Store cupboard menus

[BlackeyedSusan]

Sharing ideas to help each other prep:

After you have eaten your way through the contents of fridge and freezer.

Breakfast:
Porridge: made with oats, water ( powdered milk) add raisins/ sultanas/ apricots + syrup/sugar/jam/nutella

Cereal + dried milk/ soya/nut/oat milk

Weetabix + dried fruits + assorted seeds(sunflower, poppy, sesame, pumpkin, hemp, ground linseed, chia)

Bread/toast made from bread flour, dried yeast,milk powder, sugar salt, oil( Olives, sun-dried tomatoes, dried/fresh herbs?) + Your preferred spread ( Nutella, jam, marmite, peanut butter etc) butter and olive spread freeze or keep in the fridge for quite a while.

Lunches:
Crackers, ( last well past best before date) pick a sort that can be eaten dry
Crispbread
Rye breads
Tinned fish
Soups ( tomato counts as one of five a day)
Homemade bread
Part baked breads ( last about a month)
Wraps (different sorts have different length of life)
Baked beans
Tinned fruit + evaporated/ condensed milk

Cous cous+ garlic paste, turmeric, cumin, sultanas dried apricots, sunflower seeds
Or + ginger and garlic pastes, ( tubes, jars,frozen) lemon juice, iodised salt)
Olives

Sachets of noodles, cous cous cup a soup (just add boiling water and wait)
Packs of noodles or savoury rice

Rice pudding ( for calcium) + jam or raisins/ sultanas
Custard ( powdered, tinned, sachets, ready made tins and boxes)

Dinners:
Pasta and stir in sauces with tinned veg: carrots, sweetcorn and garden peas are fairly cheap. Add tinned chopped meats or tin of mixed beans. Use whole meal pasta to make complete protein with beans)

Spaghetti Bolognese, whole meal spaghetti, tinned tomatoes, dried red lentils, ( or tinned) dried herbs, tinned mushrooms, tinned carrots. + Garlic paste.

Chilli: Brown rice, tinned chopped tomatoes, red lentils, red kidney beans, chilli powder,

Curry: tinned potatoes or
brown ricee, tinned tomatoes, turmeric,cumin, ground coriander, curry powder, ginger paste, garlic paste tinned carrots, tinned peas, tinned chick peas ( could use ready made jars)

Tins of chicken curry add tinned carrots, peas. Sachets of rice, or packs of naan bread.

Sweet and sour jar sauce, tin of stir-fry veg ( Asda not tried it yet only bought last night) tin bean sprouts serve with brown rice.

"White sauce" make sauce from plain flour or chickpea , soya milk, oil, salt and pepper to taste. Add tinned mushrooms,peas, sweetcorn, butter beans, or green beans. Serve with wholemeal pasta or use as the bottom of pie ( instead of fish pie) and top with instant mash. Can get various flavours of mash.

Stew: vegetable stock cube, passata, red lentils, garlic paste, salt, pepper, tin of beans, Eg kidney, black, mixed. tinned carrots tinned carrots. Add cooked rice, pearl barley or tinned potatoes.

Tuna and pasta bake:

Also recommend the tin can cook by a girl called Jack.

Brexit thread also had a thread of store cupboard meals.

Forgot to add, we use long life fruit juices as well. Apple, orange, pineapple, cranberry. All from Lidl or Aldi.

Pancakes: plain flour, egg replacer, soya milk, sunflower oil. Sugar and vinegar lemon juice topping etc.

this is great, my question is - do you eat all the good stuff in the fridge first, or do you do some interesting and some boring - eg plain ish cous couse, just to keep some good stuff for later?

Spices are long life.
You can get frozen ginger and garlic. You can also get ginger and garlic in tubes/jars.

I would eat the fresh veg in the fridge first, while it is good, in order of how things last. I have onions and butternut squash that last ages.

Then use the veg in the freezer. Finally tins of carrots and peas.

Raisins, sultanas and dried apricots last several months.

Popcorn kernels last well beyond BB date. Good snack with salt or icing sugar.

Place marking.

YY to spices/herbs and things like garlic purée in tubes like tomato purée. Also, I have some herb plants inside and potatoes. Last year my small potatoes, can’t remember the variety, rotted due to the rain as their leaf canopy wasn’t big enough. Those were in pots. So I’ve moved those inside.

Great ideas. Taking note.

Houmous: sesame seeds + water whizzed in processor or tahini plus tinned chick peas, garlic ( paste, powder,granules) lemon juice (onions if you have them ) oil. I usually use variable proportions but check a recipe for proportions.

Buy some shortcrust pastry mixes that just need water added (they have around 9 months shelf life) and you can make lots of different pies with tinned food - ham and sweetcorn, corned beef, chicken and ham etc

You can also use tins of chicken soup to make a pie filling.

Or for a sweet treat use a tin of pie filling to make apple pie and custard.

Corned Beef Hash made with idaho mash and baked beans.

Rice stir fried with tinned ham, sweetcorn and peas.

If you have room to freeze cheese you can also buy pizza mix that just needs water added - so can make homemade pizzas using tinned ham, hot dogs, pineapple, sweetcorn etc

Not to everyones taste, but I love bacon grill - serve with fried tinned potatoes and tinned tomatoes or baked beans.

Great ideas.

@fartyface , I'd put out good "cheering us all up" stuff first and then mix and match. Including a "stuff kept back for a shitty day when everyone needs a boost".

My list so far includes:

• Tuna pasta and various other tomatoey pasta dishes
• Spicy bean chilli
• Veggie shepherds pie
• Dried meats, cheeses and bread
• Fondue or raclette with part baked or homemade bread
• Soup and bread
• Macaroni cheese

My list does depend on having a few fresh items like cheese, potatoes etc but these are things that last for weeks at home.