupancy.

PhGage

GreyQueen wrote: »

The soda crystals were on offer at 68p a pack, which is what they were a couple of years ago but they've been up to the £1 mark for some time.

I normally buy my white vinegar at an Asian Supermart and this time I noticed that they had 25kg sacks of soda crystals and a box of 12 x 1kg soda crystals. Definitely don't have room for the 25kg (such as shame as it was an amazing price) but the 12 pack worked out at around 68p p kg which is the best price I've seen for a long time (soda crystals aren't readily available near to me).

Butterfly_Brain

As it is the 1st day of the month (Pinch Punch and all that )
I have decided to use only the things in my store cupboard for meals - apart from fresh fruit and veg. It will make sure that everybody enjoys what I cook, I try and do this every other month using different recipes, so that I have a good repertoire at my fingertips, plus it helps with stock rotation. All I have to do at the end of the week is replace what I have used.

GreyQueen

Butterfly_Brain wrote: »

As it is the 1st day of the month (Pinch Punch and all that )
I have decided to use only the things in my store cupboard for meals - apart from fresh fruit and veg. It will make sure that everybody enjoys what I cook, I try and do this every other month using different recipes, so that I have a good repertoire at my fingertips, plus it helps with stock rotation. All I have to do at the end of the week is replace what I have used.

That's a good regular habit to be in. A while back, I did the No Spend for 7 days challenge and was able to live quite comfortably, thanks to the storecupboards.

miss_emmajane

Butterfly_Brain wrote: »

All I have to do at the end of the week is replace what I have used.

I am going to try and do the same - buy fresh fruit & veg and then just replace food used at the end of the week