Storecupboard staples. What do you keep in there that can be turned into a meal?

[nkf]

I have:
pasta
tinned tomatoes
rice

But bit dull really.

Stock cubes
Risotto rice

= you can always make a risotto, throwing in whatever bits of meat / veg you have in the fridge or freezer

Sweetcorn
Kidney Beans

= a nice side dish to go with pork chops or chicken legs or something. Just fry the two up together, throw in some onion and chopped up pepper, plus cayenne pepper and chilli (whatever combination you have lying around)

Tuna
Sweetcorn

= classic combo to be served with mayo, jacket potatoes and chopped up cucumber. One of my favourite lunches or light dinners.

Haricot beans
Chopped tomatoes / puree
Worcestershire sauce

= a recipe for homemade spicy baked beans from Jamie Oliver 15m meals

With what you have, if you also have stock cubes / onion / garlic / a few spices / some chicken or fish or sausage or cooked meat to hand, you could make a great jambalaya. Kind of like a carribean risotto - google recipes!

Good tins to have in stock

Ten things that should always be in your kitchen

Great links, BoffinMum. I need to get better at all of this stuff.

dorot garlic cubes
dorot chilli cubes
frozen diced onions
tinned tomatoes
rice
pasta
tuna
stock cubes

chickpeas (for curry or for thunder and lightning with pasta and onions or hummus
green lentils (lovely with herbs and a poached egg on top, or for soup or with feta as a salad)
tinned toms are a bloody brilliant ingredient
pasta, rice, natch - quinoa is a nice alternative but not buying it any more because of environmental impact - bulghur wheat instead maybe
garam masala, cumin seeds, chilli powder or flakes, paprika - one or the other or a combo jazz up anything

Can someone please come and live with me for 1 week, and teach me how to do lots of useful things ?

Ditto.

Plus tinned tuna & mackerel. Sometimes a tin of sweetcorn. Not keen, but it makes for a more interesting pasta and tuna meal in case of power cut. Also a few sauces I've bought on offer - curry, sweet & sour, etc. And i always have a tin of corned beef in the cupboard!

And lots and lots of tinned pulses. [tired]

Sardines
Tuna
Tomatoes
Kidney beans
Lentils
Cous Cous
Rice
Sweetcorn
Bamboo shoots

Do I need to add the entire cupboard I have full of herbs, spices and asian seasonings and noodles? I should really just go into my kitchen and take a couple of pics.

I would add pesto - DS has been known to live for a week on variations of pasta, pesto (tuna, cheese, peas, sweetcorn, salad, olives, cherry toms etc)

Frozen sweetcorn and frozen peas

YY to sardines - really cheap and sardines on toast with sliced tomatoes is a classic wintery lunch

Always have chilli powder and spicy accompaniments - to liven things up.

Meryl - whats the environmental impact of quinoa?

In my larder : lentils, indian spices,tinnef fish, tin toms,
The most useful thing is a block of cocunut cream. You just grate off the amount you ned and the rest lasts for ever in the fridge. I was often throwing out half used tins of coconut milk.

SinisterSal I keep meaning to do that but can't work out the proportions of creamed coconut as most recipes just say coconut milk

This is the thing about quinoa
www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/jan/16/vegans-stomach-unpalatable-truth-quinoa

Thanks for the link ,
Tbh i dont really know about the proportions, grate a bit add a bit of boiling water, rinse, repeat.

RE quinoa. I think the food production network is far more complex and there's plenty of other stories that say the guardian is, well, a little exaggerated to say the least. Not helped by Micheal Pollan, who I respect a lot but then he starts throwing the guardian link around...

It was a v big part of my diet when story first came to my attention in 2011 so I read a lot into it. I eat it now with as clear a conscience as I eat other food that are produced in other countries.

I go to France once or twice a year and I make a point of buying things like tins of pâté, preserved confit of duck (which nearly self corrected as dick, you will be pleased to know), fish soup in bottles and that posh bean and sausage stew thing (forget the name). They are in all supermarkets over there and half the price of similar posh stuff in the UK. Makes for great impromptu dinner parties.

Tinned sardines and anchovies.
Tinned chickpeas

Chorizo keeps for ages, as do eggs so they're semi-store cupboard

Thank you, everyone. How do you make use of coconut blocks?

Take a look at this, you have to scroll down a bit

Brill thread, some good ideas.

Pasta (penne, macaroni, spaghetti, farfalline)
Stock cubes
Noodles
Frozen peas and sweetcorn
Frozen bacon trimmings
Creamed/dessicated coconut
Kidney beans/borlotti beans/chick peas/butter beans
Lentils
Tinned/purée tomatoes
Pitta bread (keep in freezer, toast as needed)

That lot, with in-season veg, eggs, cheese, milk, marg, meat etc. and I can cook a different meal every day for weeks.
We recently changed from Tesco to Aldi, and our weekly shop dropped from £40-£50 to £20-£30 a week for me, DH, DS (11) and DD (8) (plus meat & veg bought in local shops at about £10-£15 a week).
We do have a decent stock of spices though, and grow a lot of our own fruit and veg.

Other good things -

Packets of sauté potato or rosti mix (great with a fried egg or as a shepherd's pie topping)

Pearl Barley

Lasagne sheets (make open lasagne with prawns)

Plain chocolate

Sandwich spread

Vacuum packed breads

Pasta and egg noodles
Passata
Tinned corn, five beans and kidney beans
Tomato and garlic purees in a tube
Chicken, beef and veg stock
frozen mixed veg and frozen spinach

Today's dinner was a boiled up chicken carcass, that in true MN austerity style has done a roast, wraps, sandwiches, pizza toppings and now made the stock for a soup with some egg noodles, sweetcorn, frozen veg, stock, garlic puree and chopped carrots. Most of that was store cupboard basics plus left overs. Only the leek and carrots were fresh today.

I've never tried rosti mix. It sounds like it could be very useful. Instant egg and chips or a topping. I am adding that to my list. I filled up the stores yesteday. Loads of pasta and rice and noodles. Does anyone know a way of making something salady quick from stuff in tins? You know for when you want salad and the only stuff in the fridge is sad looking lettuce.

I need to get more stock in and some chickpeas/kidney beans etc.