Foodle Club Pantry is a collection of homemade sauces, condiments, spice mixes and pantry staples that help you get dinner on the table faster. Discover versatile meal-building recipe ideas, designed to be made ahead, stored in your freezer or pantry, and transformed into quick and easy home-cooked meals whenever you need them.
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What is Foodle Club Pantry?
Foodle Club Pantry is a collection of meal 'building blocks' that you can use to put together easy family meals with the least amount of fuss, saving both time and money.
On these pages, I've got cooking sauces, homemade condiments, spice mixes, homemade pantry staples, and lots more, along with plenty of recipe suggestions showing you how you can turn them into quick and easy meals.
One of my pet hates is food waste, so you'll also find plenty of ideas for cooking and freezing a glut of vegetables from your garden or allotment, or making the most of supermarket special offers.
Building up your pantry doesn't happen overnight, but every batch of sauce, jar of condiment or homemade pantry staple you add is one less thing to make from scratch on a busy day. Better still, when you make your own, you know exactly what's in it. There are no unnecessary additives or long lists of unfamiliar ingredients - just simple everyday foods that you can feel good about serving to your family.
Everything in my Foodle Club Pantry started life in my own kitchen. Some recipes were created to use up a glut from the garden, others because I wanted a quicker way to get dinner on the table, and quite a few simply because I hate wasting food. If it earns a place in my pantry, it's because I've found myself making it again and again.
I hope these recipes inspire you to start building your own Foodle Club-style pantry and discover just how easy homemade convenience can be.
And one last thing before we see what's in my pantry. The Foodle Club Pantry is a work in progress, and I'm always adding new recipes and ideas. If you'd like to build your own pantry alongside mine, subscribe to my free newsletter, and I'll let you know whenever a new recipe is published.
Cooking sauces
The cooking sauces in my Foodle Club Pantry are designed to be frozen in portions and transformed into quick pasta dishes, casseroles, pies and home-cooked meals. I like to freeze them in either one-cup or two-cup portions - that way I can take just the amount I need from the freezer.
Cooking sauces are more than just sauces to pour over a steak, or serve as a dip for chicken wings or goujons; they're designed to form the foundation of a meal. While you could thin them down and use them as a simple sauce if you wanted to, they're at their best when used as a flavour-packed base for creating something completely new.
A few tubs of homemade cooking sauce in the freezer can help you deliver a proper home-cooked dinner, even on a busy weeknight.
Simply add your favourite protein, a handful of vegetables if you like, season with complementary herbs and spices, and you'll have a hearty home-cooked meal on the table in around half an hour.
Here are the cooking sauces I've published so far. You'll find links below each one to recipes where you can use them.
Try it in these recipes:
Try it in these recipes:
- Easy ravioli with creamy red pepper sauce
- Creamy red pepper chicken livers
- Poached salmon in creamy red pepper sauce
Try it in these recipes:
- Sausages in tomato and onion gravy
- Tomato and onion pasta in creamy cheese sauce
- Baby marrows (courgettes/zucchini) with tomato and onion
- You can even use it in this slow-cooker bolognese sauce. Just replace 2 cups of the sauce with the tomatoes and onions called for in the recipe.
Homemade spice mixes
This section is for my homemade spice blends. I currently only have one (curry powder), but I intend to add more in the near future. I was thinking of a peri-peri seasoning blend, and perhaps an all-purpose barbeque salt to start with, but if you've got ideas for other homemade spice blends, let me know in the comments, and I'll try to oblige.
My curry spice blend is quite mild, because that's how I like it. You can easily up the heat by adding extra cayenne pepper, but take care not to add too much and ruin it. My advice would be to make the base recipe as I've made it, and use it to make a curry. Taste the curry and add more cayenne pepper if you want the extra heat. Make a note of how much you added to the curry and adjust the cayenne pepper in the curry powder mix accordingly.
Recipes using this curry powder
You can use this homemade curry powder in any recipe that calls for curry powder. Here are a few of my recipes - there are lots more on my curry recipes page.
Pantry staples
Once you've started making a few everyday essentials from scratch, you'll soon discover how satisfying it is to reach into your fridge or pantry for something you've made yourself.
Many of these recipes for pantry staples are quick to prepare, cost less than the supermarket versions, and can be made using simple ingredients that you probably already have in your kitchen.
From everyday basics to handy kitchen shortcuts, these homemade pantry staples are perfect for keeping on hand, so you're always ready to cook, bake or throw together a meal at a moment's notice.
How to use homemade butter
I'm sure you don't need telling how to use butter! So let me give you a couple of recipes to help you use your batch of buttermilk.
How to use ghee
Ghee is typically used in Indian cuisine to fry spices and onions at the start of the curry-making process, but it can also be used for other purposes such as making pastry. Here are a few recipes where you would normally use ghee.
- Chicken aloo matar (chicken, pea and potato curry)
- Indian style green beans
- Cheese and sweetcorn samosas
What to serve with melba toast
Uses for crispy fried onions
- Sprinkle them over this chicken and bacon salad for a little savoury crunch.
- Add a handful to the batter in these crispy curried chicken bites to make them extra crispy.
How to use homemade mayonnaise
My favourite sandwich is made with sliced hard-boiled eggs on wholewheat bread with a smear of mayonnaise and a slice of ham.
But mayonnaise is for more than just sandwiches. You can use it in plenty of dishes:
- Chutney and mayonnaise chicken bake (and you can find chutney recipes in the next section)
- Combine the mayonnaise with as much Sriracha sauce as your taste allows and use it as a dipping sauce for sesame chicken strips.
- Use it to make a delicious starter of poor man's crayfish
What can I do with a jar of roasted red peppers?
These roasted red peppers are lovely just chopped into a big mixed salad, with lettuce, tomatoes, onions, feta ... whatever you fancy.
They also work well in pasta salads:
How to serve them
I don't have any specific recipes using these pickled red onions, but you can use them to top hanburgers or hot dogs, or add them to salads or sandwiches.
I like to serve them as a side dish whenever I make a pasta salad bar.
Chutneys and dipping sauces
A jar of homemade chutney is one of the easiest ways to transform an ordinary meal into something special.
Whether you're looking for something sweet, spicy or tangy, these recipes are all made with simple ingredients and are perfect for keeping on hand. Serve them as dips, spreads or accompaniments, or use them to add extra flavour to marinades, sandwiches or burgers.
A jar of homemade chutney or a quick dipping sauce can transform even the simplest meal into something a little more special.
What to do with chutney
I'm never without chutney in my fridge or pantry. It can be used in so many ways to add flavour to meals.
My all-time favourite is to serve a dish of chutney with a ploughman's platter - pork pies, slices of hard-boiled egg, slices of ham, pickled onions, cherry tomatoes, a hunk of cheese ... and whatever else you happen to have in your cupboard or refrigerator (crusty bread perhaps). A meal fit for a king with absolutely no effort on your part!
If you're looking to use chutney in a recipe - here are a few ideas:
- South African chicken curry - either Mrs Balls chutney or mango chutney would be perfect.
- Air fryer barbeque chicken - with a chutney glaze - any of the above chutney recipes would work.
- South African curried sausages - for authenticity, it has to be Mrs Balls, although any fruity chutney would be fine.
Final thoughts
We've come to the end of Foodle Club Pantry - well, not the end exactly! This page is never going to be finished. I'm going to add more homemade staples as often as I can, to make everyday cooking easier. There are already plenty of recipes on Foodle Club that belong in the Pantry. I'll be adding them over the coming weeks as I continue building this collection. Others are still waiting patiently for me to cook, photograph and publish.
This is only the beginning - there's lots more to come. I wanted to get it out there, and hopefully get you thinking.
Would you find this page useful?
Are there any other make-ahead sauces, freezer staples, or homemade pantry essentials that you'd like me to include?
I'm already considering adding a baking section with ready-made mixes and tips for preparing and storing ingredients for things like pastry, pancakes and scones. Is that something you would find helpful?
After all, this page isn't just for me - it's for you. I'd love to build a collection of recipes that genuinely makes life easier in the kitchen, so if there's something you'd like to see, let me know in the comments below, and I'll do my best to make it happen.
I'd like to leave you with this thought ...
The best convenience food isn't something you buy from a supermarket. It's something you've already made, tucked away in the freezer or pantry and ready whenever you need it!
That's what the Foodle Club Pantry is all about!
Did you make this recipe? Let me know!