A ridiculous amount of food in my cupboards

Long_tall_sally

Today I did a stock check of my cupboards & even I was shocked at how much was in there. One reason that I did this was because I had helped a friend move on Monday & had been shocked at the amount of stuff that she hoards but then thought I am just the same but with food. The other reason was that I always aim for a £450 pm total on food but very rarely achieve it and as you can see from my signature this month was particularly bad!
What is quite weird is that I love reading the Old Style forum but am so bad about putting a lot of it into practice. I even consider myself slightly "old-style" in that I don't buy ready meals & do make my own spag bols, cottage pies, chillies & soups but as you can see I do also use a load of shop sauces. I never buy them at full price but even so its obvious where some of my money goes. Here is a list of the contents of my cupboard (not including baking stuff) & I would be very grateful for any comments about how to make some of these sauces & things without the use of these jars. In my house there are 2 fulltime adults & 2 kids (one with diabetes & Coeliac disease) and 2 part time adults that come twice a week.
Why do I continue to buy stuff when I have so much in?!

2 Naan breads
2 cartons of passata
2 Uncle Ben’s Sweet N Sour Sauce
1 Helman’s mayonnaise
5 sachets Bread sauce
1 sachet white sauce
1 sachet onion sauce
1 complete fajitas kit – Mexican Discovery
2.5 fajitas mixes – Mexican Discovery
4 Taco mixes – Mex Dis (one BB Jan13)
1 crispy crumb coating for chicken – Mex Dis (BB Nov 12)
1 Old Elpaso Fajitas stir in sauce (BB Oct 12) Only 1 person likes it.
1 Old Elpaso Taco Kit (BB July 12)
1 Saisburys Basic grated hard cheese (BB Sept 12)
2 sachets slow cooker chicken curry
1 x 660g Loyd Grossman Tikka Masala Sauce
1 x 350g Loyd Grossman Tikka Masala sauce
1 Red wine Vinegar
1 Napolina Tomato & Mascarpone Pasta Sauce 350g
1 Napoloina Tomato & Chilli Pasta sauce 350g
1 Co Op Karahi Cook in sauce 350g
1 Very Lazy red Chillies Jar
1 Pesto Rosso 190g
1 John West Wild Red Salmon (BB June 10)
1 Sardines in Tomato sauce 120g
1 Mackeral Fillets in Tomato Sauce 120g
1 Rice Pudding
1 Tin of Fruit Cocktail (BB Oct 12)
1 Aunt Bessie’s Sage & Red Onion Stuffing Mix
1.5 bags of yellow split peas (BB June & Nov 10)
1 Bag of Whitworths Soup & Broth Mix (BB Dec 12)
1 Bag of Co Op Soup & Broth Mix
2 Cream of Mushroom condensed soup
1 Cream of Celery condensed Soup
2 Heinz chicken soup
14 Heinz Tomato soup
1 Heinz Minestrone soup
3 Heinz Baked Beans
8 Tinned Tomatoes
8 Tins of Tuna
1 Pataks Dopiaza Curry sauce
1 Packet of whole chestnuts (BB Mar 10)
1 Block of creamed coconut (BB Feb 11)
1 Tin of coconut milk
1 Tub of Mango slices in Juice (BB Nov 12)
1 Tin of Old Elpaso refried beans (BB May 2009)
1 Tin of Tesco value kidney beans
1 Tin of Chilli kidney beans
1 Jar of Discovery Mexican Enchiada sauce (BB May 10)
1 jar of Dolmio bolgnaise 750g – for stepson who doesn’t like my home made.
1 Tin of mixed bean salad (BB Sept 11)
1 BBQ seasoning mix
1 Tesco value chicken flavour Instant noodle
1 Sharwoods Egg Noodle (BB July 12)
1 Short ribbon egg Noodles (BB Sept 11)
1 Ready to wok soft noodles
1 Isabel’s 26 G/free Dough balls (BB Aug 12)
Quite a lot of pasta, some rice, some potatoes
Soy sauce, balsamic vinegar, worcester sauce, ketchup, HP sauce, herbs & spices
Jam, marmalade, chocolate spread, ½ jar of peanut butter.

Sorry - also meant to ask if you think it would be ok to eat the things that are out of date or should I bin them? Thankyou!

rogueylawyer

I don't think I'll be much help - I'm in the same situation you are!

We move house in 7 weeks and I'm trying to use up the cupboards/freezer stock. I've taken to making a list of meals on a blackboard stuck to the front of the fridge - that way I can't claim to have nothing in when ten minutes of thinking has organised it for me.

I'd suggest picking up some cheap meats and veg and batch cooking things up - for example if only one person likes the fajitas, well then they can cook and take for lunch/have a separate meal one night.

Start using up the most out of date, just to clear and give yourself some stock rotation. I'd also suggest making some of your own sauces You have enough tinned tomatoes to experiment with tikka masala sauces for example.

Popperwell

Long_tall_sally wrote: »

Sorry - also meant to ask if you think it would be ok to eat the things that are out of date or should I bin them? Thankyou!

I am alone now, if I had to move(I don't want to)moving my food store might be interesting especially if there is less space in the new property but being alone as no one visits I don't care if it's on show...and I probably could put up some shelves and have a curtain across...but it means I have choice and a buffer for when food prices rise/income is tight!

I use food after their dates...and if they are best before rather than use by I would say it is pretty safe...I have eaten Kit Kats two years out of date, Kipling Cakes 3 months out of date...most things in cans last years and so on...more of a problem with milk and dairy products and yet I am using filtered milk 3-4 days over the date and it is fine...as long as you keep it as it is meant in a fridge at proper temperatures...it is only a guide after all...

Equally if items that need cooking are piping hot they should be safe and of course the other safety measure is commonsense and also looking at it and smelling it.

Honey_Bear

If it's tinned then Best Before dates are a guide - they'll be fine. The same with pulses.

I'd suggest meal planning around what you've got in, so that you know for instance that you're going to have Mexican/Fajitas/Tacos on Tuesdays for the next month, curry on Wednesdays, pasta on Thursdays and Chinese on Fridays (or whatever), and plan to use things such as the coconut and naan bread with curries, passata with pasta etc. When you're meal planning, work your way through your list braketing what goes together all in one hit, so you don't have to start afresh every time thinking 'Where do I start?'

You can also set aside stuff for Christmas now, such as the chestnuts and some of the bread sauce, and plan to have some of the rest with roast chicken in the intervening period.

And soup - you have a lot of stuff that will make fabulous soup, which OH and I have for lunch at least four times a week with a sandwhich.

For my freezer list, I categorise absolutely everything by meal on a list, fridge magneted to the side, so if I'm short of inspiration for dinner, all I have to do is look down the dinner column and decide if we want quiche, chipolatas or fish fingers. It saves rummaging around and getting cold hands, and endless amounts of time. You could do that with your store cupboard list.

krlyr

Fajita mixes are really easy to make. I keep an empty jar (a little Nutella pot at the moment) and make up a big batch rather than make it every time - saves having to faff with 1/5 of a stock cube or anything and makes it easier the next time.
http://busycooks.about.com/od/homemademixes/r/fajitaseasonmix.htm
(I never have cornstarch/cornflour to hand so just omit it and never had a problem)

Alternative recipes, including a 'wet' mix too
http://thepeacefulmom.com/2011/07/07/make-your-own-fajita-seasoning-mix/

kittycat204

I would say you've done the hard bit of itemising what you've got. Now you just need a bit of planning. How about starting small and saying 1-2 a week I will make a meal that doesn't require buying anything in. You could always pick some carbs, protein and veg and post for some help on here to get to started.
Good luck with it.

Oh and I would eat all the out of date things no hesitation.
If it makes you feel better, I have more in my cupboards, but SSssshhh about that.

Popperwell

I'd love a storecupboard like that;)in reality mine is probably pretty good and not bad for someone who is alone...I have today so far is two baps containing peaspudding, lettuce, ham and tomato plus a cup a soup but I am not hungry and probably have quite a lot of the calories/vitamins/minerals needed and also have vitamin suppliments.

But tomorrow I will probably have a casserole with lots of veg some meat and earlier cereal or porridge with fruit. So it all evens out.

[Deleted User]

Do as I have been doing this month and just stop going shopping I have shopped from my store cupbioard for the past four weeks and its just starting to show a slight dent in the supplies.,but the upside is that my budget of £100 for food for October is just a fraction over half spent so far.I do have a couple of bits of fresh milk,veg etc to buy either today or tomorrow but I will have saved probaly at least £40.00 this month and by using up some stuff I have a better idea of whats available.Works for me as I have 8 birthday before Christmas so a little frugal thinking has gone a long way
Good luck
JackieO xx

Meadows

Long_tall_sally wrote: »

Why do I continue to buy stuff when I have so much in?!

Would be ok to eat the things that are out of date or should I bin them? Thankyou!

Don't we all buy more than we really need (you want to take a look in my freezers :eek: ) especially when things are on offer it is frugal shopping to pick up none perishable goods to save us money (there are certain items I never ever pay full price for, only buying when on offer).

Yes your item will be okay to eat as they are Best Before dates and that means exactly what it says - food will be at its best if eaten before - and if a can is not 'BLOWN' the the contents will still be edible, but I think you need to check your cupboards more often and make a point of using certain items as some of your items are three and a half years beyond their BB date so that means they have been in your cupboard a lot lot longer.

Why not make use the chestnuts, coconut, mixed beans & peas in soups and then freeze (but eat not forget it is there). The sauce you can cook up with the noodles and then to toss in the salmon. That gets rid of the really old stuff, then keep on top of the dates after that.

Chris25

I recently read that toxins build up in oily fish - you can't see, smell or taste them but they can be extremely dangerous. This is why it's so important to heed the use/eat by dates for it.

Just by chance, I looked at the bottom of the container of codliver oil capsules we use & realised that they are a month OOD :eek:There weren't many left so I tossed them, although I wasn't sure whether they would be affected by toxins but didn't want to take the risk.

I also found in a cupboard a jar containing a solid piece of what started out as dried cardomom powder. I can grate that though

bossymoo

Hi I think there is a "eating from the storecupboard" challenge thread. There is one for freezer eating too. I need to do the same, although I do tend to rotate my storecupboard stuff so most of that is purchased this year.

Just had a look, they are combined, here:
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/3307650

Might have a go myself...