Getting Started with your poor man kitchen!

There are a few things ingredient-wise that every kitchen needs, or at least requires in order to be able to make some decent food. These include:

Olive Oil- Good for you, as well as very effective and full of flavour for low temperature cooking. We grab the "You'll Love Coles" or "Black and Gold" varieties, unless someone else is donating some bits and pieces.

Canola Oil - For high temperature cooking. If you are making stir-fry, this is for you.

Garlic (Fresh or Jar) - if nothing else , it is the poor man's flavouring

Flour- For baking stuff. If nothing else, you can make cakes, biscuits and other things to fill your gut between meals

Corn Flour - See Above

Self Raising Flour - Again, see above

Sugar - Sweetening stuff. Own preference

Honey - And again. This one can be used as a base or something to add flavour to a whole heap of recipes.

Dry Pasta - Staple gut filler. Carbs make you feel full. If you are concerned about health or weight, normal pasta can be replaced with wholemeal, though it is more expensive than the good old Coles regular.

Rice - I can't express enough how much RICE is a good thing. Again, if you are watching your weight and fibre intake, white rice can be substituted for brown, but not without increasing hte price. For example, at cheapest, 1kg of rice from the local Coles or Foodland is about $1.79. Brown rice, you're looking at about $2.49 from my last purchase. Arborio is another thing you might want in your cupboard. Its about $4 for 500 gm, but one cup usually ends up about 4 of them once cooked, and it's probably the best thing to use for a nice, filling risotto.

Stock (Chicken / Beef ) - If you are making soups, thinning / adding water is pointless if you want to retain taste. Do yourself a favour and grab some stock. The premix liquid is very expensive, whereas the good old stock cubes can cost you about $3.46 for a litre($2.88 for home brand) , whilst if you're keen on saving, its about $2.70 for one of the Continental brand tubs of dry stock. You mix a teaspoon with a cup of water, and voila, one cup of stock. Massel are also good, with about 170 gm for $2.76. (I like this option, it keeps longer and saves me fridge space)

Sauces (Soy and Chilli if you can)- These whilst adding flavour to whatever $2 bargain you can pick up at the shop in the frozen section, make an awesome base for a stir fry, of course with a few other ingredients.

We tend toward doling out for the soy sauce. You can get 500ml of Coles Smartbuy Soy Sauce for about $1.28, but to be honest I would never, ever buy it again. I'm not a fussy eater, and neither are my housemates, but this actually ended up becoming part of the grey water, and the bottle in the recycling. We usually spend the 8 or so dollars on a litre of Kikkoman, which tends to last forever due to tasting incredibly strong.


Butter or Margarine- We are butter people, but butter is a versatile grease, filler and ingredient. Don't look too far past it. Coles tends to have cheaper cooking butter than woolworths, in terms of taste, the home brand didn't seem to make too much difference.

Herbs and Spices- Buy these as you need them. It takes ages to build up a decent inventory, but things like Cumin, Dried Chilli Flakes, Oregano, Bay Leaves etc can make an awesome addition to your cupboard. If youre having a rich week, some of those "Gourmet Garden" things can be really, really helpful. Basil specifically. If you can make sure they're dried and whole, crushing them will provide a whole lot more flavour than dried herbs.

EDIT: I'VE COME ACROSS NEW STAPLES, PREPARE FOR MORE BASICS FOR YOUR CUPBOARD!

Curry paste: Vindaloo or Rogan Josh: This is expensive, but can cover up a load of flavour related sins. It's around $4.45 a jar, but you only need a quarter of it to make a quick and bogan curry as per its instructions.


Whilst this may seem obvious, when you’ve just moved house or into dorms, this is the kind of stuff you don’t necessarily think of right away, and it generally does take a while to stockpile. Especially with herbs and spices. If you can get them fresh it is always better, but if you’re busy, which you probably are, sometimes it’s simply easier to get the same thing in a jar.

Next up, some basic recipes to fill your face.