Recipe ideas using stored food (in case of self isolation)

[tinkywinkyshandbag]

I hope it's okay to post this thread in this topic and not in food. Like many in the group I've been quietly prepping tinned/dried foods for a little while but I don't have unlimited storage or funds so it's a cupboard or two not a whole garage or loft. I'm aiming to have enough in case we have to self isolate or are told to stay at home for a couple of weeks and am assuming we will have power. I don't have a massive freezer but have a few bits. I seem to have an awful lot of beans!!

I can't really afford to buy much more but could add a few bits to make things more interesting.

I'm trying to put together a meal plan so I can see how we can use what we've got and also for DH's benefit if I'm ill. I seem to be okay for dinners but not so much for breakfasts and lunches. Here's what I've come up with so far, any ideas?

(I can make some bread/bread rolls)

Breakfast – cereal bars, porridge or muesli (need to be mindful of how much milk we use though), oat cakes with peanut butter, wraps with peanut butter and jelly, toast with peanut butter or marmite assuming we have some sort of bread, eggs if we have any left (planning to freeze some)

Lunch – bread or wraps or oat cakes served with tinned soup, topped with peanut butter, cheese, home made hummus, tinned ham, beans on toast.
Pasta – with pesto, with cheese sauce, with tomato sauce, with tuna/tomato sauce, with tinned Bolognese sauce (we have 3 tins)

Vegetable chilli with rice or potatoes (fresh if we have any, tinned or instant mash if not)

Chickpea curry with rice/naan bread

Home made hummus with wraps

Salmon fillets (in freezer) with new potatoes/tinned veg or with pasta/tomato sauce or with couscous/tomato sauce

Chicken fillets (in freezer) made into kebabs or curry

Tinned chicken casserole with couscous or rice, tinned peas or sweetcorn

Tinned chicken casserole made into a pie with added tinned mushrooms or veg as above

Tinned chicken in white sauce as a pie or with rice or tagliatelle

Fray bentos pie with instant mash and veg

Fried rice with chopped up tinned ham/tinned peas

Quesadillas made with salsa, and any chopped up meats or vegetables with cheese from fridge

Sausages (in freezer) with Yorkshire puds or mash

For vitamins - we have fruit juice, tinned fruit, dried fruit, frozen fruit

I could make some flapjacks or biscuits type things, we have some biscuits, chocolate and crisps if we don't eat them before then!

[BlackeyedSusan]

See thread on store cupboard menus on this board.

Search also Brexit cupboard recipes.

When I get time I will link all three threads. Can't on my phone.

[BlackeyedSusan]

You could add dried fruit for porridge ( made properly with water) and cereal. Plus mixed seeds for plenty of micro nutrients.

Crackers for lunches. Choose ones that don't need a topping.

Try adding beans and pulses to add an extra veg and protein portions.

Interesting to read meat versions of recipes.

[MasterOfCaffeine]

I have a few packs of fancy chicken sausages in the freezer that I'll use to make an easy pasta sauce with tinned tomatoes. Also sausage and bean casserole that lasts for 2 dinners and a lunch.

I also add lentils to Bolognese and goodness soup mix to casseroles and soups to bulk them out.

Bean chilli (I think the recipe is from BBC good food?) also lasts a few days and can be served with rice, couscous or in wraps with grated cheese (which I've frozen).

There's a lovely biryani recipe on BBC good food that can be used with or without chicken, it uses pataks balti paste and is absolutely amazing so that'll use up some of our rice reserve.

I have a huge stash of chickpeas that I will make into curry, and I've also made chickpea pasties (either Cornish type ones or curry flavour ones) in the past and served with baked beans so will try that too.

I have a big chest freezer and have stocked it with whole chickens and also thighs and legs. We have an instant pot so can throw the whole chicken in frozen and it's cooked in an hour. The chicken legs will be used in casseroles and I do a lovely paprika chicken and rice casserole that doesn't need any fresh ingredients.

Our freezer also has a few big bags of mixed veg that I'll use with the chicken and some tinned mushroom soup to make casserole.

Also have a few bags of frozen broccoli that will be used with the chicken and pasta to make some sort of Alfredo chicken.

I also have a ham joint in the freezer that will do for sandwiches etc.

If we get really low on reserves I have a few bags of yellow split peas and green lentils that I will make dhal with.

And plenty of yeast and strong flour to make bread in the bread machine, as well as plain flour and other baking supplies to make sweet treats if we run through our chocolate and biscuit stash.

I also have lots and lots and lots of oat milk, mainly because our supermarket was out of uht and we have someone with a milk allergy in the family so we use it often anyway, so that will come in handy in place of fresh milk if necessary.

It's been mentioned on these threads before,Jack Monroe has a cookbook of recipes that only use tinned ingredients.

[BiddyPop]

Bean tacos using tinned mixed beans and tinned sweet corn with some
Fajita seasoning, served in wraps (long life packs), with long life sour cream, salsa and guacamole (I think it’s Santa Maria that does plastic squeeze tubes of all 3, and Old El Paso salsa jars are also long lasting). Some grated cheddar on top.

Nasi goreng is a fried rice dish that can be lots of fresh or nearly all stores items. Using the oil from a tin of tuna(or a dash of regular oil - but the tuna oil is useful
For flavour) fry an onion and garlic. If using stores items, carrots are long lasting in fridge so finely slice those. Tinned sweet corn, tinned tuna, frozen prawns, frozen peas, frozen pepper. Add enough milk curry powder to taste (I tend to use a couple of tablespoons), and your already cooked and cooled rice (I use leftovers from the previous day, safely
Stores in the fridge). Allow to heat through fully.

Chinese stir fries made with noodles, onion, garlic (possibly the jarred paste), tinned bamboo shoots, frozen peas, tinned water chestnuts or bean sprouts, frozen meat (chicken, prawns, beef, pork etc - whatever you have and mixed works well too), and a jar or pouch of sauce or dash of Chinese rice wine and some soy sauce.

When down to small bits of fresh stuff left, stir fries or a Spanish omelette work well to use ups mish mash mix of things.

Chorizo potatoes - baby potatoes (I suspect tinned would work fine) toasted up together with some chorizo sausage and a jar of tomato and chilli sauce. We add bacon lardons also, which have a decent shelf life in fridge (Lidl double packs are great).

While I wouldn’t eat them raw, I freeze big bags of mixed Mediterranean vegetables (diced to same size) to roast as a side dish - leftover also freeze well and are handy with pasta and tomato sauce another time, or as a ratatouille. Whatever your family
Like of things like onion, garlic, peppers, mushrooms, courgette, tomatoes (cherry tomatoes work well), etc. Season with salt, pepper, herbs like oregano, basil, thyme or rosemary, good slug of olive oil and possibly some
Balsamic vinegar if you like that.

Potato cakes
Made with dried mashed potato and tinned tuna/sweet corn or tinned salmon, and pano breadcrumbs.

We also like to make a more rustic tomato soup - fry a chopped onion, add a tin of condensed tomato soup and a tin of chopped tomatoes, some extra Mediterranean herbs, and the amount of water (including some milk for creaminess if available) required.

I also use tins of chicken in white wine soup or mushroom soup as a sauce with pasta and hi ken, especially
If fresh mushrooms are not available.

Mushroom
Risotto made with risotto rice, an
Onion, decent splash of Cream sherry (or white wine), stock and dried (reconstituted) mushrooms, add some Parmesan when serving, is good. I tend to use the reconstituting water, having drained it to remove any sediment, as part of the stock for rice.

[crustycrab]

I know this is totally off topic but where are you from?

Never heard of someone who refers to both "peanut butter and jelly" and "Yorkshire puds"!

[tinkywinkyshandbag]

I'm from Yorkshire but with American relatives! Great ideas here thank you x

[Noodlenosefraggle]

Frozen mushrooms, pepper, spinach and onions can be chucked into things. Its also space saving to buy bags of dried pulses like chick peas and black beans. You soak chick peas overnight but don't need to do that with black beans or dried lentils. I've cooked up a big bag of black beans and a big bag of chickpeas and frozen them, but if you haven't got a big freezer with a bit of planning you can keep more beans while using less space.

[okiedokieme]

Spaghetti with tomatoes and anchovies make a great store cupboard dish, I add frozen garlic, oregano and fresh parsley (well chopped and frozen often but it's fresh currently) and an onion. If I have to stay in it's this or chickpea curry most nights as I don't like most canned food

[MinesaPinotPlease]

My Italian grandma would make tortellini soup.

Get some dried stuffed tortellinis cook in boiled water with stock cubes added or in a couple of jars of liquid stock.

You can add some grated lemon if you Have any. But is good without.

Do not drain - eat as a soup. Filling and comforting.

Nice with Parmesan sprinkles on top.