Help!! Basic shopping list needed (merged)

Luis

I would say that an absolute bog standard 'starter shop' could include:

Cheese
Frozen mince
Frozen Chicken Breasts
Tinned Toms
Tomato Puree
Tuna
Sweetcorn
Mayonnaise
Oregano
Pasta
Rice
Bread (in freezer)
Onions
Baked Beans
Tea / coffee / sugar etc
Emergency dried milk
Frozen Mixed Veg
Bacon
Butter
Fruit Juice
Cereal

Cleaners:
Loo Roll!
Toiletries
Good Kitchen Spray (can use in bathroom too)
Bleach

From this, you have the makings of several basic meals eg Spag Bol, Sheperds Pie, Tuna Pasta, Jacket Spuds, Beans on Toast, Bacon butties, Chicken dishes etc and some v basic cleaners.

I would agree, buy bulk and freeze, cook and freeze etc

Then, as previously suggested, you can start topping up /adding each week extra things that you want or like, eg Jam, herbs and spices, other cleaning things that aren't as urgent lol.

From previous economy drives, I recommend Wilkinson for Toiletries and Cleaning stuff (also for first sets of homewares - cheap and cheerful, and can be replaced when a bit more affluent). I recommend also Lidl, Aldi and Netto etc (but avoid the fruit and veg from Aldi as i have heard it is poor quality).

Good Luck, and have fun - setting up home is great fun!

squeaky

And then you'll need some recipes to make best use of your grocery purchases, so, he sez shamelessly, get some ideas from recipes posted by members found in my signature

Savvy_Sue

If you're living alone, it can seem a bit unnecessary to cook just for yourself (well I find it is anyway!) And buying smaller quantities can be more expensive than 'normal' sizes. So try to think of things you like that you can stretch over two days: for example a standard size tin of chopped tomatoes will set you back about 19p in Asda (there or thereabouts from the Basics range) but you can make two days worth of sauce from it. Serve with mince one day and tuna the next, over pasta, rice, couscous, jacket potato, to ring the changes.

Collect your favourite recipes from anyone who knows how to cook, and if you need a few lessons, get them now.

A small freezer can be very useful because you can buy those larger quantities and freeze things - excellent tip to split them down into portion sizes before they go into the freezer!

The New Pauper's Cookbook by Jocasta Innes is one I use a fair bit (although I prefer the first edition which is now falling apart!), and I used to have access to Cooking in a Bedsitter by Katherine Whitehorn - very useful generally on living alone! Both may still be available via Amazon, and possibly more recent titles would suit you better.

Iona_Penny

For all the family laundry I use liquid Bold and find that quite honestly for lightly soiled (I hate that word!) clothes I use half the recommended amount and the clothes come out fine. That way you don't need expensive fabric softener and the Bold stuff goes twice as far. If you have a particularly grubby load to do you just slosh a bit more in.

mrbadexample

Hello all. :wave:

As you may know, I am a bloke. By definition, therefore, a bit out of place in the kitchen.

I am trying to improve matters slightly, but need assistance. What should I have in my cupboard as basic ingredients? The criteria are (in no particular order):

1. Cheap(ish).
2. Shelf life. Should be years, preferably.
3. Not sweetcorn.
4. Easy to store.

I have, at the moment, pasta, rice, flour (plain, BBE Sept '04), salt, black pepper, white pepper, "fire eaters hot mix" (in a grinder), sunflower oil, mustard, marmite, popcorn kernels, tins of soup, chilli, carrots, peas, mushrooms, tuna, salmon, pilchards, baked beans, kidney beans, & chopped tomoatoes. 8 types of cereal. Cream crackers, ginger nuts and digestives. A pot noodle. 2 Dolmio stir-in pasta sauces. 2 baking potatoes, 2 tired-looking tomatoes. Oh, and a bit of Christmas cake. And half a cauliflower cheese that's been cooked twice already.

In the fridge there is: Clover, butter, 3 eggs, a little Mexicana cheese, some Wensleydale (mouldy), milk, mayonnaise, ketchup (BBE 12/04), BBQ sauce (unopened, BBE 11/04), very lazy garlic (BBE 07/04), very lazy chillies (BBE 08/04), pickled chillies, green chilli pickle :drool:, caramelised red onion chutney, piccalilli, horseradish, marmalade, pickle.

In the freezer there are bread rolls and half a loaf and half a tub of rum & raisin ice cream, BBE 10/05.

So, what should I throw away, and what should I buy? If you nominate a food item to go in my cupboard, please give a brief account of its virtues, weaknesses and uses, Please help, coz if I die of scurvy or something, it'll be all your fault. I haven't been shopping this week, so it is fairly typical of what I've got left when I've eaten the good stuff.

Thanks,

MBE

Rikki

Single bloke comes to mind too.

mrbadexample

Rikki wrote:

Single bloke comes to mind too.

Well obviously! If I wasn't single I'd be nowhere near the kitchen... :whistle:

Trow

mrbadexample wrote:

Well obviously! If I wasn't single I'd be nowhere near the kitchen... :whistle:

And you wonder why no-one has snapped you up yet.... :rolleyes:

Rikki

mrbadexample wrote:

Well obviously! If I wasn't single I'd be nowhere near the kitchen... :whistle:

With the amount of out of date ingredients, it looks like you've been away from it for a while. :rolleyes:

mrbadexample

Trow wrote:

And you wonder why no-one has snapped you up yet.... :rolleyes:

Yeah...beats me!