To mark the publication day of our brilliant new My Kitchen Table books we commissioned a survey of 3000 people from OnePoll which has revealed that Britons are hoarding a staggering £297million worth of out-of-date storecupboard ingredients – with the top 40 offending ingredients listed below. The news has been reported in today’s Express , Sun, Daily Mirror, Daily Record and Daily Star.
Here at My Kitchen Table, we want to remind you to think before you buy – ingredients can often be substituted for something you already own and with a bit of creativity, you can easily use up ingredients such as spices, herbs, baking products and tinned goods.
You almost certainly have enough items to make one or two complete meals for your family from ingredients you already own.
If you’re looking to save money in the New Year, then have a root around the store cupboard and we’re sure you will find the basis of numerous cheap meals – best used now before they’re forgotten about. Discovering a handful of new recipes to use up those long forgotten ingredients is a great place to start.
So to start you on your way, here are two brilliant recipes, one savoury and one sweet from Madhur Jaffrey and Mary Berry.
Curried Tuna by Madhur Jaffrey
Mini Jammy Cakes by Mary Berry
You can also enter our competition – submit your store cupboard photo and we will aim to find you a recipe that uses some of the ingredients!
Worst offenders!
1. Mixed spices
2. Tinned soup
3. Mixed herbs
4. Baking soda
5. Tinned pineapple/fruit
6. Bicarbonate of soda
7. Flour
8. Stock cubes
9. Soy sauce
10. Cake toppings (hundreds and thousands etc)
11. Cinnamon
12. Jam
13. Flavoured vinegars
14. Casserole Mix
15. Custard powder
16. Icing Sugar
17. Dried parsley
18. Flavoured oils
19. Curry Powder
20. Dried coriander
21. Dried basil
22. Tinned tomatoes
23. Mustard
24. Dried thyme
25. Lasagna Strips
26. Chutney
27. Pickled Onions
28. Vanilla Essence
29. Raisins
30. Paprika
31. Mint Sauce
32. Marmalade
33. Tabasco Sauce
34. Red Wine Vinegar
35. Oregano
36. Cumin
37. Fish Sauce
38. Nuts
39. Oyster sauce
40. Piccalilli
