Food Stocks

I do most of the grocery shopping in our house. Until a few years ago I would make a shopping list and buy a weeks supply of food. But I now keep a well stocked larder. When shopping I'm mainly buying stock for the larder which will be stored for several months before it's used. I'm a recent convert to this system, my mother grew up doing this and still does. The only management issue is devising a rotation system that uses the oldest stock first.

Perishable items like fruit, veg, meat, milk and eggs, I buy every weekly and use quickly. In the autumn I get most fruit and veg from the garden and I don’t buy a lot of meat at any time of year. I never buy any kind of processed food, apart from being too expensive, it does not taste as good and is not as nutritious as home cooked food. And the packaging has to be disposed of, which is an ever growing cost.

Keeping a larder means always having the ingredients to make a meal in the house. In an increasingly unstable world it's a buffer against any immediate crisis and gives a feeling of security.

The following is a list of items I always have in the larder.

Tinned Tomatoes
Tinned Tuna
Pasta
Noodles
Oatflakes
Plain Flour
Strong White Flour
Rice
Lentils
Chickpeas
Olive Oil
Butter
Pepper
Salt
Sugar
Dried Herbs
Yeast
Soy Sauce
Curry Powder
Powered Milk
Cornflour
Tea
Coffee
Custard Powder
Potatoes