Essentials

All of the products I use in my cooking have their part to play – they are pivotal elements of my kitchen larder.

Besides of the fresh herbs and dependent on how often you use them, most of the products on the Essentials list have a good shelf life.They, therefore, don’t need to be bought on a regular basis, although initial purchase will increase your weekly budget. However as the old saying goes ‘You’ve got to speculate to accumulate’ and a basic selection of oils, spices and other components for your larder will make a world of difference to your cooking.

All of the recipes in the shopping list, are measured in US metric ie grams, kilos, litres and millilitres and that includes the Essentials list.

As a yardstick – a teaspoon = 5g or 5ml,  tablespoon = 15g or 15ml, glass = 200ml. Most dried herb or spice jars hold 45g of content. and a bottle of Worcester sauce will hold 150ml. I’ll leave you to work out the Maths but each mini jar investment dependent on usage should last you a couple of months.

When you select a recipe for the shopping list all the ingredients are listed. If you have your spices or oils in stock just click the tick box and the item will be crossed through and its cost taken off the sum total. The system allows you to buy or use products to the exact amount avoiding wastage and saving you money.

Spices	Herbs	Seeds/ Nuts	Misc	Oils
Turmeric	Basil	Pine	Fish Sauce	Sesame
Coriander	Rosemary	Mustard	Balsamic Vinegar	Olive
Cumin	Thyme	Coriander	Worcester Sauce	Sunflower
Paprika	Mint	Fennel	English Mustard	Ground Nut
Cinnamon	Bay leaf	Sesame	Soy Sauce
Chilli/Chilli flakes	Chives	Pumpkin	Honey
Nutmeg	Oregano	Almonds	Tomato puree
All spice	Parsley	Cumin	Vanilla Extract
Curry Powder	Coriander	Caraway	Harissa paste
Garam masala			Tahini paste
Black pepper			Tamarind paste
Chinese 5 spice			Tomato ketchup
Salt
Sumac
Ras El Hanout
Cardomoms
Schezwan pepper