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Cupboard & freezer staples

Poppy1984
Poppy1984 Posts: 628 Forumite
First Anniversary First Post Name Dropper I've been Money Tipped!
in Old style MoneySaving
Hi everyone, first time started a thread (apart from my DFW diary) I'm a little nervous but here goes!

With the bad weather lately it got me thinking....

What staples do you always like to have in your cupboards and freezers so that you know you could create a meal at any given moment.

For me I like to have:
Cupboard
Tuna
Pasta
Pasta bake sachet
Long life milk
Corned beef
Tinned sweetcorn
Rice
Beans
Tinned tomatoes
Passata
Various herbs and spices
Various sauces and vinegars

Freezer
Value garlic bread
Bread
Peas
Sweetcorn

I can usually put a meal together sometimes need to pick up the odd fresh ingredient to add too.

I'd love to hear what your staples are and what kind of meals you make with them :)
19-02-18 Total Debt £30,322
17-12-21 I'm Debt Free 🎉🎉🎉🎉
«13

Comments

  • Lilith1980
    Lilith1980 Posts: 2,100 Forumite
    Name Dropper First Anniversary Combo Breaker First Post
    Hi Poppy

    Definitely some similar things on my staples list :)

    Cupboard:
    Tins: tomatoes, tuna, chickpeas, butterbeans, baked beans, kidney beans
    Rice/pasta (although we tend to stick with rice as we are GF and pasta is expensive!)
    Pasta sauces and pastes (e.g., curry/chilli)
    Herbs/spices/stock cubes
    Long life soya milk for me as I can't process much dairy

    You've reminded me about the gorgeousness that is corned beef, so I must get some :)

    Freezer:
    Frozen veg
    Bread
    Pizzas (in case we can't be bothered cooking one night!)
    Garlic bread (as above!)
    Chicken breasts
    Fish fillets
    Sausages
    Mince beef
    Cubed beef for casseroles

    I think that covers everything :o
    My debt-free diary :)
  • Poppy1984
    Poppy1984 Posts: 628 Forumite
    First Anniversary First Post Name Dropper I've been Money Tipped!
    Hiya!
    Ooh you've gave me some good ideas thank you!
    On the corned beef I have just prepped a corned beef hash in the slow cooker it's in the fridge I'll pop it on in the morning before work :) I do find tinned corned beef to be quite pricey these days though. Even in Aldi!

    I'm currently building up a stock of meals in my freezer from batch cooking. Hoping to keep my food bill down and maybe even have a week where I don't go food shopping! x
    19-02-18 Total Debt £30,322
    17-12-21 I'm Debt Free 🎉🎉🎉🎉
  • Lilith1980
    Lilith1980 Posts: 2,100 Forumite
    Name Dropper First Anniversary Combo Breaker First Post
    Poppy1984 wrote: »
    Hiya!
    Ooh you've gave me some good ideas thank you!
    On the corned beef I have just prepped a corned beef hash in the slow cooker it's in the fridge I'll pop it on in the morning before work :) I do find tinned corned beef to be quite pricey these days though. Even in Aldi!

    I'm currently building up a stock of meals in my freezer from batch cooking. Hoping to keep my food bill down and maybe even have a week where I don't go food shopping! x

    What's your recipe for the hash? I'm always keen to do stuff in the slow cooker so I don't have to cook when I get home! I noticed the corned beef isn't as cheap as it used to be :(

    I normally batch-cook our lunches for the week on Saturday morning and then just get them out of the freezer the night before.
    My debt-free diary :)
  • Poppy1984
    Poppy1984 Posts: 628 Forumite
    First Anniversary First Post Name Dropper I've been Money Tipped!
    Lilith1980 wrote: »
    What's your recipe for the hash? I'm always keen to do stuff in the slow cooker so I don't have to cook when I get home! I noticed the corned beef isn't as cheap as it used to be :(

    I normally batch-cook our lunches for the week on Saturday morning and then just get them out of the freezer the night before.

    1 tin corned beef diced

    4/5 potatoes diced

    1 large onion finely chopped

    1 carrot sliced

    2 beef stock cubes

    1/2 pint - pint water

    Teaspoon of worstershire sauce

    Chop it all up bung it in the slow cooker cook on low for 8 hours mash when ready. I absolutely love this recipe so warming and comforting :D
    19-02-18 Total Debt £30,322
    17-12-21 I'm Debt Free 🎉🎉🎉🎉
  • suki1964
    suki1964 Posts: 14,313 Forumite
    Name Dropper Photogenic First Anniversary First Post
    Ive learned from having no power for a week not to rely on the freezer for help during a cold snap

    I have a whole shelf of herbs and spices, all types of flour, yeast, bicarb, baking soda. Pasta, rice, couscous, lentils , dried soup mix

    Tinned toms,chickpeas,butterbeans,kidney beans, baked beans, sweetcorn, tinned carrots

    Tinned salmon,mackeral,sardines, kippers, tuna, corned beef

    Stock pots, jars of pickled vegetables, condiments

    Tea, coffee, sugar, dried milk, drinking chocolate

    That and the contents of my fridge of which there is always at least 4 blocks of cheese, cooked meats, butter, lard and milk, bacon and sausages, will keep us well fed for a good while just needing fresh veg

    Oh and eggs galore
  • Lilith1980
    Lilith1980 Posts: 2,100 Forumite
    Name Dropper First Anniversary Combo Breaker First Post
    Poppy1984 wrote: »
    1 tin corned beef diced

    4/5 potatoes diced

    1 large onion finely chopped

    1 carrot sliced

    2 beef stock cubes

    1/2 pint - pint water

    Teaspoon of worstershire sauce

    Chop it all up bung it in the slow cooker cook on low for 8 hours mash when ready. I absolutely love this recipe so warming and comforting :D

    I'm hungry just reading that, thank you!
    My debt-free diary :)
  • Poppy1984
    Poppy1984 Posts: 628 Forumite
    First Anniversary First Post Name Dropper I've been Money Tipped!
    suki1964 wrote: »
    Ive learned from having no power for a week not to rely on the freezer for help during a cold snap

    I have a whole shelf of herbs and spices, all types of flour, yeast, bicarb, baking soda. Pasta, rice, couscous, lentils , dried soup mix

    Tinned toms,chickpeas,butterbeans,kidney beans, baked beans, sweetcorn, tinned carrots

    Tinned salmon,mackeral,sardines, kippers, tuna, corned beef

    Stock pots, jars of pickled vegetables, condiments

    Tea, coffee, sugar, dried milk, drinking chocolate

    That and the contents of my fridge of which there is always at least 4 blocks of cheese, cooked meats, butter, lard and milk, bacon and sausages, will keep us well fed for a good while just needing fresh veg

    Oh and eggs galore

    Hiya some great ideas here thanks! I'm trying to reduce my shopping bill so getting ideas from this thread for long lasting staples to have around so a meal can be made in a pinch :)
    19-02-18 Total Debt £30,322
    17-12-21 I'm Debt Free 🎉🎉🎉🎉
  • [Deleted User]
    [Deleted User] Posts: 17,413 Forumite
    First Post I've been Money Tipped!
    I always have UHT milk in store plus crackers,tinned beans ,pilchards,tuna sweetcorn evaporated milk, flour herbs and spices.in the fridge I always have eggs, cheese,lettuce tomatoes, cucumber Stork marg (for baking) ,lard in my freezer its always far too full but I try to keep the odd packet of green veg incase I can't get to the shops for fresh, fish,chicken,and an assortment of ready meals made by me not bought in for the occassions when I jsut don't feel like cooking i.e. cottage pies.chilli's,curries etc

    JackieO xx
  • Poppy1984
    Poppy1984 Posts: 628 Forumite
    First Anniversary First Post Name Dropper I've been Money Tipped!
    JackieO wrote: »
    I always have UHT milk in store plus crackers,tinned beans ,pilchards,tuna sweetcorn evaporated milk, flour herbs and spices.in the fridge I always have eggs, cheese,lettuce tomatoes, cucumber Stork marg (for baking) ,lard in my freezer its always far too full but I try to keep the odd packet of green veg incase I can't get to the shops for fresh, fish,chicken,and an assortment of ready meals made by me not bought in for the occassions when I jsut don't feel like cooking i.e. cottage pies.chilli's,curries etc

    JackieO xx
    Hi Jackieo I'm trying to do the same with meals, so far I've got lasagne, meatballs, tuna pasta bake and soup in my freezer :) I think one week I'll try and eat out the freezer and put my shopping money into my EF there is the small or should I say very tall and hollow problem of my teen DS! Who also happens to be extremely fussy.
    Got lots of inspiration from this post thank you!
    19-02-18 Total Debt £30,322
    17-12-21 I'm Debt Free 🎉🎉🎉🎉
  • MeenaM
    MeenaM Posts: 320 Forumite
    Debt-free and Proud!
    great idea for a thread

    sausages are always good to have , so easy to make a sausage pasta bake and cheap too

    baked beans for the cupboard
    paid off £27,527.47 debt free journey began Nov 2017 DEBT FREE 13.09.2019!! EF £3500/£5000
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