Ingredients

Although it is always good to include fresh food in your diet, in order to make things a bit easier when deciding on meals to prepare, here are some useful ‘store cupboard’ foods to keep on hand:

• dried pasta, rice, bread (can be frozen and used as needed), breakfast cereal, potatoes (usual or as instant mash), biscuits, crackers and crispbread
• tinned fruit, tinned/frozen vegetables, and long-life fruit juice
• eggs, cheese, long-life milk, and tinned milk puddings
• baked beans/tinned beans, lentils, and other dried beans and peas
• frozen or tinned mince, chicken or fish
• hot chocolate powder/cocoa, malted milk and meal-replacement drinks
• stock cubes, onion, garlic, tinned tomatoes, tomato purée, dried herbs, chilli powder, and black pepper, to add flavour when cooking

Remember to use and replace store cupboard foods, and to regularly check the ‘use by’ dates on the packaging.