What do you regret buying in your prep stash and lessons learned.

[RusticaRubra]

I regret buying tinned stuff. I don't have loads but probably have about 20 tins of beans, soup, veg and fruit. We will get through it but the family are all cats bum face about it. Tinned toms and Devon custard - yes, other tins just no. I won't do this again. Next time my focus will be on having external delivery supply chains of fresh fruit and veg if I can't get to the supermarket.

If there is a next time, I will cook and freeze.

What do you regret buying in your prep stash and lessons learned.

Bread that I stuck in the freezer, it tastes rubbish and take s up lots of space. Bought a big bag of flour and have been making my own. Also discovered you can keep dough in the fridge for a few days so I make a big batch when I do homemade pizza. Then just pull a chunk off knead in something and bake. Fresh chilli and strong cheddar my favourite so far.

My regrets
Pickled eggs.
Bought 3 big jars at DHs insistence and I am now making him eat them.
Apparently they are too vinegary.
Lentils.
Veggie DS moved out just before lockdown and while they would stave off starvation I am never going to voluntarily cook them.

Very glad I bought lots of flour and yeast, I have to use a bread maker as I have arthritis but I just use it to make dough.
I've cooked more from scratch and baked throughout. I still have a lot of tinned fruit and veg because I am using fresh when I can get it but the cans are all things we like.
I thought I had enough pasta to feed an army but ended up giving it to adult DCs who couldn't get any.

Tinned lentils. They're staring at me from the back of the cupboard. DP hates them.

Lentils are really easy to use up, just show them in whatever you're making from mince. An extra portion of veg, makes the meat go further, reduces the average fat content and no one will even notice they're there.

Braised lentils are lush! My fave 😍

I have too many baked beans. No one likes them apparently!
Not enough flour or yeast.
I had my Brexit stash still at the start of lockdown and are just using the last of it up now but I've still been shopping every two weeks for fresh stuff on top.
With the kids at home 24/7 my shopping budget has sky rocketed 😥

@UltimateWednesday @passthemustard I love a lentil personally! I will sneak them into a shepherd's pie, that'll fool him. 😂

I overestimated how much tinned fruit we would eat - am going to try crumbles to use up sticks in the autumn, but kids were unimpressed with the offer of tinned fruit by itself. Also, only DH really likes porridge, although I will eat it if we’re low on bread, so the oat stash is largely untouched. Tinned potatoes were a hit in curries for us.

Nice tinned tomatoes have been a revelation - definitely worth spending the money on and I am restocking those. Also, beans, coconut milk, tuna, anchovies, sweet corn & soup, all of which we ate a lot of. I have a huge bag of bread flour. I need to stock oil and salt again, also curry paste. Yeast.

I wish I’d bought more icing sugar, I haven’t been able to get any recently. Tuna is out of stock at Ocado so will stock up on that again when I can. We didn’t use much of the other tinned fish, but food supplies weren’t too bad here and local greengrocers did an amazing job of keeping us all fed. We ran down everything elseI’d stockpiled - Even the Fray Bentos were used!

I didn't really do a lot of prepping, as we had quite good stocks of everything, I thought... I would have done more but was sent home from work early (shielding) and then when H went shopping there were lots of gaps on the shelves. Some things unexpectedly in short supply.

We've ended up with a lot of Demerara sugar as that was all the supermarket had for ages.
I've started ordering TP and tissues from Who gives a Crap and will carry on with that. Our local market delivers fruit and veg, and we have a milkman. We couldn't get flour and dried yeast for ages, so have now stocked up with bread flour from Matthews. For second wave/Brexit I'd like to have bigger stocks of tinned toms and beans, couscous and pasta - all items which have been o/s at times in the supermarket.

I could always get some sort or pasta, but couldn't get macaroni for a couple of months. I now have several bags as homemade macaroni cheese is one of our comfort foods, and "farfalle cheese" isn't the same!

FloggingMoll, if the lentils are the green or grey ones, Jamie Oliver does a lovely Italian sausage and lentil dish that you could use them up in.

Macaroni is one of ds's favourites. Now got several bags stashed. Pasta keeps long after the bbd so no problem with having too much.

I got confused between condensed milk and evaporated milk. One is yuk,one is yum. I got the yuk one.

Nothing! I need more flour.

Things I don't regret prepping - big rolls, kitchen rolls, pasta, pasta sauces, tinned fish.

Heinz BBQ beans vanished for months. As they're the only baked beans I like I've been stocking up. I also nearly ran out of cooking oil and whole-wheat pasta. I was surprised at the run on non- dairy milk as well so have been making sure to have plenty in.

There's nothing I regret buying as we've either used it or donated it to the food bank.
However, I am planning and prepping for a no deal Brexit and the things i regret not buying more of are jars of pesto and sun dried tomatoes.
I prepped for Brexit not for a pandemic but it meant that we were very well prepared when the supermarkets ran out of stock. Dh had been very scathing of my Brexit stash but was grateful when Covid hit. He is now behind my plans to prep for Brexit.

Ex has returned to "don't want to know" regarding Brexit and government actions despite being grateful for the food that was left in his house.

@EmmaGrundyForPM exactly same in my house!

I don't regret anything, and although we want nice food (and have lots) the things that aren't so popular will keep us fed if the shit really hits the fan.
I have bought a dehydrator and a recipe book for it, and plan to make a start with it this week.

I have lots of uht milk cos I found a milkman. I might use it for yoghurt or food bank.

I also have lots of tinned tomatoes cos they suddenly started making me sick. I perhaps ate too many of them??

I bought sponge puddings that noone liked.

It was bread and milk that I really struggled to get hold of in lockdown. Milk is sorted now as long as the milkman gets supplied. I've bought some bread mix but wish I had freezer space for sliced loaves. Got lots of "just add milk" scone mix too - yum.

I need to organise my freezer again. Will focus on veg and quorn I think.

I'd buy more quality stock.

It's a way to put flavour into anything - even plain rice cooked in stock is good.

I over invested in bread flour and tins of pre prepared food (eg chilli/curry) that I won't buy again.

I'll still keep reserves of pasta/rice/Cous Cous/ pearl barley/bulgar wheat and tinned tomatoes, plus dried herbs etc.

I guess my lesson is to buy more staple long life individual ingredients rather than "ready" tins.

We have learned that we would rather have
No milk that long life 😂

Nido milk has a distinctive taste. Ok for coffee but not cereal. Good for cooking with. DD doesn't notice its dried milk in sauces. Going to swap to dried skimmed though for cereal.

I overdid the UHT milk. Also tinned peas - they're gross unless its just a few in a shepherds pie