Ultimate Store Cupboard/Freezer list

[StarryEyedMama]

What do you always have in your freezer/store cupboard to knock up quick meals? I'm thinking Nigella stylee but can't find her list!

Oh, yes.

(Apologies for not contributing.)

Except I would say, in the freezer:

Frozen mince
Frozen chopped onion

Tinned spinach for pasta stuffing

Tinned tomatoes x 1000

Eggs

Cheese

cocount milk
chopped tomatoes
chicken stock cubes
pasta
some kind of frozen pastry
flour, sugar and butter

I have a stupidly well stocked food cupboard as I like knowing I can make anything at a moments notice, but this is the stuff that always gets replaced the minute it runs out.

very cheap red wine

very cheap white wine

Thanks for the ideas so far - keep them coming!

tinned toms
tinned tuna, salmon, anchovies, mackerel,
tinned corned beef
tinned evap milk
tinned fruit
tinned peas
tinned sweetcorn
tinned cream of mushroom/tomato/oxtail soup
baked beans
tomato puree
stock cubes (veg, chicken, beef, ham)
coconut milk
horseradish/mint/apple sauce
mango chutney
herbs
spices
pasta, various
rice
soya mince
dried lentils, various
dried beans, various
dried chick peas
barley
bulghur wheat
cous cous
noodles
treacle
syrup
honey
sugar, various
flour, various
yeast
baking powder and bicarb
peanut butter
nuts
oats
sweet chilli sauce
tabasco
vinegar, various
lemon juice
lime juice
easy garlic
easy ginger
soy sauce
oils, various
emergency powdered milk
long life orange/apple juice and purple grape juice

frozen spinach
frozen peas
frozen sweetcorn
frozen leeks
frozen mixed veg
frozen chopped onion
frozen chopped celery
frozen peppers
fish fingers
mince
chicken portions
prawns
white fish fillets
bacon
sausages
casserole meat
pork steaks
smoked mackerel fillets
smoked salmon trimmings
frozen pastry

potatoes
carrots
cabbage
cheese
soft cheese
eggs
elmlea double

I keep a supply of all of these things, all the time. I can make easy pantry meals, quick jams, cakes and biscuits, anything really.

I don't have half that frozen stuff. Didn't know you could get frozen celery - mmmm - where's that from?

Most impressive. Especially "quick jams", rofl.

Punkin, I grow the celery and then I chop it and put it into freezer backs. It's good for soups, risotto's, stews and the like but it, obviously, losses it's crunch. I have frozen shop bought stuff, before, as well, when it was ridiculously cheap.

Quick jam - 1ltre purple grape juice, 1kg jam sugar. Stick in a BIG pan, heat over a medium heat, stirring until sugar is dissolved. Bring to the boil and boil hard for 2 minutes. Pour through a jam funnel into hot, sterile jars, Put the lids on and leave to set. Makes about 4 jars and only takes minutes. My kids love it.

Apple juice is also good for making an apple and cinnamon syrup for pouring over pancakes or ice cream.

Should have added cocoa and chocolate chips to the list. Used for baking, making chocolate syrup for milk shakes and many other things. ALso have shelf stable solid veg fat for emergency purposes and a little stockpile of things like soap, shampoo, soap powder, toothpaste, sanitary towels and pain killers.

I have a stupid store cupboard. My DH is a recovering alcoholic and I am terrified of finding myself back in the position of having no food in the house and no money. I have something like 50kg of pasta, for instance and about 100 tins of various kinds of fish . I can't even talk about the amount of beans and pulses that I have but it must be close to 100kg now. Even my adult sons refer to my ridiculous food paranoia.

I'm even more impressed, HEmum. On every level.

I have many many many tins of fish. In case of zombie attack, we will build a panic room out of them.

I'd say I have a lot of your store cupboard stuff as well, although the powdered milk always goes out of date. Probably not as much in the way of beans and pulses.

I hope your dh stays well. I'd love to try those recipes.

Thanks, Punkin, he has been dry for almost 10 years now, with just a couple of episodes, so I am hopeful and the edge is going off the panic . It never quite goes away, though.

About the powdered milk, according to the LDS food storage info which I found from a link on a site I like for cheap cooking, non-fat, dried milk will keep for up to 20 years after it's BBE date if you keep it sealed, cool and dry. I saw a thing on the telly, as well, that suggested that pasta would keep fine for 30 years and that jam could keep for 100 years under the right conditions. Things like dried beans and white rice keep for years, as well, if they are kept sealed and dry.

The running joke amongst my kids is that they won't inherit any money but they will have an abundant inheritance of dried food and tinned tuna!

stressedHEmum your store cupboard and fridge/freezer sounds just like mine as reagards to content, though not quite with quantity. I have just been bedbound for nearly 10 weeks and my DH has been able to survive quite happily with what was in the store cupboard etc. and only had to pick up the odd bottle of milk and some veggies and fruit at odd times. Everything else was there and he could make meals for the DC with no worries.

Though I am now going to have to start stocking up again as it is looking very deplete now.

How do you make Apple and Cinnemon Syrup please

Thanks for that re dried milk, HEmum - and jam! 10 years is fantastic, good on him; and you, of course.

Apple syrup - it's one that I got from the HIllbilly Housewife website years ago (ditto the choc syrup.)

1 cup apple juice
2 cups of sugar
a piece of cinnamon stick or a big dash cinnamon

Combine the apple juice, sugar and cinnamon. Place the pan over medium heat. Bring the mixture to a boil, stirring until the sugar is dissolved. When the syrup starts to boil, reduce the heat. Cover the pan with a lid and simmer the syrup for ten minutes without stirring. Remove from heat and allow to cool for fifteen minutes. Transfer the syrup to a pint size canning jar or other container. Makes a little less than 2 cups. 1 cup = 250ml.

Chocolate syrup (makes vary good chocolate milk and is nice on ice cream, too)

1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa
1 cup water
2 cups sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
Mix, in a pan, the cocoa and water with a whisk. Heat the chocolate water over medium heat, stirring occasionally. Add the sugar and continue to stir until the sugar dissolves. Bring the mixture to a full rolling boil. Reduce the heat to medium low and boil for a full 3 minutes. Remove the syrup from the heat.
Add the salt and vanilla, stirring to blend. Pour the syrup into a warm, sterile jar and put the lid on. When it is cool, keep it in the fridge. It makes about 1 pint. When things were really tough in here, I used to make this all the time. I would use it with reconstituted milk powder and make a gallon of chocolate milk at a time for the kids to drink so that I didn't have to buy actual milk or juice

Thanks for that, another couple of things to add to my repetoire

Love the chocolate syrup recipe thanks