Talk to Tesco about your store cupboard hero and your top three ways to use it - you could win a £200 Tesco voucher NOW CLOSED

[AngelieMumsnet]

We've been asked by Tesco to find out about Mumsnetters' store cupboard heroes.

Here’s what Tesco say, “The Tesco Eat Happy Project is our long-term commitment to help children have a healthier and happier relationship with their food. We’ve got lots of recipes for healthy, tasty dishes that we think they’ll love – especially if they help you prepare them. But we’re keen to hear your recipe ideas too.”

So, what is your store cupboard hero and what are your top 3 ways to use it? Perhaps you always keep pesto in your cupboard, to stir into pasta, pep up a risotto or spread onto pastry to make a savoury puff? Or maybe you like to have lentils in stock, to add to soup, bulk out a stew or make a warm winter salad with?

Whatever your store cupboard hero is, Tesco would love to hear about it!

Everyone who adds their comments to the thread will be entered into a prize draw to win a £200 Tesco voucher.

Please note that any comments posted on this thread may be used by Tesco in further marketing material (anonymously, of course).

Thanks and good luck,
MNHQ

[GooodMythicalMorning]

Tinned chopped tomatoes are mine. I use them for everything, lasagne, chilli con carne or if im making tacos. Also a million more things

[AllSorted]

I was going to say tinned chopped tomatoes too, before reading the post above! Get through loads of them. Good base for pasta sauce, along with whatever needs usng up

[AllSorted]

Oops, missed 3 ways - in pasta sauce, in sausage casserole, in chicken casserole type thing

[InternetFOREVER]

Haha there's a tomato theme here! I came on to say passatta - its actually the only thing in the cupboard I panic if I run out of! My top three things would be pasta sauce, chilli con carne and pizza topping.

[AnnieEdison]

For us it is passata - it can be used as the base for a quick pasta sauce, homemade pizzas, a tomato sauce for lasagne and casseroles. It is probably the most used and versatile ingredient we have.

[ninetynineonehundred]

Coconut milk
Use it in waffles, porridge and curry

[AnnieEdison]

Cross posted - a definite tomato theme

[WowOoo]

Mine has a spicy theme - dried chillies or hot sauce.

I use these whenever anything could do with a kick that my children couldn't handle! I put chillies onto my stir fry, hot sauce in my tomato soup and lentil and bacon soup. I have even been known to have a few spoonfuls of hot sauce when I'm feeling the need.

[Theimpossiblegirl]

Sweet chilli sauce- I can add it to anything bland that I've made for the kids (pasta bake, macaroni cheese, mash, tortilla, anything really) to give it an instant flavour boost.
I also love it as a dipping sauce and a salad dressing.

[chestnut100]

For me it's cous cous. By far the quickest carb for evening meal and the easiest to jazz up with different flavours and any bits hanging around. Healthier choice too. A few of the ways we use it:

An accompaniment to sausage casserole or a slow cooked tagine

In a salad with whatever is floating about, often pear and a strong cheese

Mixed with lemon and herbs and popped in the middle of an pepper or courgette and roasted

So versatile, quick, tasty and healthy

[PavlovtheCat]

Tinned tomatoes!

Base for so many things.

Pasta sauce - spaghetti bolognaise, lasagne, tomato and roasted vegetable, lentil sauce etc...

Dhaal/Lentil curry, or any other curry base.

Soup.

[MakeTeaNotWar]

Tinned tomatoes! Get through heaps - soup, pasta bake, shepherds pie, cottage pie - the list goes on. Otherwise brown lentils for soups and stews and dried pasta for a quick kids supper

[PavlovtheCat]

Love the tomato theme. My three favourite ever ingredients for food are onion, tinned tomatoes, pasta. If that's all I had to eat for a month, i'd be happy.

[CMOTDibbler]

Mine is sweet chilli sauce. It livens up all sorts of things - today I had cottage cheese on a jacket pot with it, the other day salad, cold chicken and mayo with it mixed it - loads of options

[SeattleGraceMercyDeath]

Dried garlic/chilli granules. Goes in everything! Livens up mash, chilli, spag bol, seasons chips and roasties and stir fry. Everything!

[ouryve]

Worcester sauce. It adds a little something to a spag bol, gives baked beans a bit more oomph and is lovely splashed all over cheese on toast.

[ChutesTooNarrow]

Franks hot sauce. In everything! Amazing stuff.

[slithytove]

Tabasco, to keep DH happy :)
Ketchup, to keep dc happy
Rice pudding, for a treat when I'm desperate

[Titsalinabumsquash]

Tomatoes were always going to win though, they go in pretty much everything!

I get the 'Everyday Value' Tesco Passata in my monthly store cupboard shop, I buy 10 cartons at once because it's really cheap and and use them in loads of things, my favourite dishes are,

Lamb Rogan Josh curry with rice and homemade Nann breads,

I make a huge batch of garlic/basil tomato sauce that I put on pizzas and add olives and mushrooms too for quick basic pasta sauce, I keep bags and bags of it in the freezer.

I also love to make a Pork ragu in large batches in the slow cooker and keep in the freezer for spaghetti, I use the leftover roast pork for this and lots of fennel seeds and dried mixed herbs and it smells like Jamie Oliver's Italian restaurant near us.

[ethelb]

Dried mushrooms. They can go into a risotto, ramen soup or on a pizza. Makes a great stock too!

[Fairyfellowsmasterstroke]

Onions - a good way of padding out meals to may them go further.

Add to any meat dish (spag bol, chilli, corned beef hash etc) to eek out servings. Makes a portion of meat aimed at serving 3 stretch to feed 4.

Soften in the microwave then stir into rice and sweetcorn, add a dash of soy sauce, serve as a quick supper with leftovers being used for lunch the next day.

Use as an important base for making soup with leftover veg and scraps of meat.

[Tortoise]

I would say passata too. The everyday value one is so cheap it's easy to keep a few in the cupboard.
I use in lasagne, pasta sauce and casserole

[nippey]

Another tinned tomato lover here, base for pasta, curry, chilli and even yummy on toast.

I also always have a bag of pasta for day before payday dinners and a packet of angel delight for a sweet treat!

[MissYamabuki]

The little cans of tuna in sunflower oil. I use them to make:

A sandwich with some lettuce
A jacket potato with a bit of Mayo and some greens
A salad niçoise of sorts with pasta, tomato, olives, runner beans and boiled egg
A simple meal with a tin of cannellini beans, chopped tomatoes and peppers
The ultimate comfort food when recovering from a tummy bug: mix boiled potato with a boiled egg and a can of tuna, mash thoroughly with a fork and eat while warm. Easy to digest, nourishing and yummy!

[Biscetti]

Eggs (they're not kept in the fridge in my kitchen).

Top three dishes have to be froga (a Maltese spaghetti omelette), some variation of carbonara or other, or a frittata. All quick, easy, filling and tasty.