If you want to be a keen chef, the first thing you want to do is some preparation. Instead of writing a list for one recipe. Find a few different recipes that you would like to try in a week. For instance… using a A4 size paper, write down the ingredients you need for a few recipes and you will find some repetitive items on there. Those are types of ingredients we like to call Larder items.... spices, flour, sugar, powdered stocks, eggs, butter, baking powder, onions, garlic, Pastas and Rice.
These items you will want to stock up on every time you do your weekly or monthly grocery shop, there will be others, but those items are just some of the basics.
When you find a recipe, you like or want to try... your trip to the store becomes a quick in and 'out as it will only become 3-5 things you may require and most of the time it will be fresh items that may not keep if you had bought them at the beginning of the week/month. You will start to see very quickly that the strength of your Larder will increase, and you will even get to a point where you may not need to make that trip to the store and you can just crack on.
Lastly when purchasing the items for your Larder, make sure you have the quantities of type ingredients you need and DO NOT just get what you need for those recipes, get double or triple. If you just buy enough for what you need then you will not start building the Larder up. Buying just enough will result in not having anything left for next time and your shop will not become any easier.
This is preparation that chefs do daily when doing their ordering, not only are we ordering our fresh ingredients, but we are ensuring the Larder items are constantly stocked up. This is called our Ordering Lists and our MEP Lists
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