Store cupboard essentials

[54zoolane]

I want to get more into cooking, as currently rely on toast/cereal/simple pasta and salads but I'm a quite serious runner and need to fuel much better!!

My parents never taught me to cook but I have started to follow recipes. However they all seem to need so many ingredients that I get stuck and overwhelmed.

I have some Tesco vouchers and am going to place an order to stock up on essentials.

What do I need that will cover me for 75% of recipes? I already have salt, pepper and basic herbs and spices.

Tinned tomatoes, baked beans, pulses (eg kidney, cannelini etc), pasta, rice.

Look up Jack Monroes book 'Tin Can Cook', May help you stock up and use your stotecupboard effectively.

Olive oil, dark soy sauce and lime juice are the holy trinity in this house. Add dijon mustard for salad dressing, or Ras el Hanout and tobasco sauce for a stir fry sauce.

Plain flour, self raising flour, wholemeal flour plus baking powder and bicarbonate of soda.

Having the right equipment in a kitchen makes a huge difference too - a decent box grater, a garlic press, a peeler, decent knives and a wooden chopping board (other materials blunt knives) help make prep easier. Oh and electronic scales - get some which can measure liquids too.

Our most used store cupboard items are:
Olive oil
Lemon juice
Garlic purée
Soy sauce
Tomato purée
Passata
Stock pots (beef, chicken, vegetable)
Pasta/rice

I also do a lot of baking so have various flours and sugars

I have liquid stock concentrate in the fridge - lasts for ages and you can use exactly as much as you need.

I love this book

www.amazon.co.uk/Cupboard-Love-Most-Your-Kitchen/dp/0340835265/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&crid=186R03S9KGVFY&keywords=tom+norrington+davies&sprefix=Tom+norr%2Cstripbooks%2C178&tag=mumsnetforu03-21&qid=1560701755&sr=1-3

You can build up a selection of staples and then make lots of different things.

What are you likely to cook? What sort of style?

I base most of my cooked meals on onion,carrot,celery diced fine and sweated in the pan. You can buy this mix pre chopped in the frozen aisle these days.

For flavour I use most often olive oil, dried mixed herbs, dried fennel and a pot of fresh herbs on the windowsill ( usually parsley.) Oh and fresh garlic but you can get puree in a tube found by the tomato puree.

For heat I have a chilli sauce, jar of coarse mustard, dried spices (cumin, coriander)

Black pepper, salt, soy sauce and smoked paprika for general seasoning.

I use cider vinegar for any vinegar given in a recipe.

Pasta, rice, tinned food (beans, chickpeas, peas, corn, chopped tomatoes), soy sauce, spices

Tinned tuna, mackerel in spicy tomato sauce, sweetcorn, chickpeas, kidney beans, tomatoes, custard.

Fresh big brown onions, small red onions, garlic, maris piper potatoes.

As well as the store cupboard basics it helps to have an idea of what you want to cook each week so you can shop accordingly. It's a bit of a faff at first but making a menu plan and then a shopping plan is a gamechanger and you soon get used to watt to have in as regulars (for me rice/pasta/tom puree/tinned toms/baked beans/kidney beans/lentils/rice/noodles/garlic/onions/lemon juice/soy sauce/herbs/spices/stock cubes etc....) I make a rough meal plan on a sunday evening of seven meals (to be eaten in whatever order we like!) and then add to my basics list. I also keep a list of what I have in the freezer and keep essential veg in there too.

watt? what

Dried herbs - turmeric, cumin, paprika - regular and smoked, mild chilli powder, ginger. Then depending on taste possibly a mix of curry powders, Chinese five spice, garam Masala.

Stock we use both stock pots and cubes depending on the meal e.g. I prefer cubes in soups. We have veg, chicken, beef.

Soy sauce, tomato puree, sesame oil, mustard. Flour - self raising, plain and strong for breads/pizza.

Few fresh/ fridge items we always use/rotate. Tomatoes, celery, bell peppers, onions, varrots

Tinned tomatoes
Passata
Garlic and tomato puree
Or garlic powder
Italian herbs
Corned beef
Cornflour
Tins of various beans, not baked.