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Do you have a lot of food in cupboards?

86 replies

soupyspoon · 20/02/2025 20:57

Inspired by another thread (that some people think is possibly not genuine, although I dont have an opinion on that), Im wondering what people have in their cupboards to eat (not fresh foods)

I have rice, lentils, barley, freekeh, sauces, pickled onions, tinned toms, soups, beans, other beans, more beans, packets of ready cooked beans and lentils, dried lentils, jars of things, stock cubes, dried fruit (many varieties), flours, sugars, eggs, chutneys, tinned veg, olives, nuts of god knows how many types, I cant even remember what else, gravies, other condiments

Thats not including OH having biscuits, crisps, other snacks

Is this normal? (notwithstanding if someone has no money, I get that)

Im surprised the cupboards dont collapse when I think about it

OP posts:
TheLightSideOfTheMoon · 20/02/2025 21:33

I have enough dried/tinned foods to keep us going for about a month. And cat food.

Started during Covid when the supermarkets were bare and kept it up. Regularly rotate.

Most of it is on shelves in the garage.

Toomanyusernamestochoose · 20/02/2025 21:35

I’m also similar to you. Have a massive floor to ceiling pantry which spans across a large area and has inbuilt lighting - we had it custom made when we renovated to store all dry ingredients. Have separate sections for:
Spices (large quantities)
Dry beans and pulses
Nuts
Seeds
Canned beans and pulses
Canned tomatoes
Vinegars
Oils
Flours
Rices and Grains
Pastas
Noodles
Nut/seed butters and spreads
Sauces
Sugars and sweeteners eg honey/maple
Baking ingredients
Oats and cereals
All are decanted into bottles and labelled - I adore my pantry!

Also have oil and spice drawers for the daily items

Growing up, I was like you OP and had an abundance of every store item - my parents still overbuy and then need to offload because they have far too much. I try keep a happy medium where I have enough that can easily create quick meal without needing to shop but not so much that I need an overflow room!

I keep a running list on my phone of things that need to be topped up but like many on this thread, I cook majority of meals from scratch so the kitchen is well used

PenneyFouryourthoughts · 20/02/2025 21:37

A lot of herbs, spices and flavourings.

I always have tinned tomatoes and baked beans, and other beans in. Dried lentils and other dried pulses. Marmite. Sainsbury's hazelnut chocolate spread. Tinned sweetcorn. Tons of tins of tuna (for me). Pasta and rice.

It's because I do run short of money sometimes and have to knock up a veggie meal for two out of nothing.

My freezer is full of peas, green beans, frozen roasted veg, spicy bean burgers and frozen falafel. And chips.

I cook from scratch but it's all stand-by stuff in case I need it or there's too much month at the end of the money.

Interested in this thread?

Then you might like threads about this subject:

wanttokickoffbutcant · 20/02/2025 21:37

endlesscraziness · 20/02/2025 21:02

I have a lot of food in the cupboards. I think it comes from not having a lot of food in the house when I was a kid.

Same here - I also panic over toilet roll stock and sanitary products for my daughter. I have about seven bags of pasta an my husband goes mad at me but they do get eaten.

whatkatydid2014 · 20/02/2025 21:37

ChompandaGrazia · 20/02/2025 21:27

Not necessarily, things like this often come up on special offers so over time you can build up a stock pile without spending too much.

I think it’s often about whether you have enough cash available to buy in bulk. If you do and can stock up when something is on offer you likely save a fortune vs if you have less flex in your shopping budget.

YourWinter · 20/02/2025 21:38

cheseandme · 20/02/2025 21:32

I went through my cupboard a few months ago and found stuff that had expired in 2018 !! I got everything out and lined up and we had a family ‘guess the expiry date ‘quiz 😂🤦‍♀️

I have a bottle of yellow food colouring dated 2001, the last year I made a kid’s birthday cake, and cream of tartar from before dates were added. My dry English mustard dated 03/2018 is perfectly ok!

soupyspoon · 20/02/2025 21:39

I dont believe in best before dates anyway

OP posts:
Tulipvase · 20/02/2025 21:42

Quite normal to me too. We have an under the stairs pantry. Have recently moved everything into Kilner jars as we had a bit of a rodent issue. Looks very smart.

RareMaker · 20/02/2025 21:43

Don't have much in, for no reason other than I'm skint atm!

AmeliaTangfastic · 20/02/2025 21:46

We have one food cupboard, but it has a few shelves in it and is quite full! I always have some bread flour and yeast so can make bread if needed. I do sometimes wonder how long I could last without going to the shops 🤔. A week fairly comfortably, but beyond that the combinations might start getting weird!

DingDingRound3 · 20/02/2025 21:55

My snack cupboard

Do you have a lot of food in cupboards?
Discombobble · 20/02/2025 21:57

Yes, all that and a full freezer - but I live on an island with uncertain weather

HereComesEverybody · 20/02/2025 21:57

We have a walk in larder / pantry & it is FULL!
like a pp we live 30mins from a supermarket & we keep a well stocked kitchen just in case...

Top Shelf:
Coffee beans, tea bags x several types, honey x 3 varieties, salt & pepper Mills, box maldon sea salt, bread (varies what type we have in) Fancy chocolate & hazlenut spread, other nut butter, peanut butter,

2nd shelf:
Soy sauce, siraccha, several typed of chilli sauce, several types of soy sauce (light, dark, reduced salt etc), many many vinegars - malt, balsamic, red wine, rice wine etc) mirin, hoisin sauce, oyster sauce, Korean chilli sauce, rayu, worscestershire, tabasco, many mustards - dijon, yellow burger mustard, german beer mustard, wholegrain, English

Third Shelf
Oils - EVOO, regular olive oil, sunflower oil, chilli oil, Sesame oil, spray sunflower oil
Tinned: baked beans, tomatoes, kidney beans, Chickpeas cannelloni, butter, mutti pizza sauce, tinned fruit , coconut milk
Pasta of many varieties

Stock pots - all types including red wine & white wine versions
An entire shelf of herbs & spices. Every conceivable one!
Rice: sushi, jasmine, basmati, long grain & brown, risotto, paella

4th shelf:
Jars of curry pastes, emergency pasta sauces, ketchups, jam, olives (for pizza)
Many types of flour - self raising, plain, 00, wholemeal

5th shelf
Baking goods - sugars x many types, vanilla extracts & pods, rosewater, almond , food colouring, bun cases, coconut, ground almonds, chocolate, good cocoa, baking powder, baking soda
Sprinkles & other decorations for cakes

Nuts - pistachios, salted peanuts, Sesame seeds

Oats, weetabix & granola

Crackers - usually rosemary or Seasalt, biscuits, snacks, chocolate bars, cake & sweets

And that's without considering the contents of the fridge & freezer & fruit bowl

ByQuaintAzureWasp · 20/02/2025 22:14

My cupboards are fully loaded abd I have two fridge freezers (there are 2 of us) . We *well husband) cooks a lot!

TheNuthatch · 20/02/2025 22:16

Yes I keep quite a large stock of food. I also portion and freeze lots of food like leftovers, veg and home baking. I tend to bulk buy when it works out cheaper, split and freeze or store. It's very organised so nothing gets wasted or left to go out of date as I hate food waste. I find it cheaper and easier to shop this way. I also do this with toiletries and cleaning supplies. I was very glad of it when covid hit and it allowed me to help others too.
I didn't grow up with empty cupboards. I started doing this when I had 3 small dc so I didn't have to shop too often, or worry about missing ingredients or toiletries.
Our family of 5 could probably manage for about 3 weeks without shopping for anything except milk.

ScottChegg · 20/02/2025 22:18

I think if you live a bit of a trek away from a shop you really need good stocks of food. We went on holiday a few years back in the middle of nowhere. The nearest shop was a 30 minute drive away which doesn't sound too bad, until you're just pulling into the drive after an hour round trip and remember you forgot the bloody butter!! 😣

At home I am a five minute drive away from three different supermarkets, 10 minutes from a fourth and maybe 20 minutes from a fifth, sixth and seventh and I STILL have bulging cupboards and a full chest freezer!

YesHonestly · 20/02/2025 22:21

I have a pantry full of tinned food, pasta, rice, cereals, spices, jars etc plus a cupboard full of things like nuts, crisps, biscuits, coffee and tea.

Despite that, I feel panicked when the fridge starts to look bare. I think this is all from growing up in a house with very little food.

MellersSmellers · 20/02/2025 22:26

I have all the things you list and more, but probs not much/many of each item. What's the big deal? I always cook from scratch so I get through it all over time.

MoonWoman69 · 20/02/2025 23:11

Absolutely loads! More than I need really!

Tins of -
Beans, different varieties
Soups
Chopped tomatoes
Spinach
Chick peas
Rice pudding
Coconut milk

Egg noodles/ramen/Supernoodles
Pastas
Cuppa soups
Katsu paste
Vine leaves
Curry sauce powder
Rices
Condiments

1000 different spices and dried herbs!
Curry pastes
Stuffing
Suet
Flours
Gravies and stock cubes
Hot lime and aubergine pickles
Mango chutney
Raw poppadoms
Oats
Pearl barley/broth mix
Semolina
Crackers
Tomato puree
Garlic puree

Every dried fruit imaginable
Ground almonds
Marzipan
Dessicated coconut
Cocoa powder
Syrups
Cocktail cherries
Walnuts
Hazelnuts
Olive oil
Sesame oil
Dipping oils
Balsamic vinegar and glazes
Various packets of sauce and bake in the bag packets
Panko breadcrumbs
Mincemeat
Christmas pudding
Home made rubs for meat

Not saying there aren't a few of those that are out of date, but there probably is the odd thing! I haven't died yet, so we're good to go!

LynetteScavo · 20/02/2025 23:20

I used to have relatively little - family of five and we had all provisions I the fridge or one kitchen cupboard. Then Covid struck and I dedicated a whole huge cupboard in the dining room to tins and dried food. I would occasionally yell "There is enough food to feed five people for ten days". There is still enough food to feed five people for ten days. No one dares touch it because it's The Covid Cupboard and they're too scared. It means I can put chocolate in there and no one eats it. Haha! Mostly it's just the next box of tea bag's and some jars of pasta al sauce, though. I honestly have no idea how I used to just use one small kitchen cupboard.

TwoLeftSocksWithHoles · 20/02/2025 23:31

UninterestingFirstPost · 20/02/2025 21:00

Beans and pulses yes, but since having weevils I don’t keep much flour in

Keeping your flour in the fridge apparently prevents weevils (actually probably stops them hatching...)

blackheartsgirl · 20/02/2025 23:37

We had food in the cupboards when I was growing up but my need to have well stocked cupboards stems from being in a previous abusive relationship in my 20s and 30s where I was financially abused and always skint and hungry. I can remember taking a knife to the fabric back of the sofa once, upending it to find lose change, we found 7 quid, it was enough to buy a bag of spuds and a few tins of beans to last a couple of days. Never again.
always have supplies of toilet paper, sanitary products and cleaning stuff too

LaPalmaLlama · 20/02/2025 23:52

Honestly I don’t have that much but that’s mainly because I don’t cook much and never bake. I used to buy it and chuck it but now I’ve accepted my inadequacies 🤣.

caringcarer · 21/02/2025 00:02

I've got 2 freezers full of food. Some of which I grew in my garden. I have not only cupboards full but I have a set of shelving units full with dried food and tins too. I also keep plenty of washing up liquid, about 4 boxes of washing powder, kitchen sprays, bathroom sprays, probably about 60 loo rolls, moist toilet wipes, disinfectant etc etc. If my adult DS runs out of anything late at night its a family joke that Mum probably has about 4 of whatever you need. I keep stuff like powdered milk, long life milk and several bottles of juice and litres of water too. DS calls my under stairs cupboard, Mums air raid shelter.

Floralnomad · 21/02/2025 00:05

I don’t like bulging cupboards but I have a lot of cupboard / storage space and 2 freezers so we could easily live for a good few weeks just buying milk .