I have often mentioned on my blog, that I love looking through my cupboards and seeing what I can make from what I can find. Usually when it gets to the end of the month, before payday, and I only have a few fresh items left with which to create a marvellous meal or two from, I actually enjoy the challenge because it allows me to be inventive. However, what makes this easier for me, is that I always ensure that I have some essential ingredients in my store cupboard which I can use to make a meal from nothing. Or, of course, add to my meals to make them more tasty.
I was recently asked what my Top 10 Ultimate Store Cupboard Essentials are, and I am going to share them with you. So here goes, in no particualr order (because that would be too hard!):
Tinned tomatoes
I use these in so many of my meals, from pasta to soup, chilli to curries and pizza. I get through a lot of tinned tomatoes, be they chopped, whole or passatta. I really do not know how I would be able to make the bases for many of my meals, wthout this staple ingredient.
Pasta
We eat a lot of pasta dishes in my house, because it takes next to no time to make a tasty sauce to accompany it. I often have at least two varieties if not three and I guess our favourites are penne, fusilli and spaghetti. I love how it will go with any sauce from tuna, beef bolognese, roasted veg, bacon and mushroon and so on. I could not manage without pasta in my cupboard!
Baked Beans
This is Jenson’s favourite food, and he eats a lot of it by himself! However, I also love them and often eat them with a jacket potato a few times in a week for lunch. I also love the fact that I can add them to sauces to make them go further, and I can often be found adding some to a cottage pie, a bolognese, a chilli or even just pasta and cheese! Obviously they are lovely alongside bangers and mash, fishcakes and bacon and mushrooms too, and …. served on toast yummy!
Eggs
These canbe used to rustle up a meal easily, maybe an omlette or a pastry-less quiche just by adding some veg , that are left in the fridge, to the eggs and maybe a little cheese. Or even just scrambled eggs can make a tea for the boys served alongside some toast. They are just handy to always have (and to make cakes with too, of course!)
Potatoes
I love potatoes too – another item that can be turned into a tasty meal by just adding a few ingredients. Jacket potatoes are an obvious choice of course (and I eat a lot of these!), but they are also great for making potato patties like fishcakes, or cheese and onion potato cakes etc. And of course for making chips. Or my boys favourite way of eating potatoes – mash, including mash toppings for family pies like cottage or fish pie.
Garlic
I use a lot of garlic in my cooking especially pasta dishes , which as I mentioned I make a lot of!
Stock Pot Cubes
I love these little pots of flavour and always have some beef and chicken ones in my cupboard, because they add such a punch to my sauces, gravies and stews. Great invention!
Ketchup
Has to be Heinz! We get through a lot of this red sauce in my house, because they boys like it with a lot of their meals as it helps them eat what is on their plate! I often add a squirt in my chilli sauces to make them less hot for the boys too. We could not be without Ketchup!
Italian Herbs
I add these to my various pasta dishes, roasted meats, roasted veg and soups.
Marmite
Burton adores marmite, ever since his Grandad let him try some on toast when he was a toddler. He has it every day, sometimes twice, on toast or in his sandwiches – so I always have to have some in my cupboard.
So those are 10 of my most essential cupboard ingredients.
Would any of them be in your top 10 ?
What would your Top 10 Ultimate Store Cupboard Essentials be?
Why don’t you head over here to fill in a quick survey asking just that question? You could win a hamper of the nation’s top 10 when the results are revealed in a couple of weeks time. I will be revealing the results with you early next month, and I think it will make for a very interesting read. (the survey closes on the 28th November, 2014 – please see the survey site for a full list of the terms and conditions).
