Friday 9 November 2012

How I cook, part 1 - Store cupboard (repost)



I can’t tell you how often I have heard someone say: ‘Oh I can’t be bothered cooking much when it is just for me’.
I have to tell you, if I couldn’t be bothered to cook when it was just for me, then I would either starve or live on ready meals because I eat by myself 80% of the time.

I thought I would do a series on how I cook on a day to day basis.  How I plan and organise.

How I stock my kitchen.

In a way, this is one of the most important bits. It is no good if every time you need to make a meal - whether it be a special one for friends, a family one, or one just for yourself – if you have to go out and buy all the ingredients. Sometimes you may have to add one or two things but often times a lot, if not all the ingredients should be in your store.

This is a quick tour of my stores:



These are my every day bottles. It may look like chaos, but it is organised chaos. Among other things, I have extra virgin olive oil for salads, sesame oil for stir fry, carotina oil for regular cooking and regular sunflower oil for when the occasion needs it. There is red and white wine vinegar and sometimes some balsamic or cider vinegar, depending on what I have in. today there is some pickling vinegar left over from the red cabbage I pickled the other day (future post). There is a half bottle of rum that I have had for about 6 years, which is currently feeding my Christmas cake once a week and a bottle of port and a bottle of vermouth. I use this in place of wine in recipes. I never drink wine, so I never have any in, but I do like cooking with it, but would never bother to buy a bottle just for that. I find that vermouth and port in place of white or red wine, are really useful, because they don't go off however long they have been open and a bottle of vermouth cost me about £4.50 last time I bought it.There are various other bottles all of which get used fairly regularly, but they rarely need replacing, because all are used in such small quantities.


I always have eggs in although they are a little depleted at the moment because of a lot of recent cake baking activity. They are so useful to have, as I can always make an omelette if I can't think of anything else, or egg sandwiches. Means I can always make cakes too.



More bottles, malt vinegar, lemon and lime juice, soy sauce, sweet chilli sauce, pastas, sugar (white and demarara).


One of my regular tins cupboard. I have jars of pesto in, always, tins of tuna, tins of tomatoes, coconut milk (in case I want to make a thai curry) and tins of sweetcorn (for whenever).


My main baking cupboard. Always have all flours - Strong white, strong wholemeal, corn, self raising, plain, plus all herb and spice jars. Yeast, syrup etc.


This is my overflow baking cupboard for sugars, beans,pulses and things like couscous. In the top right is my Christmas cake, yumm.



And last but by no means least is my storage cupboard out in the garage. I use this for extra tins of things like beans, tomatoes, tuna. Also spare pasta and UHT milk in case I run out of fresh. The jar of cooking sauce at the bottom was rescued from a friend because it is beyond it's use by date! My jars of red cabbage, pickled onions and cherry brandy are maturing nicely in here too.

So this is my stock of food. If I have meat in the freezer, vegetables in the fridge I can whip up anything at any time, without having to go to the shops. In fact, I could go a very long time without going to the shops anyway. My freezer is very well stocked, but I try to go through it so things don't lurk at the bottom for years (I am quite rubbish at this, but I do try).


The last thing to show you is my blackboard. As soon as I am running low on something I write on here and put the stuff on it at the top of my shopping list when I go to the shops. If it is something like tins of tomatoes, I will probably buy 4 or more. That was I never run out of anything in my store cupboard.


So that is how I run my kitchen! A well stocked cupboard means you are less likely to run out of food and turn to ready meals or take out.

Next time is all about how I shop. Hope you enjoyed the tour of my kitchen. X





16 comments:

  1. Ah Dan, a man after my own heart. Glad you are doing this as it will be a great help to others on their own who use that excuse for not cooking. I don't menu plan unlike others, I look at what is in and then decide and will swap things for those in a recipe - usually works out okay. Great hint about the port and vermouth (is it dry or sweet?).

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    1. I think that it is sweet, but I am not too fussy. I love using this because you use a very small amount and so it lasts and lasts.

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  2. Very well stocked kitchen! I wonder how much your shopping bill is per month?

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    1. I reckon it is approximately £60 a month give or take. Sometimes as little about £30 and sometimes as much as £80 depending what I have had to restock. It takes time to get a stock like this and I didn't buy it all at once, but rather have stockpiled over the last 8 months.

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  3. You seem well prepared for all eventualities. In the past I have frozen the dregs of wine in ice cube trays but what a great idea to use vermouth.

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  4. Same way I run my stores...even down to the blackboard!
    The "Oh, it's not worth bothering just for me" annoys me.When hubby spent months away in the Navy I cooked for me every single day. On Sundays I would set the table with cloth, napkin, candles etc and enjoy a full Sunday lunch/dinner. Being on your own doesn't make you any less important.
    Jane x

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  5. Maybe I should photograph my store cupboards, they and the freezer are groaning, but if visitors arrive I always have the makings of a meal.

    Well done on always feeding yourself. My son who was on his own and a long distance lorry driver used a slow cooker I gave him, so he always had a hot meal waiting if he was on a late shift, he just had to sit down and eat.

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  6. wow, thats nice. Where you live, do you often get snowed in during the winter? I am thinking about what to stock up on, just in case. I am thinking pasta, rice and tinned tomatoes etc.

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    1. I think you're right about the pasta and tomatoes - if you've got those to hand you've always got the makings of a meal! Tins of beans and tuna are good as well. I would also make sure I've got tea bags, UHT milk (things like a nice cuppa can make all the difference) and either bread to freezer or breadmaking ingredients.

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  7. A great assortment, and very neatly arranged! I love having my stock of ingredients - I call them the Raw Materials in My Warehouse - in order to put together meals, and not worry about running to the store and spending more. I cook just about everything from scratch, and like to freeze some for another day. Looks like you work the same way, and it's very good for Frugal Living, isn't it?!

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  8. That's great. I love my store cupboard - in good times its a safety blanket, in less-good times it is a life-saver. Right now we are eating away through all of the 'posh' meat that I bought reduced and squirrelled away, which makes what should be a testing time far more bearable :-) I eat far better since I became frugal!

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  9. I often say that but TBh there is a lot of factors involved in why I don't bother. Firstly the cost of food. Right now I am having to live on one meal a day mostly of the 10p noodle or bowl of value porridge variety as I am only on 20 quid a week income. Then there is the fact that my kitchen is about the size of an old style train toilet with no worktops. I do not have a fridge or freezer as it broke years ago and I cannot afford to replace.

    But for those who are a lot or even a bit better off than me you make a good point. From scratch is always cheaper as is batch cooking. Having no fridge means I would have to eat the same meal several days running if it keeps.

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    1. I too used to not have a fridge so I put milk and meat products (heavily wrapped in plastic bags) then sat them all in a bucket of cold water. This way I could keep mince curry, stews etc for several days, just changed the water each day.

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  10. i love your post,very impressive store cupboard's!i love that i alway's have the ingredient's in my cupboard ready for a meal to be made,just hate running out of thing's!i have a Blackboard also in my kitchen,so cute!i cook everything from scratch!love home-made everything!thank you for sharing,and showing those photo's,i really enjoyed it!

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  11. Tagged

    Dan I have been tagged by Dreamer from Living a Simple Life and I have Tagged you at http://abetteryear2012.blogspot.co.uk/

    I hope you will enjoy joining us. We aim to keep this going

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