Store cupboard help

[Whatwouldscullydo]

What am I missing.

I do keep a stash of what I consider staples such as canned tomatoes , chicken peas, kidney beans, passage, pasta bake sauce amd the usual cans of fruit, tuna and the pasta amd rice, lentils, flour eggs butter etc

But I have to admit to struggling to come up with any thing interesting to make. If I spot a recipe that looks nice thats supposed to be able to be Made with store cupboard staples I still end up having to go get most of it.

Where am I going wrong, what can I.add to the stash list

My cupboard just seems full of stuff that hardly gets used that I.keep having to add to

Tia

I think you also need to be flexible. If you have a decent store cupboard, but you don’t have ingredient X listed on the recipe you wish to follow, you will have a perfectly acceptable substitute in there somewhere.

With cheese I always have:
Cheddar
Stilton
Parmesan
Pecorino
Boursin
Halloumi
Feta
Camembert

All in the freezer

I think you also need to be flexible. If you have a decent store cupboard, but you don’t have ingredient X listed on the recipe you wish to follow, you will have a perfectly acceptable substitute in there somewhere.

Exactly this. I made a great tartiflette after Christmas to use up the Christmas ham but realised at the last minute all the cream had been used up by the dc so I used half a tub of Philadelphia instead mixed with some milk. Worked perfectly well

Oh I am fairly flexible. I dont really do mill though so any thing like that I do have to go and buy it as often the substitutes don't work. I'm not fussed about recipes being exact . Subbing isn't usually a problem unless it's genuinely something I don't have anything remotely close.

It looks like I need to keep a few more possibilities on that though. Like some cream cheese or longline cream or something

Rather than buying more for your store cupboard I’d focus on using what you have and finding recipes that you like using your existing store cupboard staples.

I’d got into a similar situation last year as I kept restocking the store cupboard (first for brexit and then for Covid) and there was so much I hadn’t a clue what I had. I went through and forced myself to use it up. If I found a recipe that required additional fresh ingredients I added them to the weekly shop.

I’ve learnt that a lot of store cupboard staples don’t work for our family and once they have run out I won’t repurchase. For example, the DC aren’t really keen on risotto so there’s no point in keeping risotto rice in and I can always buy it if I fancy it.

Artichokes, sundried tomatoes, roasted peppers in jars. Capers and anchovies.

Tinned mackerel and sardines, for quick pasta dishes using some of the ingredients above.

Dried fruit, nuts, breadcrumbs.

Tahini paste, pomegranate molasses, red wine vinegar, tamarind, soy, fish sauce, hoisin and plum sauces.

Garlic and ginger pastes, pesto, gochuchang, tomato salsa.