A Foodie Wants to Know…

I purchase "essentials" in bulk or at the cheapest possible price for my pantry. Janie's Mill sends me 3 - 25# bags of Rye berries at a time, enough to get the free delivery charge. I make sourdough breads in small 4" rounds for the freezer so hubby can take them to work with his homemade guacamole. I buy 6 avocados at a time and make a big batch and freeze in 4 oz. jars. I buy green and purple cabbage, peppers, onions and organic celery which I slice thin in the food processor along with shredding/slicing carrots. These are then recipe-ready for homemade wraps, salads, stirfry and soups. Broccoli and Cauliflower are prepped as well. Summer squash and zucchini if it looks good. I grow my own greens and herbs in a small greenhouse. I buy old-fashioned Quaker Oats from Walmart and source organic raisins from Amazon wherever the price is best. I save a lot by pricing things before buying in bulk. Potatoes and sweet potatoes, winter squash. I just bought 10 bags of dried cranberries for baking with my pears (I have hundreds from my tree) to make breakfast bars. My latest happy food is fresh rolls so I bought 6 packages (cheaper online) of brown rice wraps to make those. I have lots of rice, lentils, grains, dry beans and canned that I bought in 2020 in case family needed to move in with us so I'm still using those. Popcorn is always a nice treat.... airpopped, no oil. Organic coffee, raw cashews, walnuts, Tofu and mushrooms are also a must-have along with Tamari. Vegan all the way.

Milk
Potatoes
Eggs
Onions
Lemons
Grapefruit
Instant Vegetable stock
Nuts

Thanks everyone for the explanation about marinara sauce. I suppose a sauce chasseur doesn't contain game, so I can see the logic.

Arewethereyet It’s a lot like ours. But I do have porridge occasionally and very little bread

MrsKen33

Arewethereyet It’s a lot like ours. But I do have porridge occasionally and very little bread

In the Winter we occasionally make porridge over night in the slow cooker. It's lovely getting up to something hot on cold days. We used to do it a lot when we were both working. I stay away from bread as much as possible but we make flatbreads with almond flour that we use as wraps or sometimes toast them and use them for dunking.

Vital to my life is
Ground coffee arabica good quality both normal and decent decaffinated coffee for the evenings (never the rubbish from taylors!!)
semi skim milk
free range eggs
duck
prawns
brown rice
pasta
big selection of fruits,
no garlic but plenty of onions, fresh and pickled , green peppers pimentos, lots of other veg.
home made wholemeal bread
home made jams
lemons
oil
soy sauce
selection of fresh and dried herbs etc

Bonne Maman Fig Conserve (goes well with butter croissants).

Onions
Garlic
Butter
Olive oil
Pasta
Parmesan
Bacon
Eggs
Tinned tuna
Tinned tomatoes
Agog at the lady who buys ‘marinara’ sauce when it’s so cheap, easy and altogether better when home made)l.
Multiseed bread from good bakery
Homemade marmalade (not easy or cheap to make but streets ahead of absolutely anything commercially available. So well worth it.)

Coffee beans. Grind it fresh every day.

Grantanow

Bonne Maman Fig Conserve (goes well with butter croissants).

I like apricot conserve with croissants (as a treat!)

But I have an aversion to figs, probably because of the Syruppy Figs (Syrup of Figs) I was given as a child. Today I tried a fig yogurt and it tasted ok but then came across a piece of fig and decided, no, I still don't/ like figs.

I live alone, am a lazy cook and only cook properly when family comes over! This is my absolutely essential list, just for me!:
Good granary bread
Flora low fat spread
Skimmed milk
Good coffee
PG Tips teabags (biodegradable)
Smooth peanut butter
Marmite
Bananas
Pears/apples
Cucumber
Cherry tomatoes
Sugar snap peas
Honey
Dried fruit
TUC biscuits
Cadburys milk chocolate (large bar lasts me a month)
Ardennes pate
Red pepper hummus
Chicken breast
Baking potatoes
Brie cheese
Light Philadelphia
Assorted canned soups
Baked beans
Bacon
Cranberry sauce
Hellmans light mayonnaise
Tinned fruit-mainly apricots and rhubarb
Bags of mixed salad leaves (2 a month)
YOGHURT- Fage Total 2% fat (can only find at Waitrose). My FAVOURITE FOOD!
Bonne Maman yoghurts with fruit purée are also good!
Probably left out a few things but as long as I have plenty of yoghurt, I’m ok!

Back to Marinara - a red herbed tomato sauce that is the base for spaghetti sauce, lasagna, ziti, any pasta, etc. Just delicious!

If your pasta sauce is white - it’s called alfredo or bechamel. I prefer red, but eat both.

I’ve noticed so many lists are similar and very healthy. I also missed some of my absolute must-haves by reading yours. I think we all do at times buy too much unnecessary food and then there’s waste, which I abhor, but it happens. My love/hate relationship with Bananas! 🙄 For what I save by cutting back, I can go out for a nice lunch, dinner now and then.
Thank you! Great ideas!
USA Gundy

Rice, long grain and arborio
Eggs,
New potatoes
Baby spinach
Onions
Parmesan cheese,
Feta
Farmhouse Lancashire cheese, to be eaten with
Nairn super seeded oatcakes
Extra mature cheddar
Butter
Tuna
Tinned sweetcorn
Apples
Clementines
Lemons
Brazil nuts
Chicken
Smoked bacon
German bratwurst
Parma ham
Hot-smoked salmon fillets
Red peppers
Cous cous
Panini rolls
Bacon
Hellmans mayonnaise
Peanut butter
Tinned tomatoes
Red kidney beans
Schwartz chilli mix
Pasta
Knorr stock pots
Bovril
TickTock red bush tea
Pukka lemon ginger and manuka honey tea
Anglesey sea salt
Black peppercorns
John West sild in tomato sauce.
M&S lemon and dill sauce
Henderson’s relish
HP sauce
Ready salted crisps
Salted cashew nuts
Red wine
Highland Park malt whisky
Bombay Sapphire gin.