What are your sore cupboard and fridge staples? What do you make sure you never run out of?

[McDreamy]

There have been many threads on menu planning and I for one will be giving it a go in the New Year. But what do you never run out of to prepare meals other then the main meal?

Milk
eggs
butter
rice
noodles
pasta
passta/tinned tomatoes
frozen peas
frozen sweetcorn

what else? I want a fool proof kitchen

chickpeas, haricot beans, kidney beans etc
stock powder
oil
balsamic vinegar
porcini mushrooms
risotto rice
cheese
onions
potatos
tomatos
garlic
eggs

That should of course have read STore cupboard in the title

i LOVE these threads
you can learn soooooo much about a person from how they stock their larde. It's like looking through their CD collection. DIdo or Enya? Call me a cab I 'm outta there!

Hellmann's mayonnaise.

cheese
pasta
mayonnaise
branstons pickle
bread

I can live on cheesy pasta and cheese an dpickle sandwiches quite happily

also coffee and tea, never run out of them

coconut milk
frozen spinach
fish sauce
pesto

always have bread making ingrediants in the cupboard and basic baking items.

but always make sure we have pasta,
rice,
cheese,
milk,
bread/ingrediants,
some meat in freezer,
potatoes,
frozen veg,
stock cubes,
eggs,
baked beans.

I've thought of some more. I've always got

natural yoghurt
pesto
parmesan cheese
stock cubes

black peppercorns
olive oil
wholegrain mustard
mushroom ketchup
tomato puree
wocestershire sauce
lentils
polenta
block of parmesaen
sea salt
jar of peppers
tuna
lemons

I'm sure I remember one of these threads getting a bit out of hand before but I'll post anyway as I hate New Year's Eve and need something to keep me busy!

I like to always have:
*pasta - penne, spaghetti as a minimum
*rice noodles - for instant food when dds are starving and I'm too knackered to do anything (just soak them in hot water, whilst cooking soy beans and sweetcorn in the microwave, then bung the vege in with the noodles, add soy sauce a bit of sesame oil and a sprinkling of mixed seeds - voila, dinner is served!)
*sesame oil, soy sauce and mixed seeds are therefore a must and soy beans in the freezer)
*pesto - green for pasta, red for spreading on pittas etc to make pizzas
*tins of chickpeas, lentils etc
*passata - get through litres of the stuff

• frozen peas, corn and (lazy alert here) sliced peppers
• quorn pieces and sausages in the freezer
• basmati rice *thai curry paste *coconut milk
• selection of herbs and spices plus honey and Marigold stock
• dried red lentils

If I've got some sort of combination of the above, plus onions and some other fresh vege, I can usually cobble something together.

All in cupboard

tins of tomatoes
noodles
pasta
pasta sauce
balsamic vinegar
lime and lemon juice
soy sauce
rice
cous cous
lentils
prawns (in freezer)
packets of organic soup
sardines
tuna
anchovies
beans
kidney beans
chickpeas
eggs
apples
cheese
organic mince
carrots

I pretty much always have that lot and fruit veg. So from that could do

pasta with sauce
noodles with prawns, lime, soy
sardines on toast
omelette with peppers
cottage pie
spiced chickpeas
bean salad
pizza topping (sardines, anchovies)
cous cous with left over veg
bolognase

And always have in freezer

fishfingers
salmon fillets
peas
pizzas
bread
pitta

My definate, panic if I don't have, cupboard staples are.....
Tinned tomatoes (or pasata)
Onions
Tuna
Pasta
Rice
Baked beans
Olive oil
Pancetta
I like to have:
Jar of peppers
Sundried tomatoes
Noodles
Cheese
Eggs
Pesto
Butter or cannilini beans
Kidney beans
Olive oil
Seeds of change pasta sauce.
Mixed herbs
Bay leaves
Tinned sweetcorn
Tin of campbells condensed mushroom soup
And in the freezer:
Minced beef steak
Bacon
Frozen peas
Does this really get controversial???
I meal plan. It saves me a bomb I am sure.
I didn't in Cyprus though . I shopped daily and we ate out more. Cyprus list included pitta, halloumi pork and lemons and those huge beautiful tomatoes, mmmmm.

And fishfingers!

chocolate

Always have in

In the freezer:
Meat (mince, chicken, stewing steak)
Frozen peas
Frozen sweetcorn
Garlic bread

In the cupboard:
Rice
Dried pasta (various)
Bread
Brunch bars (kids' vice)
Cereal
Jam/marmalade
Herbs/salt/pepper
Tomato puree
Stock cubes
Fruit juice
Passatta
Pizza topping
Pizza bases
Tinned/cartons tomatoes
Tuna
Tea/Coffee/Sugar
Olive oil
Onions
Red wine

In the fridge:
Yoghurts
Apples
Grapes
Strawberries (when it's the season)
Carrots
Potatoes
Cheddar Cheese
Ham
Milk
Fruit juice
White wine
Lemon
Butter
Marg
Parmesan
Chocolate

In the fruit bowl:
Bananas
Oranges

Argggh

In the cupboard:
Baked beans!

In teh freezer:
Sausages!

a smoked jamon from a little place in Madrid
a few hand-reared dried tiger prawns
a jar of durian
some roasted peasant, sorry pheasant...
oil gathered from the deepest madagascan caves
some frozen wagameemoo beans culled at a full moon from a Vietnamese mountainside...

but really?

for emergencies, can't do without:

a few packets of microrice and MrMash for instant carb needs when kids are climbing walls. Both are surprisingly edible...!

gnocchi also good for this and keeps in cupboard for aaaaaages

frozen soybeans and broad beans, coriander pesto jars and halloumi for instant pasta heaven. Toast halloumi, chuck in with beans, pesto and pasta...

jar of those sweet slightly fiery peppers but can't remember for life of me what they're called. excellent with everything!

risotto rice, wine - can be used on most days I find

lots of frozen quorn products - lumps, meatballs, mince...

tins of chickpeas to do quick tagine stuff with random veg and passata

obv cous cous!

smoked paprika

tinned fish

noodles

tubes/jars of garlic and ginger for days when can't be arsed chopping - keep in fridge for ages

obv passata in industrial amounts

husband! (who does most of the handiwork with all of the above heh heh heh )

And those of you familiar with my work on MN will also know there are only two food maxims I live by when the brats are playing silly buggers and refusing to eat proper middle class food

1. There's nothing wrong with Cocopops for dinner

and

1. If it has three colours, it counts as a full meal. Most often manifested as a bowl of M&Ms but when slightly more healthily (but only just) this means we try to always have available:

ham
apples
yoghurt
nuts

I've just updated our Staples List (previously it said Napisan ... youngest is 7. Hem-hem as Molesw mite say)

List features categories - fruit; veg; salad; groceries; dairy; freezer; meat/fish; bread/bakery; drinks; household. Can't-live-without items per category are:

• fruit: lemons
• veg: onions, potatoes, broccoli, garlic
• salad: cherry tomatoes, cucumber
• groceries: breakfast cereal, black pepper, mayonnaise, various dried pastas, tomato purée
• dairy; milk [snore], butter, eggs, Emmenthal, Parmesan
• freezer: peas, bread for baking
• meat/fish: beef mince, sausages

Lol at proper middle class food!!! The girls were very excited on Christmas Day because Father Christmas left them "bad cereal" in their stockings and they dined out on cocoa pops and Frosties!

I thought of a couple more things -
*porridge and golden syrup
*brown sauce (just to continue to lower the tone)
*cous cous - but I cheat and buy the Ainsley Harriet stuff

Why did that prematurely post?

as I was saying

• meat/fish - shd also say frozen prawns (endlessly useful)
• bread/bakery: cereal bars, frozen mini-pastries (also endlessly handy, & last for ages)
• drinks: ginger ale
• household: bin bags, loo roll