Irrational fear of empty cupboards

vij

Due to an upbringing where the earner of the family worked 9 months of the year and then had no work an no benefits for 3 months of the year and the budget did not allow for saving for this, I grew up with good store supboards being a way of life. My cupboards are full to bulging but I will still nip out to the shops for something I dont have when I could prob substitute or cook something else. I am pretty good when it comes to stock rotation andhave only had to throw things out recently as my freezer has died (eg half a cooked pie, 1/2 a home made lasagne 3 portions food total wasted this week)

I cater for me and my fiance ( a fussy eater who rarely says what he wants) 6 cats and a vege flat mate who will eat 2 - 3 times a week. Im not great at meal planning but always have a few meals avail with 30 mins in the kitchen. Im a fairly good cook and we both work full time and Im looking for ideas ans inspiration to save money in the home and kitchen. Ideally Id like to get past this squirrelling without anxiety.

Current example and its 4 days to payday:

Tins

12 x toms
12 x beans
12 x spag
4 x new pots
4 x peas
3 x sweetcorn
6 x tuna
10 x fruit
3 x custard
4 x rice pud
2 x coconut milk
1 x corn beef
20 asstd

Dry
4 x kilo pasta shapes
5 x lasagne sheets
2 x kilo rice
3 x bag flour
5 kilo asstd pulses
1.5 kilo soya mince
6 box cereal
10 x sponge mix
10 x batter mix

stores
2 x veg oil (3l)
2 x olive oil (1l)
lots of herbs and spices
4 x gravy mix

Lunches cupboard
crisps
tortilla wraps
lunchbox chocs

I buy a huge sack of catfood each month 15k for approx £12 and this does 6 weeks and I add fresh meat/canned fish for the cats and litter by the large sack.

and lots lots more, I want to try and move forwards and change some of the things I do but not sure where to start or if I need to.
Advice please...................

Seakay

You are obviously a good cook, so I would think about cutting down on tinned and packet ingredients which can be bought fresh or made,
eg potatoes,peas and corn can be bought fresh (or another green veg for peas) so try not replacing them when they are used up, or don't use them at all until the peas and corn go out of season, and then decide if you really want the tinned sort or if you could use a different seasonal veg.
You have flour, so why not use that to make sponges and batter rather than get packets of mix as well?
Rice to make your own rice pudding instead of tinned?
Fresh fruit in season instead of tinned (if you have access to them then blackberries can be free at the moment!)
I suppose I am suggesting that you simplify your store cupboard by trying not to double up, and by not having a 'preserved' ingredient where a fresh one is available and would be healthier and probably cheaper in season.

I satisfy my own need for a ridiculously well stocked larder by making jams, chutnies etc using foraged stuff, pick your own or greengrocer bargains (My OH still remembers the time a few years ago when I got the last of some redcurrants for a street stall for an amazingly cheap price and we had to stay up half the night processing them so that they didn't go off before I could use them!) This works for me as they are quite cheap to make and make nice little 'visiting' gifts as well.

curlywurlygirly

I know exactly how you feel, but unfortunatly am the same with fridge and freezer as well.....a full kitchen seems to make me feel more at ease, but it means that things inevitably end up getting wasted - however hard I try to guard against this....

Think I need to get to the root of this, and stop squirraling so much food.....

angie_loves_veg

Just been pondering this one......

Perhaps it would be worth you identifying your 'safety' levels.....ie how low could your store cupboard supplies go before making you anxious... many of us (I'm sure) keep a storecupboard when we can, but mine for example would have 2 tins of toms, not 12.

(I live very rurally, so the 'we could get cut off for a week/fortnight' anxiety hits me every winter - I have a minimum that I keep to during these times)

You might want to start thinking (1) What is the longest period of time you wouldn't go to the shops for (mine would be a fortnight), and therefore (2) What provisions you would need for that period of time. This would then be my stock level.

If you could bear to work all this out - and write it down somewhere to reassure yourself in moments of anxiety - you could then use your existing supplies until they hit that level, and replace them if they go lower!

Just to reassure you, from my point of view you have plenty more options than you may realise - with this storecupboard you say you ' always have a few meals avail with 30 mins in the kitchen' but there are many here who would happily help you create a huge variety of meals with what you have in...

MRSMCAWBER

Hi there

Until joining this forum.... i used to have the same problem.... For me it started when i took ill, had to leave work, and was invariably strapped for cash... if ever i had any money in my purse i would buy food "just in case"... i was still doing this 5 years later.... and sorting out cupboards every so often and realising i had stuff to throw away:o ...

I started getting better just before xmas.... and the final nail for me was when i was sorting out to move here to Germany - even though i had been trying to use up the food...i ended up giving away 4 huge carriers out of the freezer - salmon, raw king prawns, fillet steak the lot:o .... three of those collapsible crates with tins, bottles accompaniments etc!!!!

When i got here 5 weeks ago i decided that it was pointless committing heaps of money to food... especially if it was going to get thrown away:mad: ... so im now doing Dbelles shopping challenge... feeding me and my hubby for 4 weeks on £60 - well 80 euros for me... and still if anyone "dropped" in i still have plenty of food to feed them - and feed them well... the rest of the money designated for shopping - about 400euros:eek: ..stays in a tin.. if we want any more food i can easily get it, and if something happens i have cash i can put my hands on.....and every time i shop i know that what i buy will get used whilst its at its best, and tastiest....

I cant imagine going back to stockpiling :T ..i think im cured:j

vij

Hi, Thanks.
My cheat tins (potatoes etc) are for emergencies, I tend to buy a sack of spuds and some veg in the farm shop, the sack of spuds lasts approx 2 months and the softer ones to the end get put into soup. I tens to do a big shop every 3 months and pop out for bits and pieces as and when, this month we put aside 20 a week for bits and pieces in the month and have £40 left over this month which is going to treat us to a night out - normally impossible the week before payday.

beetrootjuicer

Crikey, Vij!!! Think I may have a problem too, then!!! Your list didn't sound too excessive to me but then this is a woman who's just counted 10 large tins of salmon, 12 small tins, 24 tins of tuna in the store cupboard. Then there's the tinned tomatoes, lentils, beans... I could go on!:o

To be fair though I normally buy enough BOGOFs when I see them to last until the next BOGOF offer (hence all that tinned fish!). Also the other reason for the huge stockpile is that we eat mostly organic and Asda, for example, do really cheap tinned tomatoes, pulses, mayonnaise, etc but I can't get to one very often - there's not one near by so when I can get there I make it worthwhile and stock up. I've never thought of it as a problem just good economic sense - nothing gets wasted and that store cupboard saves me a lot of money.

I can appreciate your problem with the anxiety about going short of things, though, Vij, it's not nice. What about using say 2 tins but only replacing with one until you get down to a level that seems reasonable and you're comfortable with?

Primrose

When I look at our storecupboard, I can assure you that you are not alone !! I grew up as a wartime child, and I think my mother's efforts to try and keep us fed during years of rationing has burned itself into my psyche ! The problem is though, that when you have so much stuff, however well-inclined you are, it's inevitable that the stuff at the back of the cupboard gets forgotten about, so you go out and buy duplicates, thinking you don't have any. Could you bear to set yourself a challenge to eat totally out of your storecupboard for a month, doing a "Ready, Steady, Cook" type of challenge? The idea of a well stock storecupboard is that you should be able to survive a siege. So, OK, Pretend the siege has now arrived and enlist your fiance and veggie friend in the exercise and threaten "No compromises" so that you are forced to use stuff up, no matter what strange meals you have to eat. Rose Elliott's vegetarian cookery books are full of good veggie meal suggestions. Take yourself down to your local library and check the cookery section if you don't have a good stock of cookery books and I think you might be surprised at what you can come up with. Good Luck, and have fun !

lindsaygalaxy

My mum is exactly the same, her cupbards are always full and i sometimes go get stuff from hers instead of the shop and just give her the money!

sallyrsm

Thank God it's not just me !!
I have a tendency to go beserk at times too... right now I've got well in to beans, so I've got dried red beans, butter beans, mung beans, chick peas, puy lentils, PLUS tins of all the above for when I want beans and have not done the overnight soaking thing....
a full kitchen cupboard is a happy house.
However, having read dbelle and Mrs Mcawber this morning, I've decided that next week I am only buying milk and fruit and veg and living off the cupboards/freezer... it's a sin for things to be in the freezer that long they've got freezer burn...
Me and my lad might both eat like veggies for a couple of weeks but every penny I don't spend from the normal weekly budget is going in the holiday account (Italy next year) - so far thanks to this site I've got over £200 from Quidco in the kitty.
Mrs McAwber - we used to live in Germany too - I envy you being out there. I really miss Knorr Jagersauce/Pfeffersauce mixes - you can get them mail order over here but they are so expensive. I really miss the shops over there. We lived near the Dutch border at one point and went shopping in Venlo and Roermond too.
So - I am joining the £60 challenge although cheating with my mountains of store cupboard ingredients. You lot are a total inspiration !
Goes without saying that any bean recipes gratefully received. LOL it's a good job I sleep alone !!

Erosgirl

Bean recipe: http://www.cannedfood.co.uk/