Storecupboard Essentials

Rikki

Heres a great thread from the Old Style Index giving you a good starting point. Click Here and read on.

edit: Post#9 has some more links too.

Stephen_Leak

I will do a check and post my own personal list this evening but, in the meantime ....

Pack of dried pasta
Tin of tomatoes

With just these two items, you have always got a quick, easy, cheap and filling meal.

thriftlady_2

Well, apart from alcohol and chocolate obviously:D this is what I like to keep.
I bake a lot so disregard the baking ingredients if you don't go in for baking -although oats are pretty useful and a bag of flour is very handy for sauces, crumbles, gravy etc.

Baking supplies
Flour- plain, self-raising and bread (wholemeal and white)
cornflour
oats
baking powder, bicarb, yeast
choc chips, cocoa, coconut, sunflower seeds
sultanas, dried apricots, raisins
granulated sugar, demerara, soft brown sugar, golden syrup

Dry goods-ryvitas, popcorn kernels
rice
pasta
pulses-chick peas, mung beans(for sprouting), kidney beans, haricot beans, split peas, red lentils, green lentils
pasta-spaghetti + penne or fusilli
Dried milk
dried lentils

Tins and cartons- tomatoes, tomato puree, passata
tuna, mackerel/sardines
baked beans
peaches, pineapple, mandarins
UHT milk(for yogurt)
orange juice, apple juice
tea, coffee

Sauces and flavourings- Worcester, soy sauce, mayo, honey ,mustard (dijon, English), marmite, stock powder, ketchup
jams, jellies, chutneys, pickles (all hm)
wine vinegar
olive oil, sunflower oil
large selection of spices and herbs
sherry, vermouth

Fridge- eggs
milk, butter, yogurt(hm)
bacon, ham
cheddar, parmesan

Freezer- pittas, hm loaves and rolls
berries (home picked/grown)
peas, sweetcorn
Whole chickens, sausages, mince
hm chicken stock
whatever fish I've bought for the week

HTH:)

Pink.

Hi Skint_Cat,

These older threads should help you put together a list of essentials, although obviously you'll have to tailor them to your own needs/tastes.

Help!! Basic shopping list needed

1st ever shop... And doing it OS!

Your fully comprehensive storecupboard

store cupboard essentials?

Storecupboard list - might be useful

Emergency food tin

OS store cupboard basics

Good luck in your new home!

Pink

kunekune

I would add a bag of frozen breadcrumbs to what is in the freezer.

Raspberry_Swirl

if you're looking to build up a good stock of herbs and spices, try and buy at a chinese/ethnic store if you have one nearby. they are so much cheaper than paying £1+ for a tiny jar from the supermarket.

Penelope_Penguin

There's been a thread asking about storecupboard essentials, in light of potential haulier strikes. So I've resurrected this one to give people ideas.

If you want to discuss the rights and wrongs of the strikes, the thread is here.

Please keep this thread on the topic of what essentials you keep in your storecupboard

Penny. x

reetyre

Hi there,

DH and I are moving into a rented house on 1st Nov whilst still trying to sell a flat in another part of the country.

We are having to buy a fridge freezer as its an unfurnished house and as we have been living at my parents for a few months we have nothing to put in said new fridge freezer or in fact in cupboards so apart from red lentils and a few spices we will have to start from scratch (which I am quite happy about as I have only recently started to become OS so I see this as sn opportunity!)

I would be very grateful for ideas of a shopping list to fill fridge, freezer and cupboards - and of course we are on a budget, not least because we will be paying a mortgage and rent!

Many thanks
Reety xx

purpleivy

I think if you want to make best use of your resources, decide on the meals to cook for a week, plus a couple of spares. THere are a few reasons for this.

1) you can save your freezer/cupboard/fridge space for bargains and BOGOFs as you see them.

2) you don't have all your cupboards bursting with stuff that you can't use at present.

3) It's very easy to go round the supermarket flinging stuff in your basket and never get round to using it. What ever 'IT' is will sit and look at you from the cupboard, you probably won't use it and it will get thrown away.

4) some herbs, spices flavourings lose their piquancy after a while and are best used fresh, so it's advantageous to only get them as you need them. You will know what you use regularly to put on your list.

DawnW

It is a bit difficult without knowing what sort of things you like to eat and cook. However, cans of things like chopped tomatoes and various beans, chickpeas etc, oils (sunfower or similar and olive), cans of tuna, salmon and anchovies, rice, pasta, stock cubes, flour, sugar etc for the pantry, for the freezer, it depends whether you are a vegetarian or not I guess! What I would do though is to stock up slowly, as things come on offer or are reduced for quick sale (can still be frozen), and mealplan weekly, buying what you need each week, but perhaps getting larger sizes to leave some in store. This will save a huge outlay all at once.