Talk to Tesco about your store cupboard hero and your top three ways to use it - you could win a £200 Tesco voucher NOW CLOSED

[AngelieMumsnet]

We've been asked by Tesco to find out about Mumsnetters' store cupboard heroes.

Here’s what Tesco say, “The Tesco Eat Happy Project is our long-term commitment to help children have a healthier and happier relationship with their food. We’ve got lots of recipes for healthy, tasty dishes that we think they’ll love – especially if they help you prepare them. But we’re keen to hear your recipe ideas too.”

So, what is your store cupboard hero and what are your top 3 ways to use it? Perhaps you always keep pesto in your cupboard, to stir into pasta, pep up a risotto or spread onto pastry to make a savoury puff? Or maybe you like to have lentils in stock, to add to soup, bulk out a stew or make a warm winter salad with?

Whatever your store cupboard hero is, Tesco would love to hear about it!

Everyone who adds their comments to the thread will be entered into a prize draw to win a £200 Tesco voucher.

Please note that any comments posted on this thread may be used by Tesco in further marketing material (anonymously, of course).

Thanks and good luck,
MNHQ

Mine is peanut butter! DS loves it on toast obviously, but I also use a bit of it to make hummus and use it to add to desserts such as fudge or cheesecake!

As with quite a few others, passata/tinned tomatoes. Can be used so quickly in so many dishes, or on their own (dc will have it as a pasta sauce without embellishment if we're in a rush). Plus - cheap, and apparently very good for you. Easy way to add veg to a meal.

Second up, red lentils. Quick to cook, extra veggie protein in a meal. Plus I love them.

Third, eggs. 3 veggie children and 2 working parents, eggs are very quick and easy. Tortilla, omelette, scrambled, fried, boiled, hardboiled turned into "hedgehogs" (with mashed potato surrounding them, shaped into hedgehogs), scotch eggs (with veggie sosmix) etc, plus for baking. We get through a lot of eggs.

Hard to choose just one. Top would be Tinned Chopped Tomatoes use in pasta sauces (particularly Ametriciana slow cooked with onions and pancetta), soups, on toast, as a pizza topping....
Also Chickpeas are really handy use in veg curry, houmous, use in a salad, burgers, stew.

rice! can have them with almost anything.. and theyr long life too!

Can I choose (fresh) eggs?

I use them as a stand by for quick meals such as cook-your-own omelette when the DCs' friends are here.

DC 1 often fries one up for a lunch or all day breakfast.

DC2 likes to make cakes and so I always try to have some in stock and use them up to maje sure they are fresh.

Plus, I think since keeping them as a store cupboard essential rather than an occasional luxury, we are all healthier as a family and we use them up more, so there is less waste.

(I keep eggs in a container on the kitchen counter, not in the fridge.)
-----

If I have to pick something that is literally from the cupboard, then it would be baking powder as I use it in bread, DC1 uses it in savoury muffins and other things and DC2 uses it in cakes. Wholemeal flour is also a staple for the same reasons.

Lentils, porridge oats and eggs and you can't go wrong.

Lentils the French way with sausages, to add to casseroles or as a meat substitute (lentil bake a family favourite)

Oats for fruity porridges, to add to crumble toppings and to add to casseroles/stews to bulk them out (but don't overdo quanities!)

Eggs for a quick meal, to enrich a dairy based sauce, pancakes, perfect packed lunch scotch eggs and hard boiled eggs!

For me are chopped tomatoes as I use them for everything, sauces, risottos, chilli, curries..

I need to also add my tinned sweetcorn and cous cous for lots of dishes and easy meals.

Mine is tinned pears (in juice). I use them on their own, when we need an easy dessert, with some soft fruit from the garden if I need an emergency crumble (!) and in my favourite ever fat free chocolate cake (you liquidise the pears and add coffee granules, espresso if you have them); means you don't need fat to keep the cake moist - absolutely delicious!

I keep tinned tomatoes, onions, tomato purée and balsamic vinegar in my cupboards as staples. That way I can whip up a nice pasta bake type dish or the Base of a casserole. Yummy!

Tesco flavoured oils are a big favourite here. We use them to:
drizzle through cous cous, or
mix with mustard and vinegar to make a salad dressing, or
Jazz up a home made potato salad

Soy sauce perfect for stir fry meals, jazzing up rice or veggies. Just adds a lovely taste.

onion granules. great in bechamel, carbonara and on garlic bread. yum! so handy!

Corn Starch is mine, great for making gravies for roasts, or thickening up a stew or soup, also great to make emergency custard, and it's much better than flour when making home made chicken nuggets.

Passata.
Add peas and paneer to make paneer curry.
Add kidney beans and frozen veg to make veggie chilli.
Add sweet peppers to make a sauce for pizzas.

For me it's Balsamic Vinegar, I love it, it kicks up gravy, bolognese, chilli, salads and even steak. I slop abit in all sorts of meals and it really makes them tasty.

I will always have cheese, tinned tomatoes, pasta, rice, potatoes, onions, eggs and bacon lardons in my storecupboards/fridge.

Cheese - we like lots but the storecupboard one is a strong cheddar: Cheese on toast, perhaps with a dab of tomato relish smeared on bread (like Ballymaloe) underneath; Tuna melt; homemade pizza (using shop bought bases but putting together ourselves and choosing our own fav toppings); macaroni & cheese sauce with lots of mushrooms and bacon; over pasta bake; on top of breadcrumb topping of a smoked fish and broccoli pie; add into stuffing for stuffed tomatoes....and I haven't run out of ideas yet.

Tinned tomatoes for adding to a tin of condensed tomato soup (and the necessary water/milk, a saute'd onion and some extra herbs) to make a really good soup; tomato sauce for with pasta (I make batches and freeze - can do as pizza sauce, or for pasta with all sorts of veg especially mixed roasted mediteranean veg, chopped sausages, bacon pieces, chicken, prawns, seafood mix); bolognaise sauce; add it into quite a few different curries including Lamb Rogan Josh or Chicken/Prawn tikka masala.

Pasta: Mac'n'cheese; pasta with versatile tomato sauce as above; pasta bake; plain with a dash of olive oil and scattering of parmesan; or just a spoonful of pesto.

Rice: base for curries; chicken and mushrooms in a white wine/cream/tarragon sauce; Chinese stir fries; an Indian stirfried rice dish called Nasi Goreng to use up bits and pieces of leftovers/last bits of fresh veg; rice pudding.

Potatoes: Served beside dinners as mash, boiled or roasted; stilton and ham potato bake using Christmas leftovers; homemade chips; homemade oven baked wedges; baked potatoes in foil on BBQ; diced into Spanish omlette; and loads more again

Onions are the basis of almost everything - I often do a decent batch of sautéed onions and freeze in 1 cup portions (as roughly 1 onion) to start off dinners fast when home from work. Homemade onion rings. Fried onions on steak or burgers. French onion soup.

Eggs are very handy to do so much too - omlettes, fried or scrambled for everything from breakfast, lunch and dinner; Spanish omlette as more substantial; quiche filling; pasta carbonara; egg fried rice (surprisingly easy!!); or baking. Even without getting complicated about chocolate mousses or soufflés.

Lardons are a great standby to make a fast dinner and keep ages. Gorgonzola pasta is fast (fresh pasta boils, and 1 pack lardons fries, while you mix a pack of gorgonzola with a couple of tablespoons of double cream and melt the 2 together in a pot with 1 tablespoon of melted butter, add a handful of grated parmesan, season (pepper only - plenty of salt in cheese and bacon), drain pasta, take bacon from pan and leave fat behind (can use for roast potatoes another time instead of duck/goose fat if you hate to throw out) and mix all together - dinner in 7 minutes, or 15 if you use dried pasta). Add into scrambled eggs or omlettes. Use in pasta carbonara. Add into chicken pie. use to make a BLT in a pinch. Throw into a tomato sauce with some peas/medditeranean veg/mushrooms with pasta. Add into lasagna sauce for depth.

for me it is flour. i bake bread, cook dumplings, thicken sauces etc. i always have loads in my cupboards.

My kitchen cupboard hero is dried mixed fruit (dried cranberries, sultanas,resins). They can be used as a topping to cereals, yogurts etc.
They can be given as a healthy snack to kids and adults as well (loaded with minerals and vitamins).
They can be added to cake and muffin batters, added to bread dough or in making scones.

paprika. I sprinkle the stuff on loads of things. Goes in currys, chilli, pulled pork, potato wedges, fritatas. Second to that would have to be Lea and Perins as it add so much flavour.

Tinned tomatoes are always going to be a staple but if you have a few herbs, spices, condiments you can jazz up any dish quickly.

Passata passata passata

Chick peas. Chorizo and chickpea stew, chickpea and spinach soup, anything and chickpea really. My kids even eat them! We love them in our house.

Chopped tomatoes. We use them for everything from soups to pasta and sauce, pizza toppings and fry ups!

A tin of lentils. They will go in almost any dish to stretch the meal further which can be very useful for those last minute guests! they are cheap and can even replace any meat content for a veggie option. I use them in stews, curry, chilli, spag bol and cottage pie or ontop of fish though i dont think there is a meal that i wouldnt consider bunging them in with!

Mustard is my absolute store cupboard hero. I add a tsp in my fish pie mix, a tsp into the toad in the hole batter and a tsp into my chicken, ham and leek pie. It adds a depth of flavour without overpowering. Weirdly I don't really like mustard on its own.

Chopped tomatoes here too. Also, pasta - easy dinner / lunch base.